Today we welcomed back two visiting Rotarians - Alex Blais from Canada and Harrell Miller from Napa Valley, CA. Bob Crow had as his guests his niece Jonni Marcotte and her husband Virgil. Len LaFlesch had as his guest Patricia Miller. We had two visitors invited by Harvey Clark - Jarrod Walters of Solar City and Misty Crofts of Sagicor Life Insurance Co. Both are new members of the AJ Chamber.
We were down in attendance of regular members to only 20, maybe due to the rainy day.
1. President Bryant welcomed our guests, visitors and visiting Rotarians.
2. Bryant read the October birthdays and anniversaries up to today's date.
3. Bryant passed around a pre-registration form for the Congressman Paul Gosar's talk coming up in two weeks. IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND OR TO BRING GUESTS, YOU ALL NEED TO BE REGISTERED.
4. Harrell Miller thanked the Rotarians who expressed concern about him and Jan because of the Napa Valley earthquake. Harrell brought a bottle of fine dessert wine from Napa to be auctioned off. Nancy Burgess bought it for $45. The money goes to the club. Thank you Harrell and Nancy for your generosity.
5. Sharon Stinard (she of purple fingernail fame) brought us up to speed on the Dictionary Project. She passed around a sign up sheet for the Labeling Party that will be at Bob Crow's home on Friday, October 17 at 10 AM. Crow lives at 7104 E. Mariola Ct. in Mountainbrook Village. The distribution of the dictionaries to 3rd graders will be on November 6. She will have a sign up sheet for that in the future.
The cost of a table at the Disco Fever event is $225, not $420 as reported erroneously in last weeks bulletin.
6. Tim Sicocan said that the kids at the Boys and Girls club are making purple ribbons to be worn this month. See him if you want some. Bryant said AJ will fly purple banners as well.
7. Jay Jones called our attention to Rotary Fundation Day to be held at the Sheraton Airport Hotel (Tempe) on November 8. Registration is $30. Sign up at the District website - www.rotary5510.org.
8. Bill Burrows brought us the news. Thomas Earl Duncan died today - the first American to die of Ebola in the U.S. On this date in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire took place.
9. Bill also filled in for Aaron McDermid as Sergeant-at-Arms today and did a great job raising fines.
Our speaker today was Nancy Burgess, Operations Manager for the Apache Junction Food Bank.
The demand on the AJ Food Bank over the summer continued strong. For example, in August, 2014, 1,155 families representing 3,489 people received food from the food bank. Summers are tough because of fewer volunteers, fewer contributions of food and money and the hot summer temperatures in the buildings. They are open four days a week for 2 hours per day. They served 104 families one afternoon which was a record.
Nancy promoted the 2nd annual Food Bank Golf Tournament to be held Sunday, November 2nd at the Gold canyon Golf Resort. Both courses will be open for the tournament. It is a four-person scramble. She is looking for players, prize donors, tee sponsors, etc. The tournament proceeds are a big boost to their bottom line.
The Food Bank is sponsoring a special Thanksgiving Holiday Food Program that will allow needy families to receive a food box containing a turkey and all the trimmings. She asked our club if we would donate 200 pie crusts, 200 cans of pumpkin pie filling and 200 cans of sweetened condensed milk for the pies. President Bryant asked Gene and Jeannie Anderson if they would coordinate the club drive and they agreed to do it. SO ROTARIANS, PLEASE BRING YOUR GIFTS OF ONE OR MORE OF THE THREE ITEMS TO CLUB MEETINGS BETWEEN NOW AND NOVEMBER 23. Bryant said we will want to coordinate with Jack Beveridge's turkey project as well.
Nancy closed with an expression of need for air conditioning for the food bank. The temperatures in the Food Bank during the summer are almost unbearable. She suggested Rotary consider a gift of $5,000, but any amount would be welcome. They need a total of $18,000 to do it and she has a lead gift of $5,000 in hand.
Thank you Nancy for your service to the community through the AJ Food bank. It is a critically needed service. We respect how well managed and efficient the Food Bank is. And thanks to our own Ben Fellows who volunteers there every Friday.
Today was the BIG day! Dan Govinsky won the drawing and the drew the joker out of the remaining cards. The 50/50 pot was worth $550.50 - maybe a symbolic number.
Congratulations Dan! Next week we start the pot anew.
Nearby Rotary Clubs that might be useful for meeting makeup attendance. You can find the meeting times and locations for Rotary clubs throughout the world by going to the Rotary International website (www.rotary.org) and clicking on "Club Locator" in the upper right corner of the screen.
Mesa East Rotary Club: Thursdays at 12:00 p.m.
Superstition Springs Golf Club, 6542 E. Baseline, Mesa (16 miles)
Gilbert Rotary Club: Thursdays at 7:00 a.m.
The Henhouse Cafe, 3244 E. Guadalupe Rd., Gilbert, AZ (20 miles)
Mesa West Rotary Club: Thursdays at 12:10 p.m.
Hilton Phoenix East-Mesa, 1011 W. Holmes Ave.,Mesa (24 miles)
Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club: Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m.
Banner Health Business Center, 525 W. Brown Rd., Mesa
Tempe South Rotary Club: Fridays at 6:45 a.m.
Friendship Village, 2645 E. Southern Ave., Tempe (26 miles)
