Rotary Club of Marana
                                                                    
Our meeting was opened by President Holt sharply at 7AM. The pledge was followed by words of wisdom from RWE regarding "ENTHUSIASM". Emerson said nothing great is ever achieved without "ENTHUSIASUM"! President Holt then gave a mediocre half hearted example of enthusiasm.
 
Guest for the meeting was one, Alex Droban. Alex is a current member of the Rotary Club of Valle Verde. He is now retired from the Sahuarita Police Dept, lives close to Nana's Kitchen and is shopping for a new club. (Dan, he is a fly fisherman)
 
Richie Benner gave an overview of the District Conference. Richie did all the heavy lifting surrounding our Hospitality Room which consisted of putting tee shirts on chairs and passing out cookies. (his words). Over all he gave the conference good marks.
 
Mary Straus told the club of our Presidential Citation for outstanding work. One of eight selected out of over 50 clubs. The Rotary Club of Marana was also #3 in the entire district for average donation to the Foundation per member. Great Job!
 
Randy Brooks told of the Sunday morning recognition of our veteran members. Randy called Eric Miller up front to receive his Veteran/Rotarian pin.  
 
COTTON FESTIVAL- Will be this Saturday evening and we will need volunteers to vend beer along with the Dove Mountain Rotary. Festival held at Heritage Park, on Tangerine west of I10.  
 
The 23rd of October will be a meeting at President Holt's home for a review with Club Officers and District Governor Joe Hentges. The following morning DG Hentges will attend our Tuesday meeting. PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND.
 
Maeve Johnson spoke at length regards her organization for Tour de Tucson aide station. A sign up sheet was sent around. Hopefully all who are in town will participate in this event that literally raises tens of millions of dollars for the eradication of polio.
 
Lots of people happy for various and sundry reasons and were willing to pay to express their joy aloud. Thanks to Dan-Alabama golf with dad and bro, David Hindman -Himmel Park Trees being planted by his law firm, Lynne Himmer-end of tax season, Clint-trip to the frozen remote tundra of North Dakota to visit aeronautical school with his son. There were many others, but my favorite was deja poo- "I've seen this shit before." Thanks, Maeve.
 
Mary won and lost the raffle/drawing with the 5 of spades.
 
Mirabel, our Nigerian Exchange Student, was our presenter for the day. She started with a map of Nigeria pointing out the capitol of Abuja. She shared with us their Coat of Arms, motto of Unity, Faith, Peace and Progress. 
Mirabel comes from a family of five children although two are deceased. She did have a goal of being a pediatrician, no doubt influenced by the loss of two siblings. However, she is coming to the realization that their are many avenues in medicine that can be explored. Her father is usually away from home as he works in the oil industry. Her mother used to buy and sell items obtained from travels to Dubai, but no longer is doing that. Mirabel has two brothers and her favorite is the 11 year old as he does what she tells him, not so much the older brother.
 
Politics were delved into and the beloved Goodluck Jonathon's presidency was much more pleasing than the current elderly, ill, military background of current president Muhammadu Buhari. He comes from the north which apparently is more violent than the south of Nigeria.
 
Nigerians were colonized by the British and therefore English is their official language. They have been independent since 1960.