December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month
The 2022 Mexico/Arizona Global Grant Partnership Conference (from DG Anita McDonald)
"When Michael Drake shared with all of us that the next Mexico/Arizona Global Grant Partnership Conference would be held in Zacatlan, Mexico, I thought, “Wow! That’s very nice and I hope some District 5500 members will attend.”. As the date grew closer and with encouragement from Michael Drake and Teree Bergman, I decided to attend. I left on October 28, 2022, with DDF Funds approved by the District Foundation Committee to invest in strong, impactful Grant Proposals presented by Clubs from Mexico and Arizona. Over two days, the 80+ conference attendees, including representatives from also Argentina, Columbia, Canada, California, Illinois, and Baltimore/DC, listened to 22 proposals. Every proposal received some pledge of funds; I pledged $25,000 on six worthy proposals. I will keep you updated as the proposals proceed through the RI Grant approval process. Please contact me if you are interested in the specific topics of the proposals.
In addition to listening and judging grants and being part of lots of ceremonies, we participated in a nearby service project involving local youth and toured Zacatlan and Chignahuapan, both cities in Puebla. Because it was the Halloween and the Day of the Dead weekend, we joined in the face makeup fun and participated in a beautiful Festival of Light and Life.
I share with you some of the photos from this amazing trip. I wish I could share the warmth, friendship, kindness and fun of our host, the Rotary Club of Zacatlan and the generosity of the District 4185 Governor, “Kikis”, Maria Enriqueta Lopez De Arbesu.
The 2023 Mexico/Arizona Global Grant Partnership Conference will be in Prescott, Arizona. I want to “IMAGINE” 40 of our clubs in attendance to meet fellow Rotarians, to learn about projects, to get inspired to develop an idea of your own, to build lasting friendships and continue to make a difference in the lives of others. We will inform you as soon as the 2023 date is set."
The Rotary Club of Tucson Kino
The Polar Express (from Deb Haddock)
TUCSON KINO ROTARY(from David Fawcett)
CHARACTER AWARDS
On November 18, 2022, the Tucson Kino Rotary Club honored nine area high school students with Character Awards. Awardees are nominated by school administrators, counselors, teachers, or other students.
In 2011, The Tucson Kino Rotary Club established the Spring and Fall Character Awards to honor high school students who serve as role models in their schools and in society via service to the community and for acting in accordance with the 4-Way Test.
This Fall, the Character Award Recipients are:
Samuel Carrillo, PPEP TEC High School
Esteban Macias, Desert View High School
Hakima Abdulkadir, Sunnyside High School
Dominic Ariaza, Alta Vista High School
Aritza Monge Morales, Pueblo Magnet High School
Isabel Garcia, Star Academic High School
Cecilia Antone, Baboquivari High School
Serene Matus, Cholla High School*
Mark Cordova, Toltecalli High School*
*Schools added for Fall, 2022
The students were recognized at a community breakfast attended by family and representatives from each school. Each honoree received a Certificate of Recognition, a Rotary 4-Way Test coin, and a $50 gift card. In addition, Tucson Kino Rotary will donate $25 to a charity of each student’s choice.
From left: Committee Co-Chairs Maria Patterson and Emma Carrillo, students Isabel Garcia, Serene Matus, Dominic Ariaza, Mark Cordova, Esteban Macias, Samuel Carrillo, Hakima Abdulkadir and Aritza Monge Morales
(Cecelia Antone, could not attend.)
The Rotary Club of Vail (from Ginger Leavitt)
The Rotary Club of Vail is having an online See’s candy fundraiser. Items must be ordered by December 2, 2022. Thank you!
The Rotary Club of Valle Verde (from Ginger Leavitt)
The Rotary Club of Rincon (from Mike Esparza)
The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona
(from PDG Diane Ventura-Goodyear)
The Rotary Club of Tucson Sunset (from PDG Diane Ventura-Goodyear)
TUCSON SUNSET ROTARY CLUB
MATCHING DISTRICT GRANT FOR THE DIAPER BANK OF ARIZONA
A CHECK FOR $1,000!
WHAT AN EXCITING EVENING!
