Please remember, due to the Gem Show at the DoubleTree on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, this has been scheduled as a DARK Day and there will be NO lunch meeting this date. Thank you!
Putting on a car show takes a tremendous amount of work by the whole club. The work and success of the 2015 TCCS needs to be acknowledged and celebrated before we move on to the next big thing on the calendar. Roger Harwell, 2015 TCCS Chairman, will present his “Niner” team results and do a Grand Reveal of the net proceeds of the show. Following Roger’s presentation, Bill Moore Grants Chair will call each of the Club’s 2015 five designated beneficiaries forward to receive their portion of the net proceeds. Always a lot of fun and also heartwarming to see our beneficiaries receive significant money to do their work to make Tucson a better place.
(Reading Seed 40%, Youth on Their Own 20%, YWCA 20%, El Rio Health Center 5%, Imago Dei 5%)
As RCOT meetings go, this one was pretty “quiet”. No birthdays or Paul Harris Fellows to celebrate, no raffle, no auction, not even a fine! And I won’t waste your time by providing you with a simple meeting recap, so I guess I’ll dive right into the program.
Our program this week was very interesting. We had a debate titled “Open Primaries: Two Points of View”. PAULINE HECHLER introduced our three debate guests: Jim Kolbe (you probably recognize his name as our elected Congressional representative) as debate moderator; Paul Johnson (former City of PHX mayor) in support of Open Primaries; and Bill Risner (attorney-at-law) in opposition to Open Primaries. As is usual in a debate, Mr. Johnson went first and shared his opinion of why Open Primaries are needed in AZ. He was followed by Mr. Risner, who shared his opinion on why he felt Open Primaries would be a problem in AZ. Both made good arguments in support of their positions. Unfortunately for you, I’m a numbers guy, so I’ll share some interesting statistics with you.
In AZ, 70% of eligible voters are registered. It may surprise you to learn that 40% of eligible voters are registered as independent, leaving 30% registered as Democrat or Republican. This means that more than half of registered voters are not allowed to vote in the state primaries, and when combining this with the 30% of unregistered eligible voters, this means that 70% of eligible voters in AZ are not voting in the primaries. And since voter turn-out in primaries is relatively low, you end up with about 8% of the eligible voting population choosing one Democrat and one Republican (typically) for the final election. Quite surprising numbers, if you ask me.
Regardless of the numbers, the final argument came down to one of two recommendations: Paul Johnson – the system no longer works for the people, so it’s time for a change; Bill Risner – we don’t have enough information to know if this is good or bad, so it is best to leave the system as-is.
From what I understand, we’ll have the opportunity to choose during the upcoming election.
Let’s look at the second of the seven ways a member can participate in an organization like Rotary.
You can’t hide from it. It’s inescapable. Rotary needs money to achieve its results. It troubles some members to admit it – they try to envision a system where volunteer hours accomplish everything we aspire to do.
Dreaming for a moment…let’s eliminate all RCOT staff and most overhead in a hypothetical scenario of more than realistic volunteer time and no-cost resources. We run as much of our operation as possible “free” of cash payment. There is no food or AV at meetings since everyone brown bags at a location in a public park, saving us two-thirds of our present dues income. In-kind donations appear in 100% of the possible cases. It’s a volunteer utopia. Yet even with all this, there are several hundreds of dollars per member per year that must be spent on RI dues, district dues, bank fees, government requirements, insurance, supplies and more. And that’s all prior to having done the first bit of service.
Just as you cannot run a Rotary club without volunteer time, you cannot run it without spendable cash. Neither is sufficient; both are necessary.
The Rotary Club of Tucson does an awesome job of raising money using our volunteer time, most notably via the Car Show. Don’t forget, though, that thousands of tickets are bought by our members. They prefer to support our beneficiaries by writing checks rather than by spending time (to sell tickets to others). That is eminently acceptable. Ticket buying is just one of numerous ways our members put dollars into the club, from scholarship donations, to bulletin and TCCS sponsorship, to auction and raffle participation. A bit hidden – but oh so valuable – are the thousands of dollars put out by our members on Rotary expenses that they never seek reimbursement for.
Years ago, there was a view that it was less laudable for someone whose membership involved mostly (or solely) money donation versus volunteering. That view is fading as clubs are less reluctant to admit that there are many ways for members to be engaged, and the clubs do better with all of those methods. Money is no less a valued commodity than time. In fact, it is more valuable than scored by past engagement metrics.
Consider a dozen members who scarcely attend lunches, don’t volunteer on committees, don’t serve in leadership, and never sponsor new members, but are very satisfied being a part of RCOT by writing five-figure checks each year to the club or its foundation. Are they sufficiently engaged? How much more service can our club deliver with the resources they provide? Would you trade them to have a dozen with perfect lunch attendance who also didn’t volunteer, serve or sponsor?
While it’s a must to acknowledge that funding is irreplaceable, that doesn’t mean we jump to the conclusion that every member has to come up with a lot of cash to be a Rotarian. Some just cannot – they will have to engage in another way.
We’ve talked about time (January 20) and money as indispensable for Rotary success and being two key ways to be engaged. Those aren’t the only ways, though they may be the “big two.” There are others, as we will consider in weeks to come, that can be incredibly valuable as well.
Rotary Club Day in Tucson will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at the Triangle Y Ranch Camp from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please save the date and sign ups are available on the Club website at www.tucsonrotary.org under Upcoming Events.
Garden Salad: Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Ranch Dressings
Arizona Chicken: Chicken Breast Topped with Tomato, Avocado and Jack Cheese served with Cilantro Rice and Chefs Choice Vegetable
Doubletree Cookies Served Family Style
Coffee, Decaf or Iced Tea
The menu options below are available if reserved (call or email the office)by 2:00pm Friday.
Chef Salad: Ham, Turkey, Cheddar/Jack Cheese Blend, Hard Boiled Egg, Tomato, Cucumber & Croutons over chopped Romaine Lettuce. (PLEASE DO NOT ASK THE SERVERS TO ALTER THE SALAD, IT WILL BE SERVED AS DESCRIBED ABOVE. NO CHEF SALADS MAY BE ORDERED AFTER THE FRIDAY DEADLINE)
Vegetarian - Spinach Enchiladas:With Sour Cream, Lime Rice, Sauteed Garlic Black Beans and Diced Tomato
Fresh Fruit Plate: Fresh Seasonal Fruit served with FLAVORED Greek Yogurt and Low Fat Cottage Cheese
Gluten Free: The main meal as a Gluten Free option
NESDAYS, 12:00 PM-1:20 PM
Our program this week was very interesting. We had a debate titled “Open Primaries: Two Points of View”. PAULINE HECHLER introduced our three debate guests: Jim Kolbe (you probably recognize his name as our elected Congressional representative) as debate moderator; Paul Johnson (former City of PHX mayor) in support of Open Primaries; and Bill Risner (attorney-at-law) in opposition to Open Primaries. As is usual in a debate, Mr. Johnson went first and shared his opinion of why Open Primaries are needed in AZ. He was followed by Mr. Risner, who shared his opinion on why he felt Open Primaries would be a problem in AZ. Both made good arguments in support of their positions. Unfortunately for you, I’m a numbers guy, so I’ll share some interesting statistics with you.
