Speakers

Carolyn is a co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Earth Funeral, a green death care brand. Prior to joining Earth, Carolyn worked in healthcare, most recently as the Vice President of Patient Experience and Social Work Services at DaVita, a Fortune 200 healthcare company and the leading provider of kidney care services in the United States. Carolyn is also a hospice volunteer and trained End of Life Doula. 

Talk: "Earth Soil Transformation: A Green Alternative to Traditional Burial and Cremation"

Carolyn will provide an overview of soil transformation, which is an environmentally-friendly alternative to cremation. Over the course of 30-45 days, the body is gently and naturally transformed into nutrient-rich soil. Families can use the soil to plant a tree, garden, etc., and/or can scatter it in meaningful places. The majority of the soil is donated to a restoration project on the Olympic Peninsula. An Earth Soil Transformation is carbon-neutral and enables one's last act to be a gift to the planet and future generations. 

Harry Coder is a retiree and resides in Ahwatukee, Arizona.  Harry will share with us his experiences as a Columbus, Ohio, homicide detective.

ASU Rotaract and San Tan Rotary Foundation members will update us on their recent "ASU Traveling Trophy" campaign and Rich Simmons, Pledger Robertson and Mark Pearlstein will discuss their Arizona Veterans Fly Fishing, Inc. organization and  recent "Project Healing Waters" trip.

TBA

Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke will give us an update on the city of Chandler, highlighting its growth and future

Councilmember Christine Ellis was born and raised in Haiti and moved to the United States in July 1982. She has resided in Chandler since 1987. She has been married to her husband, Benjamin, for 32 years and has two children, Sean and Taliah.

Councilmember Ellis has a Bachelor of Science, in Nursing from Grand Canyon University and has worked as an RN for many large hospitals and care facilities, while holding many high-level positions such as Director of Nursing in the Metro Phoenix area. She has also taught medical assistant and certified nursing classes in Arizona’s community colleges.

From 1998 to 2015, she founded and operated Cedar Sanctuary LLC, realizing that families needed an alternative to caring for their loved ones. In addition to caring for the elderly, she has been a part of the foundation of The Bridge/FCS Ministry for more than 17 years, which helps feed the local homeless population and provides to their spiritual needs, partnering with other ministries in Arizona.