 Program - Brenda Capizzi - The Mesa House, Inc. Following a brief introduction by Jay Stuckey, Brenda Capizzi remarked that she felt such positive energy at the meeting, she thought she needed to belong. She then shared a personal story. Brenda was a single mother of a 7-year-old daughter. She had gotten engaged to a man that owned a few homes. Brenda wanted the home they were going to live in to be painted. Upon the final walk-through, the painter mentioned that this home would make an awesome halfway house. Brenda didn't know what he was talking about. She just wanted to start her married life. She did some research and came up with the name "The Mesa House" and a logo. Three months after opening the first halfway house, her fiancé told her he couldn't marry her.. She was on her own. The first ten men helped her with the policies that they still have today. She had no idea this was what God had in store for her. In her research, Brenda visited halfway houses. Some she liked and others she did not. She said it felt like divine intervention the more she opened her heart to the men and their needs. Over time they have developed a program that works. They have a motto of "building families one man at a time." They have a set of rules those who come to Mesa House must agree to adhere to. The agreement can be found on their website: https://themesahouse.org/ They require that the men work and pay $145/week . They have a relationship with employers who will employ their residents because they will show up for work.  Every Sunday night, they have live-saving training that the residents participate in. Some of the rules every resident agrees to follow are: - Make their bed
- Clean up after themselves and one other person
- Be willing to change the way they think
- Pass drug screening test and be willing to go to detox if they do not
- Help plan and participate in celebrations at parks
 The men learn by doing in planning the celebrations they have at parks. They can invite their family members to participate in the celebrations. They ask residents for a minimum commitment of staying at Mesa House of 90 days, but they are welcome to stay as long as they want. All residents do chores. Their houses are clean. They get food donations from Trader Joes. They are always glad to accept donations of toiletries. They do not accept pets. Pets create an expense they cannot afford.  At this time, they have nine locations and a total of 80 beds. They are all within a mile and a half of their intake property located at 28 S Olive. They are south of Pioneer Prk and East of the Mormon Temple right off of Main Street. To date, they have helped over 5700 men and some of them several times. The more they help them, the more enriched their own lives have become. They don't care where their residents come from. They do care about where the residents see themselves headed when they leave. They are always in need of small bottles of shampoo, body wash, toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, socks, working boots. Money is always needed - especially with the rising cost of everything.  Colleen thanked Brenda for coming to the meeting to make her presentation. Colleen loved her obvious heart and passion for what she does and thanked her for giving dignity back to those who have been missed. More Announcements - Ed Koeneman said the Westwood High School Interact Club is collecting old tee shirts to be used to make dog chew toys for animal shelters. He asked that members please bring them to the next few meetings.
- Pam Cohen said Mesa West would be participating in a service event - similar to a job fair - on Saturday, September 9. We will provide a service opportunity at our table at the event. Volunteers will be needed to staff our table and help those who visit it with information and the opportunity to help with the service project (making dog chew toys). The event will be a family-friendly environment with refreshments available. Our AG (Dan Coons) is going to create a Mesa West Rotary Club banner to be used at this type of event. One of the goals is to make the community more aware of Rotary and the good we do in the community and the world.
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Mesa West Rotary Foundation, Inc. is the funding and fundraising arm of our own Mesa West Rotary Club. It is a 501(c)(3) charity. We have had successful sponsorship campaigns the last few years enabling us to spend our energy on service rather than on holding fundraising events. Charitable grants that we get involved with are funded through our charitable foundation, Our signature Gift of Hearing Project in Guaymas Mexico is funded through this foundation. Scholarships are awarded annually to Westwood High School Students (the high school where Mesa West Rotary sponsors an Interact Club). Funds are used to support a variety of activities in four of the Rotary Avenues of Service:.png)
