Since 1978, the U.S. Forest Service has provided an interpretive tourist shuttle service up Sabino Canyon.  To improve the experience, the USFS put forth new requirements for its concession and put the service operations out to bid on January 26, 2018.  The Regional Partnering Center, a not-for-profit company affiliated with Pima Association of Governments, was announced as the winner of that permit on March 12, 2018.  The new service, in partnership with TEP, will include five, 62-passenger zero-emissions electric trams from Trams International, professional CDL-licensed drivers through a contract with Total Ride, a professionally produced geo-coded narration system, and an online and kiosk-based electronic ticketing reservation system.

 

Together, the new Sabino Canyon experience will be a convenient, quiet, and educational experience for visitors and less disruptive to the canyon ecosystem. (A transitional shuttle service will be launched in the near future and will continue until the arrival of the newly manufactured electric trams in mid-2019.)

 

 

We are officially in the sprint to the end of the year, that period in between Thanksgiving and the Holidays where the pace picks up and the days fly by; and you struggle to get everything done.  However, I can’t turn to December without looking back to say that I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving; November gave us much to be thankful for, our families, our community, our faith, our work and at Rotary, especially El Tour de Tucson and our Ride for the Cure.

 

Gary Hirsch and Darrell Stewart again did an excellent job in leading the organization for the ride and the Friday Night Dinner.  This is a big job, and they have both led with distinction for the past eight years.  This includes working with other Clubs in Tucson, Clubs from District 5500 and with riders from around the country and the world.  It is a big effort that many members in our Club contribute to every year, both as riders and on the support team.

 

This year the Ride to End Polio again was successful.  It has been 10 Years since Mike Harris (Past President Charlotte Harris’s late husband) founded the Ride, and this year the total amount of money raised from this local Rotary effort, including the Gates Foundation match, has surpassed $50,000,000!  Amazing.  We are “this close” to eradicating Polio!  Congratulations to all the riders from our club this year and members that supported them in this effort with either their time or donations.

 

As we close in on the second half of the year in terms of membership, we are growing.  We are currently at 246 members (plus 5 members) and we are on track, but we still have work to do in growing membership.  Now that our events of the Fall are completed, let’s turn our focus to growing Membership!  Director Margaret Higgins is leading our effort on Membership growth, while Past President Bob Shaff is focused on Member Retention and maximizing our member experience, the value each member receives from our Club.  Remember, each of you has a FREE LUNCH to invite a prospective new member to the Club.  We had a very successful March Madness program earlier in the year; think about all the potential members you invited last March that had a great time but have not joined as of yet…invite them to lunch again!

 

At the beginning of the year we talked about growing our Club and that we needed to grow, not just for growth’s sake, but that we need to grow membership to accomplish ALL of the work we already do in Tucson AND to do more into the future.  We also said that there is a financial benefit to growth and that it can help to manage dues increases.  Our last dues increase was in 2014 and we have absorbed three price increases from the DoubleTree for our meals since then.  Knowing this, and baring a large increase in members, we planned for a mid-year dues of $10 per Quarter for active members and AE members.  These changes will allow us to catch up on costs and will be reflected in your upcoming 3^rd Quarter Statements.  If we successfully grow our Club at a faster pace in the second half of the year and beyond, we will be better positioned to manage future cost increases.

 

We only have two more meetings and our Holiday Mixer before the end of the year!  Join us for these meetings and at the Playground for our Holiday Mixer!  I recently attended a private event at the Playground and it was great, very good food, comfortable seating areas, a great bar, heaters if it is cold, easy parking and plenty of room to spend time in fellowship. We wanted to have a less formal, more relaxed event this time…and having the rooftop of the Playground to ourselves promises to deliver…thanks to Fonda for organizing.

President CHUCK opened out meeting, and KATHY KITAGAWA offered a brief reflection on the topic of grace which was adapted from one she gave at a recent Town Hall. DAVID PASHKOW led us in the pledge, song, and opening joke accompanied by GARY HIRSCH on piano. (The song was another rousing version of “God Bless America” and the joke was vegetarian.)

 

BROOKE FAWCETT introduced our guests and visiting Rotarians, and we had two Birthday Rotarians: Past President and Car Show Chair MARIANNE FREITAS gave President CHUCK a University of Oregon blanket that originally belonged to her father, thanked her sponsor ELLIE PATTERSON, and quoted Charles Shultz on the value of friendship. Happy Birthday MARIANNE!  JOHN HEIMBAUGH thanked his sponsor GARY GETHMANN and mentor BOBBY LARSON, and followed with a story of escaping the Mob’s influence with the help of the Columbian Cartel (out of the fat and into the fire?) Happy Birthday JOHN!

 

President Elect BOB LOGAN joined Past President CHARLOTTE HARRIS in presenting Paul Harris Fellowships to the following members:

 

TOM MCQUILLEN received two Paul Harris awards for his lovely daughters Ella and Aerin. Ella studies Architecture at Cal Poly, and Aerin is a student and soccer player at University High School.  ROB LAMASTER works with the Southern Arizona Make a Wish Foundation and believes Rotary is a great way to support projects around the world while doing good at home.  JAMES STUDWELL is an attorney with Healy and Studwell and proud parent along with his wife Ginni to a daughter Susanna who works with the Corcoran Group and son Grant, a student at the U of A. JAMES enjoys Rotary for its worldwide focus on fighting disease, sustainable humanitarian projects, and education; and its local support of child literacy and deserving non-profits.

 

Sergeant at Arms BOBBY LARSON recognized two of our members for recent accomplishments: SCOTT ERHSAM’s firm Home Instead received a Copper Cactus award for best small business place of work.  DIANA CANNON announced that the Humane Society received one for Best Large non-profit place of work.

 

We had the following announcements:

 

 

Past President SCOTT VAUGHN introduced our speaker, Lisa Atkins - Board President of the Central Arizona Project. Lisa is a Tucson High attendee, U of A graduate, and her father helped start the Old Pueblo Rotary Club. She reviewed the history of the 336-mile Central Arizona Project, a network of aqueducts and canals that makes life, industry and agriculture possible in our state. The CAP is celebrating its 50^th anniversary and faces challenges due to the prolonged drought in the west. Although Arizona is a “junior user” in the agreement, Lisa went through some of the strides Arizona has made in water conservation and noted that no one will be without water if allocations are cut.

 

Ms. Atkins signed a book for our Lending Library: “Animal Ark” and President Chuck closed out meeting with a toast to all those who work to provide drinkable water to our state.

This group picture is from the Rotary Zone Conference Saturday night event.  Each incoming district governor was introduced.  Ellie’s video was great as she was in Tucson for El Tour de Tucson Friday night dinner/ride the next day.  We had a table and a half of people from District 5500.  The table decorations were sold that evening and $10,000 was raised to help out in Paradise, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In lieu of a direct payment for their sponsorship, the Arizona Bowl taking place on 12/29/18, has agreed to give the Car Show the revenue generated from the ticket sales that are purchased from our Club, our Family and Friends.  Please go to novaarizonabowl.com/game-2018/tickets when ordering and you must enter the Code for the Car Show which is RCOT18. If you have any questions please contact Robert O’Brien at 520-904-9177.

 

Thanks for your support!