And what a Quarter it has been! A tumultuous but rewarding few months to say the least. Given the number of achievements and activities, I will of necessity be brief and to the point…otherwise this report will go on endlessly.The most rewarding of our Rotary activities, as reported by Diana Madaras:
*We held a wonderful ‘drive’ on Jan 17th with RCOT members donating many personal items for clients and guests staying at Old Pueblo Community Services. Spearheaded by Wally Johnson, we are glad that we were able to help.
*The Reading Coach project is once again in full swing, with 13 coaches helping children at Robison Elementary School. With one-on-one interaction, the goal is to promote the love of reading and help students succeed in education. Thank you Jon Wang for getting this going again. It had lapsed for far too long.
*A group of us risked life and limb (I jest) walking along Oracle Road, cleaning up trash of all types (mentionable and unmentionable); we were lucky enough to find a $5 note which was of course donated to Rotary scholarships. Lee Olitsky: thanks for arranging this Adopt-a Road project.
*A similar project, headed by Chuck Sawyer, cleaned up an Arizona trail.
*Bobby Larson: thank you so much for arranging the Community Food Bank project which was so wonderfully attended by about 50 Rotarians, and so rewarding that we are repeating the effort in April. We packed 1000 boxes of food.
*Butterfly Trail- January 28th- RCOT assisted the passport project in conjunction with the Tucson Children's Museum with the goal of promoting peace in the world.
I am sure that I have not mentioned some service projects - forgive me - but rest assured that ALL such projects are valued and valuable for our community. Most importantly I must mention that the results of the October 2023 car show were recently reported by Lee Olitsky: While more than 430 vehicles were on display, more than 20,000 folks attended, and the TV personality Dennis Gage attended, the biggest success for RCOT was that we learned that we had a net amount of $161,421 to donate to local non-profits. Receiving the funds were Pima Community College/Gospel Rescue Mission’s workforce development program; Big Brothers Big Sisters; and Old Pueblo Community Services.
The most nerve-wracking events of the recent Quarter:
In order: Dr Robert Robbins, President of the University of Arizona cancelled his scheduled talk, less than 24 hours before he was due to speak. AND we had over 200 members and guests coming to hear him. Aiiieeee! Dorinna, other Rotarians, and myself went into high gear to design an alternative program. In brief: we had to find an alternative speaker; we had to advise all attendees, and work with the TCC on the possible adjustment to food needs; plus we had to work with President Robbins’ department at the UA, to ensure that our messaging about the cancellation was appropriate. Amazingly, hardly anyone registered for the luncheon cancelled……my hat goes off to all who worked so frantically on this issue - and most importantly, praise to Michael Guymon for finding Danette Bewley, of the Tucson Airport Authority (corporate member of the Club), as the alternate speaker, and to Dorinna for surviving a sleepless night and for ensuring the changes went off seamlessly. (Phew!!)
But it doesn’t end there…..
The new football coach, Brent Brennan was scheduled to speak; and he was to be introduced by President Robbins. BUT Coach Brennan had to cancel due to travel issues. Please read the above paragraph for a repeat of what we all went through. This time, Bob Logan came to the rescue acquiring none other than President Robbins stepping in for Coach Brennan, as the main speaker, and Coach Alonzo Carter as the support speaker. We were all entertained by a video of Coach Carter in his prior guise as a dancer for MC Hammer. Hilarious! Five other UA coaches attended the luncheon. Dorinna, Bob - thank YOU!!
Finally,
A re-scheduled Coach Brent Brennan spoke to the luncheon audience this most recent week. The meeting has been hailed far and wide as fabulous; it was indeed an excellent meeting. Thanks to almost all of us who wore red for the occasion. Immediately after the meeting a new club photo was taken (thanks to David Lex, the new Rotarian and professional photographer).
Humour has been injected into a couple of meetings: inspired by the topic of Artificial Intelligence, Bob Logan asked Chat GPT to write a humorous bio of me, resulting in a slew of funny but (mis)information surrounding Scotland, haggis, and saguaros. At the next meeting I was able to reply in kind, asking Chat GPT to write a humorous bio of Bob: this time it covered prickly cacti, gravelly voices, and desert chic clothing.
Membership:
Mitch reports that we are realizing some very encouraging results thus far.
* The number of members who are bringing guests has approximately doubled.
* The % of guests who become members has approximately tripled.
* The number of members who resign has been reduced by over 50%.
* Our membership will have increased by 10% by the end of April, and is expected to increase another 5% by June. March Madness is in full swing, spearheaded by Vickie Jacobs under the guidance of Mitch Pisik. Membership this quarter has shown a decided upwards trend, and with the advent of March Madness we expect a serious uptick in our member numbers.
Youth Activities:
RCOT sponsored 5 high school students to the RYLA camp; 29 Edge High School students attended their meeting on March 28th; Kanon Nakamura and Luca Diamente are enjoying their time in Tucson. RCOT has agreed to charter the revitalized Cub Scout Pack 339.
Social Events:
A new location has been successfully tested: a large group of RCOT members went to the new restaurant, Tesoro, on Oracle. Thanks Alan Rogers for finding this for us.
Second Wednesday Visits:
A private tour of the San Xavier mission was arranged by Diana Madaras…thank you so much for doing this. Likewise, there was a visit to the Pima College Aviation Center. Thank you Marcy Euler for arranging this.
Miscellaneous important activities:
*RCOT has formally stated that it supports the international service project related to The Forgotten Children, in Senegal, spearheaded by El Ndoye, our RCOT member, as we move ahead with applying for a Global Grant.
*Rotary International Major donor awards were given by Past President and Past District Governor Ellie Patterson to Cliff Bowman, and to Jeanne Zetah.
*In recognition of Rodeo Week, a very important feature in Tucson, all RCOT members were encouraged to wear Western clothing to a luncheon.
*Our Fellowship groups: golf, hiking, whiskey, wine, book club (and others?) have been very active….these groups serve to develop kinship and camaraderie among our membership.
Sponsors:
Thank you to The Port of Tucson and to We Buy Houses for sponsoring luncheons. In both instances we, RCOT members, learned a lot about these vital organizations in our community. Thank you members Mike Levin and Mike Anderson!
Margaret Higgins, PhD, RCOT President, 2023-2024
