President Bob Grady gaveled the meeting to order promptly at 12:10 PM and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance after some remarks welcoming District Governor Ellie Patterson and celebrating the return of the Prodigal Daughter, Anita McDonald, flush from her World Series winning experience with the Washington Nationals. M. Craig gave a beautiful invocation as always.

After being lovingly served a lovely beef stew punctuated by a carrot cake, President Bob thanked Ellie again as our sole guest of the day and also thanked Liz Wilson for being with us and for participating in last week’s social and Road Clean Up.

Announcements

Bob thanked the Road Clean Up crew and noted that there were three Rotaracters who helped out. The group enjoyed a brunch afterwards at Fini’s Landing.

Bob also announced that Catalina Rotarians have contributed approximately $2300 for tuition assistance for students in Tepehua, Mexico, which is an impoverished neighborhood along Lake Chapala and near Ajijic. This is where the clinic is located which we have supported in many ways over the years.
This Sunday (November 3rd), ten of us will attend the Youth on their Own fall brunch fundraiser thanks to the encouragement of Tony Spear, a committed volunteer to YOTO.

Also, Tony, Anita, and Tom Robertson will be attending the Party with a Purpose, also on Sunday at La Encantada.

The next Board of Directors meeting is this coming Friday, November 8th at 10:30 AM here at the Viscount Hotel. These meetings are open to the membership.

Along the lines of service, President Elect Paul Bennett announced the following opportunities:

Serving Thanksgiving Dinner to Boys and Girls Clubs
1) November 18th at the Roy Drachman Clubhouse 5901 S. Santa Clara Avenue
2) November 26th at the Pascua Yaqui Clubhouse 5010 Calle Torin

We need 8-10 volunteers for each. Sign-up sheets will be on the lunch tables the next few weeks.

Integrative Touch for Kids has a “Play Day” on December 1st where volunteers are needed. There will be sign-up sheets for this as well.

Finally, on Saturday, December 14th from 10AM to 6PM, we will be ringing bells at the Walmart at Broadway and Kolb for the Salvation Army. Paul will be in touch.

District Governor Ellie thanked Catalina Rotary Club for being the #2 (we try harder) club in the district for per capital giving with an average of $533.56. Ellie gave us a nice banner in recognition of this achievement. She also gave the club a certificate of appreciation for raising over $1500 for Polio Plus.

Anita reminded us that November 9th is Foundation Day and there will be a seminar hosted at the Habitat for Humanity (near Grant and I-10) from 10AM to noon. That evening there is a party planned at the Playland Cafe in Downtown Tucson ($50 per head).

Queen of Hearts

Arturo Mojica handled sales and distribution of the Queen of Hearts this week. His sales totaled $56 for a total pot of $566 and his distribution was a goose egg as Tony Spear’s ticket was selected but he pulled the 7 of Hearts (sorry Tony).

Sergeant at Arms

Irv Mindes was our Sergeant at Arms and, in honor of the World Series, he brought up Anita and Kirk to the dais for a World Series Quiz. Irv’s focus is on the heyday of the New York Yankees so his questions involved arcane history from the 1960 and 1962 Yankees World Series teams. Irv lost interest in baseball after the baseball strike, so he was easily stumped by Anita’s question about identifying all the former Diamondbacks who were in the World Series. I believe she even referred to the Diamondbacks as the Nats’ “farm team” (ouch).
Happy Bucks were many and included Tom Robertson fessing up to a fishing trip at the “conflu” (sic) of several major South Dakota tributaries of the Mighty Mississippi, according to plains historian Bob Stofft.

Program

Casey Anderson, Associate Publisher of Tucson Local Media, was our guest speaker and was introduced by Tom Robertson. A graduate of the Eller School at the U Arizona, Casey provided us with an overview of all the different publications under this umbrella organization (including Inside Tucson Business, Tucson Weekly, the Territorial, and the Explorer, just to name a few). Their business is growing despite the structural changes in newspaper publishing. They have 26 full time staff at this time. We had a lively discussion of modern day journalism and the creativity needed to make it all work.
After thanking Casey and giving her a coin with the Four-Way Test, Bob sent us on our way with a quote from Teddy Roosevelt advising that it is better to do the right thing than the wrong thing, but it is better to do the wrong thing than nothing. Bob thanked all the day’s volunteers for helping out with today’s meeting.

Another fun day at Catalina Rotary Club.