What a spring we have had! First of all I want to welcome all of our new members. Thank you for choosing our club and we will work hard to make your experience really worthwhile. Congratulations to our membership chair, Wendy Guyton for her success with growing our club.
Our club continues to lead the way with all of our community service projects. In April we are busy every weekend ! We also continue to work with Impact giving out food the first Wednesday up in Oracle. Our focus this year has been on serving the Copper Corridor and in particular the youth in the communities of Mammoth, San Manuel, and Oracle. To that end we are continuing to work with the Oracle Community Center and San Manuel Revitalization Coalition.
In the schools we are in the midst of two large projects. In San Manuel we are providing emergency lock-down kits for all of the classrooms. In the schools of Oracle, San Manuel, and Catalina we are giving Rotary dictionaries to the students in grades three and four. Each student’s name is in their book so they can treasure it for some time. The books have great reference information going far beyond a typical dictionary.
As I reflect on all of these activities I am so thankful for the work of our committee chairs and the members who have stepped up to lead the work needed.
At this time of year we sadly will see many of our hard working members leaving for the summer months. Thank you all for the work you’ve been doing and we await your return this fall.
We will be passing the gavel from Gordon to John with a Hawaiian celebration dinner and dance on Thursday, June 29th at the Mountain View HOA 2 Ballroom (38759 S Mountain View Blvd, Saddlebrooke). Happy Hour will begin at 5 pm with a no host bar. Dinner will begin at 6 pm. There will be a brief program as we say, "Mahalo" and recognize Gordon for his service as president. We will also say, "E komo mai" and welcome John as our incoming president. The fun will continue as we dance to the sounds of Chuck Moses.
Tickets are $40 per person.There are two entrées to choose from:
You will automatically receive the non vegetarian option unless you tell us otherwise.
Tickets can be purchased at our weekly meetings. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, May 4th, and the last day to purchase tickets will be Thursday, June 15th. Bring a check, payable to Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke. You may pay by credit card if you prefer. If you are unable to attend a meeting in person, contact me to arrange to send a check by mail or I can take your credit card over the phone.
Clean Up Your Act is a campaign for the month of April. While we have our snow birds in town we want to focus on bringing hygiene supplies to our Thursday meetings. For each donation you will receive tickets for fun prize drawings.
Thirteen Rotarians went above and beyond last Monday as they prepared and served lunch at the Oracle Community Center. Thank you to baker, Ric Holm, and soup chefs's, Diane Demeroutis, Linda Howard and Wendy Guyton.
Thank you to Elaine Terry, Linda Howard, Wendy Guyton, John Oszust, Gordon Wainwright, Monica Oszust, Ken Castner, Stephen Argentati, Bill Demeroutis, Ric Holm, Molly Hunter, John Howard and Joe Guyton
Linda Howard thanks Elaine Terry for the 2nd donation of hygiene supplies donated Brandon Terry, Ambassador for Subaru of America. These beautiful packets will be shared with Impact of Southern Arizona and distributed by the food bank at Impact.
It is always a fun time when we come together to cook and serve food at the Oracle Community Center. Plan on joining the fun on April 3, 2023. For more information see Linda Howard or Wendy Guyton.
Important reminder: This week's meeting on Thursday, 3/23, will be a field trip to the Arizona History Museum in Tucson (949 E 2nd St, Tucson, AZ 85719). Lunch is at 11 am and the meeting will be at noon. We will learn about the museum and receive a brief tour. If you would like to join us, but have not paid your $26 (for admission and lunch), please contact Wanda Bailey immediately: wandaleebailey@gmail.com or (858) 243-3768. An email with details regarding carpooling and parking will go out to those who have signed up.
Mark your calendars for April 22, 2022!. For this years Rotary Day of Service, we will be going to Oracle to assist in the annual maintenance of Triangle Ranch YMCA Camp. From painting, cleaning, yard maintenance, there will be a hands on job for members and guests.
Members of our club joined other community volunteers on Saturday at the SBCO Food Drive. Over 100 volunteers came together to sort and box food that will benefit the Tri Community Food Bank. Additionally over $65,000 was collected in cash donations.
