Stories

RIFLE RAFFLE WINNERS

 

GRAND PRIZE: BOB RICKS

 

1ST PRIZE: TARA COYLE

 

2ND PRIZE: BOBBIE PETERS

 

3RD PRIZE: PACKARD POLIN

 

 

Track the Team Rotary in the Race Across America as they pedal for eradication of Polio.  Andy and I saw some of them cycling when we drove to San Diego last week. 

As the Race Across America Team was celebrating achieving the $1 million goal and the ability to have 1.67 million children to be vaccinated, we learned that Venezuela has had its first case of polio 30 years.  Not only is first case Venezuela but Polio has landed on another continent which is very concerning.  This reminds us polio is only a plane ride away.  This year there have been 8 cases in Afghanistan and 2 cases in Pakistan. 
News articles on this polio situation in Venezuela: Newsweek, Dailywire, CNN.

It is time to ask friends to attend our Double Down Casino Night so they can enjoy the fun and help us raise money for YEI and Launch Pad.

 

There are several of you who are not able to attend the  DDC event.  But we are needing help setting up Saturday morning at 8 Am and for clean up on Sunday morning.  Please let Candace know if you can help with either of those.

 

 

On March 28th Andy and Candace Tomlinson met up with Ben DeBlois, Forester with the US Forest Service.  He led us out Copper Basin Road where we parked our cars near High Valley Ranch subdivision and then walked a 1/4 mile to a site that the Forest Service needs help clearing.   We can do as little or as much of the 5 acre site that we want or are able to do. The hillside has manzanita and another shrub crowding in around the 5 to 7 foot pine trees.  The Forest Service plans to do a control burn in the neighboring area in the near future and would like to extend it to this section also, so these young pines have a chance of growing old.  However, if the shrubs around the pines are not cut back from around the pines the young pines would have trouble surviving. 

     The project involves hiking in the 1/4 mile; bring gloves,  loppers and hand saws to cut away the shrubs near the pines, piling the cut shrubs in a huge pile that can be burned later.  Kevin suggested involving the Interact group in PV to add some additional muscle.

     This project would be an alternative to our club participating in planting a tree for each member as our Rotary International President is championing.  Instead we would be making our forest healthier and regenerate an area with pines while also, creating a defensible space around Prescott.   I am excited about this fresh air service project that helps maintain the beauty of our mountains and forests and hope that you find it an exciting opportunity also. 

If you want to purchase tickets on line for DDC, you can go to the website DoubleDownCasinoNight.com. 

To give our club the credit for the ticket sales our code is PR (as in Prescott Rotary).  Our portion of the proceeds is based in part on our ticket sales.

    

     Several members have suggested raffle baskets for Golf, Western and Kitchen (home).  Let Candace know if you can contribute something to one of those baskets.  Also, if you have an item that would be a good silent auction item please fill out a form and give to Candace so we can receive credit for our contribution.

It was cold, it was cloudy, it was fun and it was productive.  Cindy provided hot drinks and food to nourish us and the 2 men volunteers from the Yavapai Cemetery Association instructed us.  We rehabilitated a plot where 5 men are buried who were killed in an 1887 sawmill explosion out Lynx Creek. We, with Pandora and Steve Young and Cindy Gresser in photo, even made the front page of the Courier as Sue Tone came and took photos and wrote an article about how the County will be taking over the upkeep of the cemetery from now on.  And if I could figure out how to change the image size you would be able to see us at work and when finished. Those who attended in addition to the 3 mentioned above were Kevin Pitts, his son Rodney, Robert Mulligan (prospective member),Manuel Lucero, Anne Wenzel and Candace Tomlinson.

On Wednesday, February 7th, the 3 presidents of the Prescott Rotary Clubs were interviewed on KQNA radio by Joe Howard, PUSD superintendent and Marti Read, assistant superintendent.  To prepare for the interview I reviewed the ways our Rotary Club of Prescott has assisted PUSD.   As I made notes and jotted down items, the list continued to grow. After looking through archived files even more activities emerged.  They make quite a fine list.  So to honor our past and current activities, it seemed a good idea to document them as seen below.

