Announcements:
Art said he had been asked to announce that on June 6, D Day, in Gough Park there will be a rally for “Unite for Veterans” from 4-6 pm. This is about protesting the reduction in benefits and services to veterans. He also brought up something that had been discussed earlier in the year, a $1,000 prize for Latino authors through Southwest Festival of the Written Word. This is sponsored by LULAC. Art felt it was a good idea to sponsor this since we should be courting the Hispanic community here, much as Deming did, to bolster our membership. He would like to see the club make a $250 donation towards this prize. Linda Telaak said this is a board item that should be discussed with them first. Phil Schoenberg said the Festival had been postponed from its October date so we had plenty of time to make a decision.
The other issue is our venue since The Hearth does not seem to be working out. The bowling alley has welcomed us back with the proviso that we eat lunch there, ordering from their menu.
Discussion followed about whether or not to charge for lunch via dues. Discussion to be continued at a later date.
Sunny Kellerman asked if she could give us a report on the Epic Day of Service. She said the vision is for every club in the world doing a project on the same day. It will be an annual event
on the third Saturday in May. She said this was the first year for our district to participate in this program that has been going for four years, and 19 clubs in our district participated this year.
She thanked us for our participation and effort.
Art reminded us that next week we’ll be meeting at Ft. Bayard Medical Center at 11 am to honor Bill Harrison by celebrating his 103rd birthday. On June 10 we will meet at the bowling alley.

 

Art introduced Iris Nolasco, Executive Director of The Commons, Center for Food Sustainability and Sufficiency, to give us an update on their work. They have been around for over 20 years. She passed a sheet showing their year-end review of their programs. They are involved in 5 areas: food distribution, Alimento in which The Commons works with individual schools to design a food program that meets the needs of their families and children. This blended approach includes backpacks, family boxes, school pantries, and farm stands. In addition they have a youth conservation camp to train 14-25 year olds in first aid, food-safe handling, culinary skills, event planning, financial literacy, garden maintenance, public speaking, and more life skills. Iris directed us to their website thecommonsgrantcounty.org for additional
information. She said they have a commercial kitchen that is available for small local business entrepreneurs to use. They have a bi-weekly culinary club that includes WNMU students as
well as community members. There fundraising gala will be in September this year rather than July. Currently they are serving about 1200 families every month. She invited us to be involved and brought volunteer sheets. 

After a question and answer period, Art adjourned the meeting.