Thank you to Don and Elaine Terry, John and Monica Oszust, John and Linda Howard, Ken and Leslie Castner, Tim Morsoni, Leslie Hawkins and Rudi Faller.
A District 5500 Matching Grant has been written and approved to fund half the cost of the Classroom Emergency Lockdown Kit project. 56 lockdown kits have been ordered by our club and will be installed in all classrooms of the Mammoth San Manuel PK-12 School. When equipment arrives we will be looking for volunteers to assemble and deliver the kits.
RYLA delegates Brian Mullen and Joana Cono, joined adult advisor Liese Razzeto, at our March 9 meeting to share the experiences they had at this year's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. RYLA was held over Martin Luther Day King Weekend in Prescott.
Dr. Jim Fry, was officially inducted as a member this week. Jim joined Tacoma Rotary Club #8 in 1983 and has retained membership there until now. As a "rain-bird" he lives part of the year in Tacoma and the other part in Arizona. He has been a long term member of our clubs Amigo program. We are proud that Jim has now transferred his membership to our club.
Our meeting on Thursday March 9, 2023, played to a full house. Having to add an additional table is the kind of problem any Rotary club would love to have. Since less than 2 weeks ago we all woke up to snow, maybe you snowbirds should stay put for awhile and enjoy the best of Arizona has to offer.
A 24 Hour Cycling Event held a few miles from where our club meets each Thursday, suggested it's 1900 riders bring non perishable food items to the starting line of the race held February 17th. The donated food now fills the shelves of the Tri-Community Food Bank, in Mammoth.
Here are the crews we had that made that happen. Thank you Harvey Smith for coordinating this partnership.
Tim Morsani, Deb Rue, Harvey Smith, Liese Razzeto, Leslie and Ken Castner, were our unloading team on Saturday.
The February 20 sorting crew included, Gordon Wainwright, Dan Watson, Leslie Hawkins, Don Terry, Elaine Terry and a Community Volunteer from Mammoth.
The February 28 sorting crew finished the job. Ric and Cindy, Mike, Tim and Linda and Tom.
This week's program will be presented by Sgt. Brian Messing with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office and is currently assigned as the Supervisor of the Narcotics Task Force. He will be discussing drug and addiction problems in the County, with an emphasis on the Copper Corridor. His presentation promises to be informative, and we hope to discover ways we can have a positive impact on this serious problem.
Last week's program was presented by the El Rio Foundation. Our club was offered the opportunity to take a tour of this notable health care program that serves the community. If you did not get a chance to sign the tour interest list and would like to do so, please let Wanda Bailey know at wandaleebailey@gmail.com. by March 2nd. Once we have a good idea of the size of the group who would like to attend, we will arrange a tour date followed by lunch as a fellowship event. Hopefully, a tour date will be identified that will work for most. More to come...
This week's program will be a Club Assembly. We will hear from some of our committee chairs as they report the work of their committees and gather input from our club members (you!). Our club is a very active club. Our Club Assembly will ensure that we are all informed and up-to-date on our many activities, as well as, provide the opportunity to identify issues and discuss future plans.
Welcome Hardin Brothers Automotive as the newest Website Sponsor. You will now see their advertisement on our website and bulletin pages. Your can find more information about them here:
Wendy Guyton, Membership Chair had the honor of inducting 4 new members into The Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke at Thursdays meeting. Youu will find bios for Ken and Leslie Castner, Tom Shellenberger and Bill Olfert in the link above this story.
Wanda Bailey, Club Services Chairman did an excellent job facilitating a half day planning session for our board of directors. The board focused on issues that will get us through the last half of our Rotary year. One important decision made was that it was unanimously voted that we will move the next Fore for Kids Golf Tournament to April of 2024.
To support Rotary International's initiative of "Empowering Girls", our club sponsored San Manuel's Girls Summer Softball League. These girls, ages 3-16 are learning an athletic skill, sportsmanship and determination.