The check for $1,000 was awarded to Dr. Shannon Roberts at the regularly scheduled evening meeting on November 1, 2022.
Tucson Sunset Rotary Club members have also agreed to 20 hours of service at the Diaper Bank.
The Diaper Bank is continually in need of assistance from the community including money, diaper drives as well as packaging opportunities at their building on 1050 S Plumer Ave, Tucson, 85719.
Additionally, Tucson Sunset Rotary awarded the Four-Way Test Plaque to Dr. Roberts to display at the Diaper Bank facility.
(Sunset Rotary President Ann Huber, Dr. Shannon Roberts (CEO of the Diaper Bank of AZ)
(Due to a recent grant, the Diaper Bank of Southern AZ will now be known as the Diaper Bank of AZ - providing service to all of Arizona.)
The Rotary Club of Tucson Sunrise (from Myron Donald)
In November 2022, Tucson Sunrise, in partnership with Goodwill Industries, shipped 106.7 pounds of yarn to The Rotary Club of Bali Ubud Sunset, Indonesia, for distribution to women there to turn into craft items for sale.
Tucson Sunrise shipped 90 pounds in August of 2021. Goodwill is now collecting the yard and Tucson Sunrise, through its Foundation, pays for the majority or all of the shipping cost.
The Ubud Club said these donations and sales have been a godsend because the markets in Indonesia were open only on a very limited basis due to COVID. During the COVID lockdown, the women worked at home to produce crocheted and sewn items.
After one sale, a Balinese woman said, "Now I can buy rice for my family!".
In 2019, before the pandemic began, then President of the Rotary Club Bali Ubud Sunset, Kartika “Tika” Dewi, launched a new program called “Sewing for Living” to teach local women to use sewing machines. The Rotary Club of Seaford, Australia, donated sewing machines. Balinese women have always had multiple jobs: taking care of children and family, doing the housework, providing help to the community, and assisting at temple and cultural events, among other duties.
It is important for women to make their own money, not only for their self-esteem, but to enable them to support their entire families. Sewing for Living teaches marketable skills that women can use from their homes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these women were the sole providers for their families.
Then, in 2021, when the Bali Club introduced crochet lessons to Sewing for Living, they quickly discovered that yarn was scarce and expensive in the local markets, so they reached out to the Rotary Clubs of Tucson Sunrise, Tucson Catalina and New Tampa Noon in the United States.
The Rotary Club E-Cologne in Germany is also involved. It provides a vital market for the items that the Sewing for Living women produce.
That Club purchases products for the Christmas Markets in the Cologne area.
The Bali women are also producing purses, hats, scarves, and stuffed orangutans. The women get half of sales of their products. In the case of the orangutans, the other half goes to preserving the habitat of the endangered orangutans in East Kalimantan.
And, some of women are knitting golf club covers, which they will sell at a small market in a golf resort where the Rotary Club of Bali Ubud Sunset holds a charity golf tournament.
Now Sewing for Living is expanding into Pinda Village, which is 30 - 45 minutes from Ubud.
About 70 Rotary cyclists, a small but mighty group from Rotary Clubs across the country, joined with 7,500 El Tour riders on Saturday, November 19, 2022. The goal this year of The Ride to End Polio was to raise several million dollars to help end polio forever.
We won’t know the total raised till later in December, 2022, but the Rotary leadership team is thrilled to be part of something so significant for the human race. All of us are part of this amazing story of defeating a disease that would have paralyzed 20,000,000 children in recent decades if we had not stepped forward to help heal the world.
PDG Ellie Patterson, PDG Kirk Reed, PDG Ernie Montagne, RI General Secretary John Hewko, and his wife. Marga.
The Top 10 Reasons to Support The Rotary Foundation – Part 1 (from DGND Bob Grady, regradyjr@gmail.com )
Rotary is blessed with a world-class non-profit – The Rotary Foundation – which enables our world-class humanitarian services that span the globe. To make sure TRF isn’t taken for granted, let’s review the Top 10 Reasons to Support TRF (the first five now, the last five in the next edition):
10. A Perfect 100/ØØØØ: The scores The Rotary Foundation has received from Charity Navigator for the past 14 years, 100 of 100 possible points and 4 of 4 stars. TRF is among the top 1% of all charities evaluated.
