Rotary Meeting June 27, 2023

The club celebrated its District 5500 awards for best fundraising project and best community service project at the final meeting of its "Rotary" year for 2022-23.

 

The Zoom-only meeting kicks off with the pledge of allegiance at 7:00AM. Laura mentioned that she had no formal agenda for her last meeting as President of the Club, instead wanting a free-thinking discussion amongst members.

 

Special guests in attendance were Barbara Barr, Assistant Governor, District 5500, and Joan Buth, who will be joining the Marana Rotary Club very soon! Note that Joan’s application has been submitted and will be circulated for approval shortly. Welcome Joan! Don J. noted that Barbara will be continuing as Assistant Governor during his tenure, a huge benefit to him and the District.

 

Laura complimented our Club’s performance in the District Awards program, noting that our small club “killed it” in awards recipients. The recognition we received were for:

Of the 51 clubs in our District, our club received the two-top awards: a testament to our “small but mighty” motto.

Laura, Don and others paid special compliments to the efforts given towards both ceremonies involving the installation of Cathy as incoming President and Don as District Governor. Mary noted the beautiful job Randy did in introducing Don. Mary and Don thanked Laura for the thoughtfulness and passion Laura devoted towards the award applications which resulted in the Club’s high recognition.

 

John and Laura were disappointed that their deeply rehearsed skit had to be scrubbed at the installation ceremonies; however, promised to keep it polished for future presentation. Laura thanked Cathy for providing her thoughtful visons visions for the Club in the coming year.

 

Joan commented that, unlike the Marana club, many clubs have larger membership rosters; however, do not engage to extent that Marana members do. Joan suggested that, if our smaller size is a challenge, we seek partnerships in projects with other clubs or outside entities, such as Kiwanis, to leverage our impact.

 

Joan asked how we were able to so successfully pull off the T de C event and Dan described the background. Dan noted that this year he was much less grumpy over the pressure surrounding the effort given the HUGE support from Laura and others this year.

 

EVERONE expressed deep gratitude for Laura’s extraordinary leadership over the past year which elevated the Marana Rotary Club to even higher levels of the Rotary principles.

 

There will be no meeting next Tuesday due to the July 4^th holiday.

 

July 11^th will be Cathy’s first meeting as President. The meeting will be hybrid at the NW Fire District location.

Laura noted that the NW Fire location will now be available through August as repairs have been delayed. The Board, under Cathy’s leadership, will need to address alternate locations. Laura reported that the Holiday Inn Express idea will not work for us.

 

The speaker for July 11 will be Jamie Mason-Larson; Executive Director of Tohono Chul Park. Laura noted that, thanks to Bob, speakers have been lined up through August for our meetings.

 

Sad note- Bob Bishop is not able to attend today as his brother-in-law, Linda’s brother, apparently suffered a serious heart attack. Our thoughts are with you, Bob and Linda.

 

Harold, also not attending today, had his second knee replacement yesterday; Beckie will check in on Harold to make sure everything went well.

 

Beckie passed on sincere appreciation from Long Realty to everyone who participated in the diaper drive.

Beckie suggested that we consider being more involved in the Marana Chamber. Laura and Joan will try to be more present in the Chamber’s activities, as their time permits.

 

Adornment- Laura adjourned her last meeting early at 7:50 with the Four-Way Test. THANK YOU LAURA for all you’ve done!
 

Yours,

Andy Swarthout (any errors are mine and mine alone!)