This week's speaker will be Tom Buckley, a former Geologist and Business Owner, currently acting as Oracle State Park’s Geologist and Trail Maintainer. Oracle State Park is a 4,000 acre park established as an environmental education center and wildlife refuge. Situated at an elevation ranging from 3,500 – 4,500’, the Park stays cooler and a little wetter than lower elevation areas nearby. This enables plant life to exist in several distinct ecozones throughout the Park. Furthermore, this elevation and location in the northern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains exposes rocks and minerals spanning much of the 1.7 billion year geologic history of this area. This amazing park is right in our backyard! This week's speaker will be Tom Buckley, a former Geologist and Business Owner, currently acting as Oracle State Park’s Geologist and Trail Maintainer. Oracle State Park is a 4,000 acre park established as an environmental education center and wildlife refuge. Situated at an elevation ranging from 3,500 – 4,500’, the Park stays cooler and a little wetter than lower elevation areas nearby. This enables plant life to exist in several distinct ecozones throughout the Park. Furthermore, this elevation and location in the northern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains exposes rocks and minerals spanning much of the 1.7 billion year geologic history of this area. This amazing park is right in our backyard!
Saddlebrooke Rotarians joined together with many volunteers from the Oracle community to help beautify American Avenue in Oracle. Working with the Oracle Community Center 37 volunteers pulled 48 bags of trash from American Ave today! Thanks to all the individuals, organizations, and businesses who participated to help us Keep It Clean!
Rotarian volunteers were: Diane and Curt Prickett, Jim Fry, Liese Razzeto, Bill Demeroutis, Dan Green, Linda and Dave Daubers
SaddleBrooke Rotarians and guests can look ahead to a fantastic line-up of programs in 2022. Here are some you will enjoy:
June 2, 2022
The Arizona Heroes Memorial will be open to the public and will be unique to Arizona, a dedicated place to provide people with a physical space to remember and to learn. By creating such a space in which people may gather to remember and to learn, Oro Valley will honor the past and educate future generations about the meaning of service and sacrifice to our country. It is time to recognize, honor and remember the living and fallen veterans, first responders and healthcare workers together.
This beautiful living Memorial will contain art, monuments and landscaping that are symbolic to all branches of the Department of Defense, First Responders and Healthcare Workers. We have more than 400,000 veterans, active military and first responders in southern AZ alone.
On January 24th of this year, Oro Valley announced the appointment of Executive Director, Lisa M. Hopper. In this new role, Hopper is responsible for day-to-day operations along with fundraising to ensure the building of Memorial starting in 2022. It will be a destination place for education, history, and reflection. Since its inception in 2016, The Memorial vision has facilitated and expanded the foundation of it mission to honor Active Military, Veterans, First Responders, Healthcare providers.
Lisa Hopper has most recently served as an account executive for Times Publications and was the founder & executive director of World Care International Humanitarian Aid Organization, a nonprofit that created and managed non-emergent and disaster relief for local, national and international events since 1994. Her work with International Humanitarian Aid was recognized with hundreds of awards including presidential letters. Prior to that, she held senior leadership roles in Washington D.C. and Tucson Arizona healthcare industry, serving in development and leadership roles for such organizations as George Washington University Medical Center and University of Arizona Medical Center. Hopper is a veteran and served in the U.S. Armed Services. She is also an author and artist. Lisa Hopper holds a B.S. in Radiology Administration and Physics from George Washington University.
Registration is now open. Seating will be limited so register early. Tables of 10 may be reserved for your group by calling Wendy Guyton at 520-404-5712.
SaddleBrooke Rotary will once again bring to our community a very interesting and enjoyable program featuring the artwork of Diana Madaras. This fundraising event will provide funding for youth and community charities which work hard to enhance the lives of children and others.
Description: Diana will bring much of her artwork. She has also invited other Tucson artists to join her. We will have door prizes, a raffle, and a live auction.
The name Diana Madaras has become synonymous with Tucson and her bold, colorful artwork recently earned her Tucson's vote for Best Visual Artist for the seventh time. Dozens of newspaper and magazine articles have been written about her and her work, and she has been featured on television shows produced by NBC, CBS, and PBS affiliates. She is president of the nonprofit Art for Animals Foundation, a charity she founded that has raised more than $200,000 to help abused, injured and orphaned animals.
