On March 4, at the Thursday Morning Meeting for all Del Sol Rotarians, Brian Colon, New Mexico State Auditor was the Guest Speaker.  Brian gave  a very interesting and entertaining talk about his growing up in New Mexico as a child of poverty with disabled parents.  He was the first person in his family to obtain a college degree. He gave a lot of credit to Rotarians who helped provide him with an education as a Rotary Scholar.  After his college degree from NMSU he received a law degree from UNM and has gone on to have an excellent career.  His wife , originally from the Phillipines, was a Rotary Exchange student when Brian met her. 

 

Brian is now the State Auditor which is the office that serves as the Public Accountant for the State of New Mexico.  He has a staff of 40 people which oversees all  State Audit functions.  One interesting fact we learned is that most of the State Audits are performed by private CPA firms.  Brian has an  investigation department of three investigators which is responsible for analyzing and investigating 500  Complaints a year. 

 

At the same meeting, President Ed gave an update on the latest Ramps project which took two days to install.  Ed gave particular credit to Jacqueline Hockey and Dave Seely who worked both days on the project as well as Greg Hallstrom, Ramps project chair.

 

Christine Glidden reported that the Navajo Hope project has officially ended but that a grant application is in progress to extend it.  

 

 

Dan Wilkinson reported on a new project of lifequestusa.org  with which Dan is involved.  It is a program for Youth titled The 4:13 Journey which is a 12-week "Adventure -Based Education Program" for youth teaching 12 Strong "Character Qualities".  The Theme of the program is FINISH STRONG.  Any Rotarian wishing to become involved in supporting this program should contact Dan Wilkinson.

 

Barrie Segall, who has been a member of Del Sol since 2017 and served as Membership Chair for two Club Presidents, has resigned from the Club to transfer to the Sandia Rotary Club.  Barrie said he values all the friendships and fellowship he had with Del Sol but that the Sandia Club schedule works better for his schedule.  We will miss Barrie and wish him well as he transitions to the Sandia Club.

 

Tomorrow at 5:30PM via ZOOM the Satellite Meeting for All Del Sol Rotarians will feature NaNi Rivera, Chair of the Santa Fe Film Festival, describing the history of the Festival and the impact it has had on the film industry here in New Mexico over the last 40 years.  All Members and Guests are welcome.  Jeff Weinrach has sent out a link for the meeting.

 

On March 18 at the Thursday  Morning Meeting for all Del Sol Rotarians,  Eddie Nunez, Athletic Director for UNM will be the featured speaker.  Thus is a very timely presentation which will be of interest to all Lobo fans.