Welcome to another issue of our newsletter! Find out who our upcoming speakers are, what we covered in this week's meeting and any other scheduled events.
We met in person and on zoom. We had 15 members in house plus 1 on Zoom, and 2 guest speakers.
Club President Tonya Watson called the 15th meeting of the 2021-2022 Rotary year at 12:04pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Laura Trout. Tonya led the club in a moment of silent reflection.
The Rotary Moment was led by Eric W (as in Walden) combining RI's February theme of Peace & Conflict Resolution and March 's theme of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.There is war in Europe and we are safe and sound, with peace in our country. We take for granted that clean water will appear at our taps when they are turned on. That assumption is not true in other countries and even in rural parts of our own country. Rotary sponsors many water projects. Since 2013, The Rotary Foundation has invested in more than $130 million in over 2000 projects worldwide.
Thanks for being Rotarians!
This week's program!
Mike Williams introduced this week's speaker. Tasha Vigil is the Community Outreach Director for The Bluffs of Flagstaff Senior Living facility. Tasha has been there for 9 months. The construction has run behind but looks to be open on April 1, 2022.
The Bluffs is a resort-style community with Independent Living, Assisted Living, and a Memory Care unit. The Bluffs is very supportive of the Flagstaff community already through their community outreach program. It has a
concierge program to provide community residents with the amenities and activities they want. Amenities include
Maintenance-free living
Housekeeping and laundry service
Trash removal
Scheduled local transportation
24-hour staff on site
Emergency call system
On-site salon
Activity room
Library
Fitness center
Indoor pool
Putting green
Interior courtyard
Outdoor garden areas
Walking trails
Dog yards
Dog spa
Garages
Covered parking
Full kitchen in each residence
Restaurant-style dining
Pub and wine bar
Bistro
Outdoor kitchen
The independent living section includes Studio, 1, 2, and 3 Bedroom apartments. This section is already 50% full. There is assisted living accomodations for 65 residents, and the Memory Care section will care for up to 25 residents. Memory Care includes an enclosed outdoor area so residents can safely spend time out of doors.
The Bluffs is trying to partner with the NAU culinary school to provide an internship relationship with their chef.
Tasha provided copies of the Flagstaff Community Reference Guide that she created to summarize the various Home Health, Hospice, Medical and various other services that are available in the Flagstaff community today.
As with all speakers, Tonya presented a thank-you book: “The Old Boat" by Jarrett & Jermone Pumphrey. It will be donated in Tasha's name to the Flagstaff Family Food Center Reading Room.
club service
Vocational Service
Eric W (as in Wolverton) gave the two minute talk. Eric is the Executive Director of the Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona. He brought news to the club of a new model of housing that is currently being developed. The existing model for the past 50+ years has been to provide affordable housing though volunteer community labor and donations. Nationwide, this has provided some affordable housing but has not created a permanent solution.
The proposed new program is to build small starter one-bedroom houses (400 sq ft) on land that is held by Habitat. There will be a nominal down payment (est $1250) and then monthly payments of around $830 per month. It will still have the zero interest financing. The owner has title to the house only. The land will be held in trust. After 3 years, the owner can sell the house back to Habitat, and will receive 100% of the downpayment and monthly payments back to use as a downpayment for their next house.
He is working with the city of Flagstaff, and developers to get land that is not large enough for a standard house but would be large enough for the starter home. There is a lot of need in Flagstaff for this type of housing, with the City, NAU, and the school system all noting there is difficulty in recruiting because of the high cost of housing.
Community Service
Millie Alexander has organized the rest of the Rotary year. Activities include:
March 13th: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fundraiser at Heritage Square
April 30th: Flagstaff Junior Academy yard cleanup
May TBD: Habitat for Humanity fence building
June TBD: working with Arboretum staff on outdoor clean-up projects.
Cycle for a Cure for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - March 13
Maria Martell and zoom guest Lisa Phinney spoke about supporting Team Brandon (Maria's son-in-law). He has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This is a stationary bike fundraiser to support reason for a cure in blood related cancers. It is our March community service project to support this activity at Heritage Square.
- To book a bike, go to https://www.thespinboxstudio.com/ or call 928-404-0700
- To donate to Team Brandon, go to https://pages.lls.org/tnt/gr/hikepnwc22/HKohn
The Club approved a $100 contribution from our club coffers.
Announcements and Other News
2022 club visioning - Feb 26th
Carla Viola noted 16 club members and 3 district coordinators participated in the Club Visioning. The results are being summarized and will be presented to the Club during the April 5th meeting.
Interactors
Eric Walden noted the The Interactors had another successful student run fundraiser for local distribution of menstrual products. More than $1000 cash was received in addition to the products donated. The Interactors will distribute the menstrual products to local Flagstaff not-for-profits during March in support of Women's History month.
Lindsey Watson of Threaded Together, a local not-for-profit sewing and creative group, is looking for additional members of their board of directors. Contact Lindsey if you are interested in volunteering at lindsey@threadedtogether.org
Our weekly ‘50-50 split the pot’ card game aka “Hoppy Bucks”... Laura won the chance to win the pot but alas no joy, she pulled the 2 of Diamonds. (RATS! notes the editor) Better luck next week. The pot is up to $937... so nearly $468 for the winner.
Happy Bucks:
- Mike W $10 happy to have completed replacing flooring in his house
- Lee R $20 for his daughter, cancer free!
-Eric Wolverton $10 for the McDowell Music Festival this weekend. It supports Habitat for Humanity of N. Arizona. https://m3ffest.com/
- Maria $20 for Brandon.
Thanks everyone for your donations.
Mark your calendars!
Look above for links to worthwhile Rotary events.
Pencil in working on the Mural in April-May timeframe.
Adjornment
President-Elect Meredith led the Four Way test. President Tonya closed the meeting with a Quote for the Day:
“I do believe that clean water is THE most efficient way to change the world."
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