Much in demand for commissioned artwork, Madaras has completed paintings for many of the major resorts in Tucson including the Hilton El Conquistador, Westin La Paloma, Loews Ventana Canyon, Canyon Ranch and Miraval.
She also has created eight paintings for the estate of the former President of Mexico.
Her art is featured at Tucson International Airport and has appeared on the covers of 12 magazines including Art Book of the West, The American Veterinary Hospital Journal, and Tucson Lifestyle Magazine.
Her book, The Colors of Tucson, gives the reader a unique tour of Tucson through her paintings from the last 27 years.
Our Community Services Committee has volunteered to patch walls and paint the Impact suite in the strip mall at 15930 N. Oracle in Catalina. This weekend a crew consisting of Bill and Diane Demeroutis, Chris Millar, Gordon Wainwright, and Ed Lueck began patching and prepping the walls.
At the club meeting on January 27th, 2020-2021 Rotary District 5500 Governor, Diane Ventura-Goodyear presented the Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke with the Rotary Citation for Rotary year 2020-2021. The Rotary Citation is awarded to clubs for achieving Goals include increasing club membership, developing sustainable service projects, giving to The Rotary Foundation, and building awareness of Rotary in your community.
Past Presidents Barbara Barr and Joe Guyton receive for the club the Rotary Citation from 2020-2021 District Governor Diane Ventura-Goodyear.
PDG Diane also recognized the club with an achievement award for its contribution to the 2020-2021 Rotary Polio Plus Campaign. Tom Turriff, the Chairman of the annual campaign was not present to receive the award but Club President, Liese Razzeto and riders in the most recent Ride to End Polio received it for the Club.
Left to Right: Bill Demeroutis, Doug May, Liese Razzeto, Eric Erickson, Monica Oszust and John Oszust.
The Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke adds five new members. They are:
Kristi Halvorson
Mollie Hunter
Jack Hunter
Debbie Rue
Marvin Soskil
L to R Membership Chair, Wendy Guyton inducts Marvin Soskil, Mollie Hunter, Debbie Rue, Kristi Halvorson
KRISTI HALVERSON
Kristi worked in a family land development firm in Portland for 20 years, then had a homebuilding business on the Oregon coast. She and her husband Steve lived on a farm in Sherwood, OR for the past 30 years where they operated a tree nursery business. Kristi and Steve have travelled extensively over the years, usually to the 3rd world, and have enjoyed 9 International Rotary conventions. They bought a house in Sun City Oro Valley a couple years ago and have been snowbirds. They just sold the Oregon farm and will moving to Oro Valley full time. Kristi is a long-term Rotarian serving as President, District 5100 District Governor and District Rotary Foundation Chair. She and her husband have participated in two National Immunization Days for Polio in Ethiopia and India; joined two Rotary Friendship Exchange trips to Croatia and India; and have been on several Rotary project trips to Central America. They are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation and Kristi is a Paul Harris Society member.
DEBORAH RUE
Debbie has been a member of Rotary for 30 years and enjoys the fellowship and giving back to the community. She and her husband are both retired veterinarians. She moved to Fremont, CA after veterinary school at WSU and eventually owned her own practice. She joined Rotary in 1989 and served as president in ‘94/95. She and her husband both retired in December of 2020 and moved to SaddleBrooke in January of 2021. They purchased a home in Montana this summer and plan to be snowbirds.
JACK AND MOLLIE HUNTER
Prior to retirement and moving to SaddleBrooke Ranch, Jack owned a printing company and Mollie was a software executive who helped organizations scale up their sales efforts. Mollie was also the COO of the Girl Scouts of Orange County. Individually and together, they have done disaster relief projects over the years primarily around hurricane damage. Most recently they were in the Bahamas helping with the rebuilding efforts after hurricane Dorian.
MARVIN SOSKIL
Marvin is the President and Founder of Brett Harrison Jewelry Brokers, Inc. since 1996 and the author of the book “Integrity, When No One’s Looking”. As a member of the Long Island business community, Marvin served on many boards and committees for Long Island charities including, Ronald McDonald House Advisory Board, Theresa Foundation Golf Committee, Harry Chapin Food Bank, and served as a board member for the National Network of Accountants. He was president and founder of TGIF Business network, board member of LIBRA network and founding member of the Health and Business Alliance in Queens NY. He served on committees for CCAN, The Arthritis Foundation, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and many more.
The Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke made a major donation of books to the Mountain Vista Elementary School in Oracle.
Over 700 new age-appropriate books were delivered by Rotarians to Mountain Vista for their upcoming Summer Youth Program.
Pictured above (l to r) Crystal Nehmeyer, Superintendent of Schools, Liese Razzeto, Shanon Soule, Principal, Harvey Smith and Elaine Terry, Chair of Youth Services Committee. Not pictured was Don Terry.
Saddlebrooke Rotary members partnered with the Oracle Community Center to purchase, assemble and distribute 25 baskets to Home Alone seniors in the Oracle area.
Baskets were assembled by Members of Oracle community center, OWN and a member from Home Alert who evaluated the needs of the home bound seniors.
The baskets contained:
Apples Oranges Mugs Hot chocolate Popcorn Knitted slipper socks Soap Lotion Lip balm Dish towels Ghiradelli chocolate
Barbara Barr, Linda Howard and Diane Demeroutis made cookies. Bill Demeroutis did double duty as a Club member and also a Board member of the Oracle Community Center. Bill and Liese Razzeto shopped with $400.00 donated by the SaddleBrooke Rotary Club Foundation for the goodies.
At the Annual Meeting of The Rotary Club of Saddlebrooke Bill Demeroutis was elected as the President Nominee. His term of office will be for 1 year beginning July 1, 2023.
At last weeks meeting, Leslie Hawkins, was presented with her PHF + 7, recognition pin. Thank you Leslie for your commitment to The Rotary Foundation.
Saddlebrooke Rotary crew pre preparing Minnestrone for Monday OCC s lunch meals.
Members of our club joined other community volunteers on Saturday at the SBCO Food Drive. Over 100 volunteers came together to sort and box food that will benefit the Tri Community Food Bank. Additionally over $65,000 was collected in cash donations. 
RYLA delegates Brian Mullen and Joana Cono, joined adult advisor Liese Razzeto, at our March 9 meeting to share the experiences they had at this year's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. RYLA was held over Martin Luther Day King Weekend in Prescott.
The February 20 sorting crew included, Gordon Wainwright, Dan Watson, Leslie Hawkins, Don Terry, Elaine Terry and a Community Volunteer from Mammoth. 
Wendy Guyton, Membership Chair had the honor of inducting 4 new members into The Rotary Club of SaddleBrooke at Thursdays meeting. Youu will find bios for Ken and Leslie Castner, Tom Shellenberger and Bill Olfert in the link above this story.
Wanda Bailey, Club Services Chairman did an excellent job facilitating a half day planning session for our board of directors. The board focused on issues that will get us through the last half of our Rotary year. One important decision made was that it was unanimously voted that we will move the next Fore for Kids Golf Tournament to April of 2024.
This week's speaker will be Tom Buckley, a former Geologist and Business Owner, currently acting as Oracle State Park’s Geologist and Trail Maintainer. Oracle State Park is a 4,000 acre park established as an environmental education center and wildlife refuge. Situated at an elevation ranging from 3,500 – 4,500’, the Park stays cooler and a little wetter than lower elevation areas nearby. This enables plant life to exist in several distinct ecozones throughout the Park. Furthermore, this elevation and location in the northern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains exposes rocks and minerals spanning much of the 1.7 billion year geologic history of this area. This amazing park is right in our backyard! This week's speaker will be Tom Buckley, a former Geologist and Business Owner, currently acting as Oracle State Park’s Geologist and Trail Maintainer. Oracle State Park is a 4,000 acre park established as an environmental education center and wildlife refuge. Situated at an elevation ranging from 3,500 – 4,500’, the Park stays cooler and a little wetter than lower elevation areas nearby. This enables plant life to exist in several distinct ecozones throughout the Park. Furthermore, this elevation and location in the northern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains exposes rocks and minerals spanning much of the 1.7 billion year geologic history of this area. This amazing park is right in our backyard! 
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