Shirley Grace is a proud member and Past President of the Rotary Club of Fresno which she joined in March of 2001. Her Club's projects continue to inspire her passion for hands on service. As such, she travels to Mexico each July with their “Project Nino” team of doctors, nurses and dentists to provide health care services to over 4,000 children. 

 

Shirley has also traveled to India three times for various projects.  She has participated in three Polio National Immunization Days there and has fostered over 30 matching and Global Grants with partners in that Country.

 

Shirley enjoys serving as a keynote speaker wherever Rotary or other organizations take her, and she is the past District Governor 2012-2013 for District 5230. 

  

Shirley is a Major Donor, Paul Harris Society and Bequest Society member and enjoys raising funds for Polio Plus by participating in the Ride to End Polio.  Last year she rode 106 miles and raised over $110,000 with her District and was awarded the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World in 2016-17.

 

Born and raised in Fresno California, Shirley Grace attained her Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University Fresno with a degree in Music Performance and a Masters in Public Administration.  She retired at 50 from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department where she was the Information Technology Manager.

 

Shirley and her husband Dick Jackson, have seven children and sixteen grandchildren.  They live in Auberry near Shaver Lake and enjoy spending time at their beach cottage in Pismo Beach in their spare time.

Past President BILL HARLOW led us in the Inspiration (I swear it really IS him this time!) remembering the importance of fathers to us all. New member CHRISTOPHER SHIREMAN led us in the pledge and song – a stirring rendition of “God Bless America” accompanied by GARY HIRSCH on the piano. DAWNE BELL introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.

 

We had two birthdays. VIC JACOBS donated toward a Paul Harris for her son while thanking everyone for their friendship and fellowship. WOCKY REDSAR-WIERZBINSKI reported that despite her birthday she still has the mind of a spring chicken. In response, PRESIDENT CLIFF offered that he has the mind of a ten-year-old.

 

Sergeant at Arms DALE BERG took us through a raffle of items generously donated by members and an auction of basketball tickets generously donated by Past President JON WANG. During our announcements, PRESIDENT CLIFF conducted a unanimous voice vote approval of the revised Bylaws, encouraged us to review the candidates for the Board of Directors, and spoke about our goals for the Annual Fund Campaign leading several members to donate immediately. JOHN LEWIS asked all members to sign up as soon as possible online for the Replacement Mixer on Thursday, November 30. GEORGE ROCHELEAU noted the frigid weather (80 degrees) which means it’s time once again to sign up for Bell Ringing – December 2nd. ALLYN BULZOMI spoke about the Amphi Interact efforts to raise money for new books to replace those destroyed at Prince Road Elementary.

 

JEFF RONSTADT introduced our speaker Martin Dufwenberg. Professor Dufwenberg teaches and conducts research in game theory at the University of Arizona, Department of Economics. He took us through an experiment to show the positive effect of communication on hiring and effort results in employment, and another that looked at the “Economics of Honesty”. One interesting finding was when the experiment was conducted in a convent, no nuns reported rolling a five or a six. (Who knew nuns were so unlucky?) A truly fascinating presentation. Professor Dufwenberg signed a book titled “Who Done It?” for the Make Way For Books Library.

 

We adjourned with a quote by PRESIDENT CLIFF from Abe Lincoln encouraging us to always put honesty and professionalism above personal gain.

Jon Plimpton and his wife Anne recently moved to Tucson to join his brother Conrad and sister-in-law Ann in our wonderful community and Rotary club.  Jon is the Managing Director at Plimpton & Company and the Principal and Founder of IBMI, a global business development company.  Jon is also affiliated with CDI Global, which is a collaboration of over 50 M&A firms in major global markets. Additionally, he is President of ObjectiD, Inc. a technology start-up company specializing in anti-counterfeit and anti-diversion systems protecting manufacturers and ensuring end users of product integrity.

 

Jon has served as Director-International for Church & Dwight (owner of Arm & Hammer brands), where he was responsible for globalizing the company product lines. He also served as Vice President of International at Prince Manufacturing, Inc., a tennis and leisure products company where he was responsible for the company’s sport marketing operations. In 1985, Jon was one of five participants in a management led buyout of Prince from Unilever. He continued to oversee international operations until the company’s successful sale to Edizione of Italy (Benetton) in December of 1990. During that time the international business grew 2.5 times to represent over 65% of the company’s operating profit and 55% of its sales.

 

Jon holds an MBA from the Booth School at the University of Chicago and a BA from Case Western Reserve University.  Jon and Anne have two sons, Daniel and Matthew.  Please say hello to Jon Plimpton!

Fellow Rotarians,

 

We kicked off our Annual Fund Campaign at the 8 November meeting with a goal to raise $50K for the 2017-2018 Rotary year.  To help us reach the goal, the club is offering a 1:1 match for the first $10K with $10K from club funds, and another 1:1 match for the next $15K with 15,000 accumulated club points.  During and after the meeting yesterday, club members responded with almost $8K in contributions! With the $8K match from the club, that will be almost $16K in donations.  What a start!!!!  Combined with your previous generous donations, year to date, of just over $5K, that puts our Annual Fund total over $20K.  As a reminder, any donations and matching donations (either cash or points) will count towards your Paul Harris Fellow.  If you have any questions about the Annual Fund, please do not hesitate to ask me.

 

I am constantly amazed - although by now I probably should not be - at how well our club responds to requests and challenges and at your desire to help others.  I am having a great time as your President and am honored to serve you all.

 

President Cliff 

 

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Southern Arizona Chapter will host its 29th annual National Philanthropy Day Awards luncheon on Friday, November 17, 2017 at The Westin La Paloma. Registration is at 11:00 AM.  Luncheon is from 11:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.  Our Rotary Club will be honored at this luncheon and receive one of the five major awards. A film will also be shown that features our Rotary Club in the video. The  ticket cost of the event is $80.00 and a portion of that is tax deductible. We hope many of you will attend and represent the Club and show how supportive Rotary is of community engagement and service. Registration can be made on our website under "Upcoming Events" but your club account will not be billed for the luncheon. Money for your tickets will be collected by Ellie Patterson and checks should be made payable to "So. AZ AFP" (So. AZ Association of Fundraising Professionals).   We have four tables reserved and money needs to be turned in by October 27^th. This is such an honor for our Club. Thank you to former member, Cheryl House, who nominated us for this award.

Chef John from GAP Ministries is offering a Thanksgiving dinner for order.  His southwestern version (pictured here) looks so good, you might have to skip cooking this year and order instead.  If you are interested in totally relaxing this Thanksgiving, give Tiane Kennedy of GAP a call at 520-392-8436 or email her at tiane@gapmin.com for more information.