PRESIDENT ED'S STATE OF THE CLUB ADDRESS
Posted by Ed Shockley on Oct 26, 2016
Good Afternoon! Monday was World Polio Day. Two United Nations agencies will support the Iraqi Ministry of Health in marking World Polio Day by launching a weeklong nationwide campaign to immunize Iraq’s children against the infectious viral disease. Thanks to the governments strong commitment and the hard work of frontline workers, no new polio cases have been reported in Iraq since April 2014. In May 2015, Iraq was removed from the list of infectious countries. Under the slogan, 2 drops can change a life, the 5 day campaign aims to reach an estimated 5.8 million children below the age of 5 in Iraq, regardless of previous vaccination status.
Now, I would like to take a few minutes to update everyone on our club year to date.
Thanks to all of the Club Members, Board members and Directors and Jim and Jay for being so attentive to Tonya Watson (DG), Steve Cervantes and Carol Kralicek (District 5510 Public Image Chair) that attended our regular meeting and Club Assembly/Board Meeting last week. We received some good input from both ladies and will take their ideas and advice into consideration.
Our Public Image Committee (Bob Homann, Jared Gibbs, Dana Hawman and Harvey Clark) has received kudos from the District 5510 Public Image Chair. We are on Facebook and you will see articles from time to time in the local newspapers that promote Rotary and our club.
Tracey and Heather are working on getting Interact back into the AJ High School. I am meeting with the principal at Imagine Prep tomorrow to offer a scholarship or two to deserving students.
So, we have capable board members, directors and seasoned Rotarians that are taking charge and getting it done. Not everyone on the committees was mentioned today but they are on top of it and working on your behalf. If there is a committee that appeals to your interests, help that chair person.
One of our newest members, Tammy Bricketto, is now our club’s treasurer. She will sit on the Board and keep us up to date on our club’s finances. Thank her for stepping up and assuming this very important position. Help her out if she has a question for you. At the moment Aaron, Len or myself are authorized to write out checks for the club. Tracey can write checks on the Interact account.
Aaron and his State Farm staff as well as one of our new members, Dave Webb, all stepped up and painted a home in AJ this past Saturday. They worked hard and really improved the looks of a local citizen’s home. Dave is actually able to climb a ladder and get some work done. They all did a great job and service for the community.
One of our potential service projects is volunteering a couple of hours to pack food to be sent to hungry school children around the world. Feed the Starving Children is an organization that has a large facility in Mesa and gets volunteers from all over the valley to come in, get trained and pack food for hungry kids. Let’s get a group together and spend the 3 hours or so that it would take to get there and back and pack some food. Everything we need is there. They just ask for volunteers to assist. They have very flexible hours. If you are interested,
see me, and I will set up a time that works for whoever can do it.
I would like to purchase a table for 10 to back Sharon who has a passion for CAAFA. We budgeted some money for CAAFA. So, let’s write a check for $225.00. Get a table for 10 and socialize for a good cause and eat some BBQ. This takes place at Dolce Vita on Sat. November 5th at 5:30 pm. It features a band and a silent auction.
The Scotland Golf Raffle is a chance to win a trip to Scotland for 6 nights accommodations, 5 rounds of golf at the home of golf, $7500 in spending cash and a van to use. Or up to $25,000 if at least 2000 tickets are sold. We are attempting to sell 50 of the 2500 tickets. You can purchase them from Ed or online at http://smrc.scotlandgolfraffle.com
Our annual Christmas party will be held at Jack Beveridge’s home on Friday, December 16, 2016 from 6 pm until 9 pm. We could use a volunteer to organize the affair. To secure a caterer, entertainment,
collect maybe $10/person(?) in person or at Jacks as people arrive.
New members-
Let’s get to know these new members. Educate them on Rotary and what we do here. Make a personal connection. Learn more about them, their work, their families. Inspire them. Encourage them. Make it fun and make a new friend. Get them involved in the areas of Rotary that meet their needs and interests.
Finances-
We appear to be in good shape. We will be writing the check of $10,000 soon that was committed last fiscal year to the Flatiron Park’s splash pad. We have a pretty ambitious donation plan.
Field Trip-
It has been suggested that we take a break from this meeting room on a Wednesday to attend another location. Maybe the Arboretum or a manufacturing facility or another place of interest. Give me an idea of what would be of interest to us and lets do it.
The District Vocational Fund Chair has encouraged us to do 2 minute vocational talks to share your company’s information with our club. If any of you would like to do a life story or classification talk, let Harvey
Celebrating TRF’s 100th anniversary as well as the 55th anniversary of our Club’s origination-
One possibility would be Brian’s idea of a comedy night in AJ. We could introduce Rotary to the public at the beginning of the show and have a fun event, possible fund raiser, and celebrate Rotary all in one evening. This would probably take place in the early part of 2017. This is still in the idea stage so let’s give it some thought.
If anyone has any suggestions on improving or changing something that our Club is doing. Please attend a board meeting or present it to our club and we will give it every consideration. There is always room for improvement.