9. A Return on Your Investment: 47.5%* of your donations come back to District 5500 after three years to fund District grants for our communities. (*Of the balance, 47.5% goes to worldwide grant and program opportunities and 5% to operating expenses.)
8. Accountability: Every Global and District Grant application undergoes a thorough vetting prior to approval, followed by periodic detailed reports and reviews including random audits.
7. Sustainability: A prerequisite of grant applications is proof that each project has sufficient local funding and support for long-term success after Rotary funds are expended.
6. Billions of Our Brothers and Sisters around the World: Commemorate the lives that Rotary has changed and make a difference for the many who depend on our help. Rotary has protected over three billion children to date from polio.
You make TRF possible and viable through your support, both financially and conversationally. Please remember to include TRF in your end-of-year giving plans – the ultimate WIN/WIN.
To learn more or to donate visit: https://www.rotary.org/en/donate or contact the District Rotary Foundation team at D5500TRF@gmail.com to ask a question or to schedule a club meeting program on all things Foundation.
The Rotary Club of Sierra Vista Sunrise (from Peter Huisking)
Sierra Vista Sunrise Rotary conducted its 10th annual Rising Sun Run Half Marathon on Saturday, November 5, 2022. The race is the major fundraiser to provide Rotary youth vocational scholarships for graduating high school seniors, Rotary youth leadership and professional skills development programs, and funding for Rotary service projects to non-profit organizations. The Club prides itself on partnership with soldiers at Fort Huachuca who participate as runners or volunteers.
Sunrise Rotarian Peter Huisking described the course to some members of the Half Marathon team from the 2nd Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment, as they prepared for the challenge.
PDG Dan Messersmith (from PDG Diane Ventura-Goodyear)
We are mourning the loss of Dan Messersmith who passed away the morning of October 27, 2022.
Dan was a Past District Governor of Rotary District 5490 and served for over a decade on the Board of Directors of The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona where he personally processed grant applications for hundreds of individuals wanting to improve their earning capacity.
He was honored last spring at the Rotary District 5495 District Conference where he was presented with The Rotary Service Above Self Award from Rotary International, Rotary's highest award.
You can read more about Danny's life as a humanitarian, historian and Rotarian, and see photos of Danny, by visiting the district website.
A Celebration of Life for PDG Danny Messersmith will be held on Dec 10, 2022, a 2:00 pm at Mohave Community College, Room 240, 1971 Jagerson Ave., Kingman, AZ 86409. All are welcome to attend.
Donations are suggested to the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona, in Danny's memory, instead of flowers.
If you want to honor his memory by making a donation in his honor, you can make your donation online at trvfa.org.
THE CLUBS' SHOWCASE
(NEWSLETTER)
Please submit your Club news by the 20th of each month. The newsletter will usually be distributed on the 1st of each month.
Show off your Club. Tell us about your Club's projects and experiences; share your Club’s best practices. Rotary Clubs learn from each other!
Our editor, Myron Donald, is awaiting your article. Please send content in Word. Do not embed images in your Word article; send them as .jpeg attachments.
"When Michael Drake shared with all of us that the next Mexico/Arizona Global Grant Partnership Conference would be held in Zacatlan, Mexico, I thought, “Wow! That’s very nice and I hope some District 5500 members will attend.”. As the date grew closer and with encouragement from Michael Drake and Teree Bergman, I decided to attend. I left on October 28, 2022, with DDF Funds approved by the District Foundation Committee to invest in strong, impactful Grant Proposals presented by Clubs from Mexico and Arizona. Over two days, the 80+ conference attendees, including representatives from also Argentina, Columbia, Canada, 
California, Illinois, and Baltimore/DC, listened to 22 proposals. Every proposal received some pledge of funds; I pledged $25,000 on six worthy proposals. I will keep you updated as the proposals proceed through the RI Grant approval process. Please contact me if you are interested in the specific topics of the proposals.
out to the Rotary Clubs of Tucson Sunrise, Tucson Catalina and New Tampa Noon in the United States.
We are mourning the loss of Dan Messersmith who passed away the morning of October 27, 2022. 
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