Typically, the President’s 2nd quarter review would be in early January, but I elected to tap the brakes given the Car Show program and the presentation of a check to our friends at Pima County JTED. That all occurred last week. More on this in a moment. First, a quick note about our programs and a big thank you to our amazing Program Committee consisting of Kurtis Dawson, David Lovitt, and Nancy Bevins. They have stayed true to our Centennial focus in bringing our members incredible keynote speakers who are all “Tucson Treasures”. Please join me in thanking them.
The second quarter of the year and the first few weeks of January we have enjoyed some truly outstanding keynote speakers including Henrietta “Hank” Huisking (Rotary District 5500 Governor); Bonnie Schock (Fox Theatre); Zach Yenzer (Tucson Young Professionals); Diana Madaras and Lisa Bates (Tucson Wildlife Center); Joni Condit (Tucson Classics Car Show); General Ted Maxwell (SALC); Crystal Stark (Singer); Bill Doelle (Archaelogy SW); Richard Oseran (Hotel Congress); Felipe Garcia (Visit Tucson); Dr. Angelo Versace (UA Jazz Studies); Roger Pfeuffer (Mission Gardens); Carlotta and Ray Flores (El Charro); and Kasey Hill (Greater Tucson Leadership).
So too a round of thanks to the Switcher Studio Team for all their efforts too. Matt Blair, Jenn Delaney, Dan Kalm, Bob Logan, Chris Mooney, Tom Moulton, Gary Olsen, you are all simply the best. This provides a lot of exposure to sponsors and allows our members who are unable to attend a way to stay engaged. Thank you.
Rick Rose (Film Creations) and Matt Russell (Russell Public Media) continue to knock the ball out of the park with the video introductions of our keynote speakers. A big thank you to both of them too.
And now the big news!!! To say the 15th Annual Car Show and our Centennial Celebration were successful is an understatement. Thank you to Joni Condit and Jim Lubinski for their leadership as our chairs. They and the team simply knocked the ball out of the park. Over 25,000 people attended the Car Show and enjoyed over 400 classic cars.
As a Club we made a commitment to JTED of $250,000 and exceeded that commitment by presenting them with just over $456,000 over the last two years. Wowza, that is over $200,000 more than we promised them. That donation will increase given they have been named as our beneficiary to our 2022 Tucson Classics Car Show.
The icing on the cake was Honorary Members Rob Draper and Buck O’Rielly at O’Rielly Chevrolet electing to donate to PCC JTED scholarships, in the name of the Rotary Club of Tucson, the entire cost of the car they helped us secure through Chevrolet. That added over $71,000 to the funds raised for JTED students and brought the overall impact to just over $527,000.
The group had a lot of fun too and the addition of Honorary Member Adia Barnes as our Car Show Marshall was a hit. So too was her bringing the entire UA Women’s Basketball team to support the event.
Sadly, it has not been all roses. A handful of members, who were on “Leave of Absence” announced at year end that they were going to step away. The greater majority have stated business pressure and/or COVID related issues being the most mentioned. We have dropped to 235 members (which includes 15 Honorary Members).
We are hopeful that the recent showcasing of the 40 Under 40, the women’s mixer, and the upcoming March Madness will create some new opportunities for membership. It is incumbent on all members to remember our Club’s focus of bringing in new members and also Rotary International’s “everyone bring one” goal. This starts with an invitation from you to have someone in your sphere of influence come join you at one of our luncheons.
As I have moved past the midway point in my tenure as your President, it has me thinking about those folks who will kick off the next 100 years for our Club. I have no doubt that Bruce Jacobs will be a finely tuned incoming and exceedingly capable President when he takes over in about 150 days. Likewise, Margaret Higgins will be waiting in the wings to take over thereafter and is another outstanding choice to lead our Club in the future. Our Car Show is in excellent hands with Bobby Larson as our new Chair. Joni’s role in leading the Foundation will also be impactful.
Please be a part of the solution. March Madness is another opportunity to do so.
