1. President Bryant welcomed Ben Fellows back to Arizona after his summer hiatus. Good to have you back Ben.
2. Sharon Stinard announced "Disco Fever", the fundraiser for CAAFA will be held October 25 at Dolce Vita Resort starting at 6 PM. She encouraged club members to consider buying a table of eight for $225. Individual tickets are $25 until October 1 when prices go up to $30 and $270 for a table. There will be a dinner buffet, drinks and lots of dancing.
3. President Bryant announced that a new microcredit grant from RI for investing in Hermosillo, MX has been received by the district. See the story below.
4. Daiton Rutkowski thanked club members for their donations to the U.S. Army 59th battalion. The gifts have been mailed to the troops.
5. Harvey Clark mentioned the need to sign up for the Corey Remsburg talk on September 24th.
6. Bill Burrows brought us "all the news that's fit to read". One interesting item, on this date in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolutionary War.
7. Aaron McDermid raised money "for the children" as our Sargeant-at-Arms
8. The joker was worth $471 today. Jeannie Anderson won the drawing and $10, but didn't get the joker so the pot grows again next week.
Alan Payne is celebrating 33 years with the Bue Bell Ice Cream Co. He has 10 years of service in Arizona. The company was founded in 1907 in Texas and originally made fudge. Some employees started making ice cream for themselves and it was so good that it rapidly became the main product line of the company. He attributes the ad line "We Eat All We Can and Sell the Rest" to this fact. The company is privately held and has never laid off an employee during downturns in business cycles.
Blue Bell has 59 branches in 23 states. There are three in Arizona - East Phoenix (Apache Junction), West Phoenix and Tucson. They are the #3 ice cream seller in the US (Dreyers and Bryers sell more). They sell toFrys, Albertsons, Bashas, Safeway, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, school districts, etc.
The favorite flavor is Old-Fashioned Vanilla followed closely by Cookies and Cream. They rotate new flavors in for a 3-month window. There have been some strange ones - Peanut Butter and Jelly, Cantaloupe and Caramel Kettle Corn were three he mentioned. The flavors are suggested by employees of the company.
Alan brought along dixie-cup size samples of Old-Fashioned Vanilla for us to enjoy and a $1 off coupon for Blue Bell. Thanks Alan - we always like to have Blue Bell come and see us.
Microcredit Global Grant – Hermosillo, Mexico Update August 2014
By Terry Lubsen
Great news! The Rotary Foundation announced approval August 2, 2014 of our Microcredit Matching Grant for Rotary year 2013-2014. Contributing Rotarians and Clubs can expect to see Paul Harris credits to their accounts shortly. The $102K will be used for small loans to help small businesses that lack other borrowing sources grow in Hermosillo Mexico. For this Project we will be working with a new Host Club, Pitic Hermosillo and a new Microcredit Financial Institution, FinReg. Funds are expected to start being loaned within three months, as FinReg organizes lending groups; then repaid and recovered within four-six month cycles, and loaned again and again. I am very happy with the expert level of participation from the Host Club in Hermosillo, Pitic, and expect our partnership to be the first of many. As Host Partner, the Pitic RC has embraced this project and will be pivotal in managing the project to make the most of the Microcredit loans in their community. We will have Quarterly Project reviews with Pitic and FinReg to insure success, with collection rates expected to be 98-99% as one measure of the these small businesses loans.
It should be noted that this project was a joint effort of the three Districts in Arizona, as well as District 5330 – Muretta RC; District 6220 – Eagle River RC; District 6400 – Windsor RC & RC Windsor-Roseland.
I want to thank and acknowledge every Rotarian, Rotary Club and District Governor for their participation and support of this International Global Grant.
We will be organizing trips to both Nogales and Hermosillo in the fall to visit borrowers and see how small loans really do make a big difference. I will provide further updates on tours as we develop the schedule for 2014-15. If you would like to participate please contact me at, TerryLubsen@yahoo.com.
If you are interested in learning more about how small amounts of money loaned without collateral makes such a big difference to overcome poverty, contact me, Terry Lubsen at terrylubsen@yahoo.com to schedule a presentation to your club or activity.
Your contributions will earn Paul Harris credits, be matched by the Rotary Foundation and help us reach new borrowers who have no other source of capital to support themselves and their families. Microcredit is the most effective and sustainable poverty intervention. Join us in this International Project and make a big difference a few hours away.
Microcredit Project Tours, Nogales, MX Oct
When?
October 11, 2014 or December 6, 2014 or February 7, 2015 all-day
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: Mondays 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)
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