 

-  Our club assisted in restructuring the Prescott High School Career day by devising a new form to determine the students interests, arranging for professionals to come in to speak, most of whom were Rotarians, and put on a three morning Career Day where the presenters talked about the education needed, the typical day and other ramifications.

-  For 5 years we conducted Camp Free Enterprise.  This was a 3 day weekend for 25 PUSD seniors at Friendly Pines camp where they had an in depth study of the American Economic System.

-   $4450 was given to Discovery Gardens Pre-School

-  We participated in At-Risk- Student Summer program

- Gave Vocational and academic scholarships to Prescott High School Seniors.

-  Participated in Teacher of the Year awards

-  Sent students to Boys and Girls State weekend sponsored by the American Legion which studies American government

-  Give Student of the Month awards, originally $100 saving bond, and then a $50 cash card.

-  Financial support to the Football Team, Band, and Show Choir

-  Sponsor students to attend RYLA

-  In the early years gave money to the PUSD elementary schools and Middle school libraries.

-  Give library books to the Lincoln and Taylor Hicks libraries in honor our the speakers at our weekly meetings.

We have made an imprint on Prescott education.

If you can think of other activities we have done let me know and I shall add it to the list!

 

 

 

We are a fun group.

Is it not IQ.  It is "I can, I will, I must"

 

from PETS 2017

This month we lost another of our memorable members, Eldon Bowman.  Eldon joined our club in September 2005. He always espoused the virtues of Rotary and encouraged those he met to join our club.  He made us aware of the need for a good microphone and accessibility of our meetings.  Eldon generously gave to our Rotary Club of Prescott Paul Harris funds so that all members of our club could be Paul Harris members.  

Just recently Eldon volunteered to be a speaker for our club if we had an opening.  We did need him and he presented  one of his favorite poems.  He said he still pondered it's significance.  It is called "The World of Fancy" and is about 5 blind men experiencing a different part of an elephant.  He gave us a folder with copies of the poem and they will be available at our meetings.

 

If you are ever traveling the old dirt General Crook Trail east of Camp Verde up to the top of the Mogollon Rim, look for the metal hash signs posted about 8 feet off the ground on the pine trees.  Eldon marked the trail with the hash marks while riding on horse back decades ago.  Candace has photographs of them.

When Eldon lived in Flagstaff he was a member of Rotary there and was Past President of a Flagstaff club.  When attending leadership training sessions in Phoenix this past spring, a member of his former club remembered him well. 

Eldon's obituary in the Courier did not mention a memorial service.  It did suggest in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave, 86301 or online at www.smokimuseum.org

The three Rotary Clubs in Prescott held a competition on Saturday December 16th to see which club could raise the most money with their Salvation Army Bell Ringing.  Our Rotary Club of Prescott was stationed at the cross walk by the Courthouse in front of the Harley Davidson Store.  Kevin and Elizabeth played Christmas music to entice donations.  Candace brought her dog Sam with her with the same motivation in mind.  SunUp Rotary was in front of Bloomtree Realty and Frontier was at True Value.  We shall see how we all did ...soon I hope.

What is it like taking a large team to Africa?  It has probably been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. In mid February, I began leading Rotary members from all over the East Coast of the United States through Ghana. I’ve tried to give the team a warm Ghanaian welcome like I’ve received on my earlier trips. A large trip is a real blessing because each person sees Ghana and our work in a different way.

For years, Angalia Bianca had slept in abandoned buildings throughout Chicago. She stole. She did drugs. She spent time in and out of jail for forgery, theft, trespassing, and possession of narcotics. But after she landed in prison for the seventh time, something changed -- Bianca knew she wanted a better life. She just didn’t know how to make it happen.

Throughout India and around the world, Rotary clubs are celebrating a major milestone: India has gone three years without a new case of polio. The last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal on 13 January 2011. To mark this historic triumph, Rotary clubs illuminated landmarks and iconic structures throughout the country with four simple but powerful words, "India is polio free."