Welcome to the close of the 2022/2023 year. It seemed like yesterday Dorinna was asking me to write up my first quarter summary and today it is the year end. I could spend the rest of this article just to thank everyone. Thank you to all that participated in making our meetings run smoothly. Registration, the AV Team, Mystery Editors, Inspirations and more. A special thank you to my board. I have appreciated your ideas, feedback, and dedication to making our club what it is today. I had numerous past presidents provide me with sound counsel in what at times was a trying year. Most importantly I want to thank Dorinna York. Until a person becomes a president of this club you have no idea on the work she does keeping the president on track and things running smoothly.

 

I started off the year with three goals over and above growing membership. Increase engagement, Inspire, and create memories, and to enhance our member’s experience. I feel we made some progress in these areas and there is still more to be done. We made progress on engagement through our Club Assemblies and the surveys members participated in. On enhancing members’ experience, I received very positive feedback on our first ever “Mix & Mingle” and know there will be more of that in the future. I would like to think that there were times throughout the year that we did inspire members as well as create lasting memories but only you can be the judge of that.

 

We had some great speakers throughout the year. Certainly, the big draw is always UA athletics with Tommy Lloyd and Dave Heeke. The emotional story from Mike and Oksana Schulte on the travesty in Ukraine. We had Jan Lesher, Chad Kasmer, George Hammond just to name a few.

 

We grew our service projects beyond our “usual” projects to include the DEK project and the Rillito River cleanup which was a collaboration with other Rotary Clubs. We supported ARSOBO in Nogales, funded a water project in Honduras, children’s education in Rocky Point, shelter boxes for Turkey, El Grupo locally and with matching funds $44,000 for Ukraine.

 

In our spare time we managed to pull off a little fund raiser in October called the TUCSON CLASSICS CAR SHOW lead by Bobby Larson and presented a check to JTED for $252,000. It is always a fun event to participate in and the chance to forge better relationships with fellow members.

 

Fellowship is what grows our club and keeps it strong. It is all about the relationships we build, and we do that through fellowships and service projects. Certainly, through the Car Show but incredible times at Home Hospitality, along with Hiking, Golf and now Whiskey, Wine, and Book fellowships.

 

I believe like all outgoing presidents you are proud of your accomplishments yet are sorry you didn’t accomplish more. We have such amazing talent within our club and together we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. We have had meaningful dialog this past year and have opened some new doors as a result. We are bringing forth new opportunities that might never have happened without embracing change head on.

 

Thank you for your trust in me and allowing me to serve as your 102^nd president. It has enhanced my life, created memories that will last my lifetime and fostered new and better relationships had I not accepted this honor. Signing off today on June 22^nd, 2023, with 2,198 miles of memories under my belt.

 

YIR

Bruce

The last meeting of the JACOB’s Administration gaveled in the meeting 12:00 pm when PRESIDENT JACOBS invited the members to partake in the buffet.  The buffet was remarkable with a variety of salads, Mexican food, chicken, and carne asada.  The proverbial icing on the cake was a donut like pastry covered in cream—very well done for the TCC folks.

 

The actual meeting started at 12:15PM following the video of the song Imagine.  PRESIDENT JACOBS welcomed the audience and introduced ALAN SHROPE of Camp Bow Wow notoriety to lead the pledge and song.  ALAN did a doggone good job and wished everyone a happy dog day of summer—with plenty of woof from the audience, ala Diamond Dog reference to Coach Lasso.

 

MITCH PISIK, aka Mr. Motivation gave a wonderful inspiration.  Two things that stuck with this writer were, “who will pick up the phone when you call.”  The second observation was that Rotarians and in particular TUCSON ROTARY is particularly noted for not being like most people—we are empowered to be our best selves.

 

PRESIDENT BRUCE paid homage to long term member, RICHARD ROWLEY who was turning 95—cards were passed for the members to wish RICHARD a happy birthday.

 

Sargent At Arms, KHRIS DODGE, gave a wonderfully warm introduction of guests that was upbeat and fun.  Our club had six guests this week which was again nice to see.

 

GARY HIRSCH was recognized for having a birthday and gave a great story of a Rotarian who dropped everything in a different country to find a Rotarian’s family member.  Happy Birthday GARY!!

 

DOUG LOWELL was recognized for having a birthday.

 

MONTE CLAUSEN also had a birthday—of note, he was the Whitehouse Advance man for Gerald Ford.

 

Sargent At Arms, KHRIS DODGE, administered the raffle with a lovely daily pot of $90.00 and an overall pot in excess of $500.00.  We’re not sure who won the drawing—but the main pot carries into the new year.

 

PRESIDENT BRUCE announced:

The speaker’s part of the meeting was devoted to open microphone administered by KHRIS DODGE.

The meeting was quite lovely with table visitation time.  Without revealing names, a member at our table had a covid survivor who was intubated and put into a coma for 10 weeks and lived.  The story was humbling and riveting all at the same time.

 

PRESIDENT BRUCE signed a book for Make Way For Books, “Wacky Wednesday” to go into the library.

 

KHRIS DODGE introduced DAN KALM as the new Sargent At Arms and encouraged him to give him the final hook wherein he dropped the mic and DAN almost took STU GOLDMAN out.

 

PRESIDENT JACOBS completed the toast at 1:19 and ended his year with class, a smile and best wishes for the birthday members!!  All in all it was a very enjoyable, upbeat and fun meeting with plenty of engagement and social time.

 

 All the best to Miss MARGARET HIGGINS the incoming president and her year of FUN!!

 

To view videos on the RCOT YouTube channel go to our Home Page of the Club website and click on the YouTube link on the right hand side of the page.  Or, go to YouTube and type in Rotary Club Of Tucson.  You will be able to click on the video you wish to watch once they are posted.  Here is the link to do this: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rotary+club+of+tucson