PRESIDENT MARK IRVIN welcomed all to the meeting.
BRUCE AYERS led the Pledge of Allegiance and song "America the Beautiful". MITCH PISIK offered our inspiration and talked about the 80/20 Principle where 80% of the outcomes result from 20% of the causes or efforts. He noted that if 20% of our RCOT efforts result in 80% of the outcomes, what if we changed that to 80% of our efforts would create an unsurmisable outcome.
We had a moment of silence for Ukraine as well as the unfortunate news that new member JASON FLAX’s Dad passed away and GEORGE LARSON’s wife Margaret has been diagnosed with cancer. JON WANG offered a lovely eulogy for DR. LENN DITMANSON who recently passed away from our club.
PRESIDENT MARK noted that we’ve recently added six new members to our club and thanked them for joining us for lunch. KHRIS DODGE welcomed all visiting Rotarians and guests.
We enjoyed a nice introduction video by Matt Russell for our speaker Jack Clements. Jack spoke to our club about the legacy of the Tucson Conquistadores. Since they started, the Tucson Conquistadores have donated more than $37 million to local Tucson charities. Their goal is an endowment of one million dollars per year. Currently, they have 56 active members and a total of 224 members. Local charities who have received their donations include The First Tee, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, the Special Olympics, Sporting Chance and the YMCA. They are a dedicated group of people and a great asset for Tucson. It’s all about the kids! Jack signed the book “A Perfect Day for Golf.”
Three Rotarians were celebrating their birthday. TOM MOULTON thanked our past Presidents for being so welcoming and said the caring keeps him here. GARY OLSEN has invested in cattle to heal the soil and kept his speech brief. MITCH PISIK won dart tournaments to pay for college and reminded us that again gracefully is a nice way of saying that we’re slowly looking worse.
SCOTT VAUGHAN introduced our two newest Paul Harris Award recipients, JOHN DUVAL and DIANA MADARAS. As is tradition, SCOTT offered gifts of little to no value gave DIANA a slightly used RCOT T Shirt and JOHN was lucky enough to receive a Bookman’s Gift Certificate.
PAT PATTON introduced our newest member BRITTANY BATTLE. BRITTANY works with Social Venture Partners and is committed to our community. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona, involved with Tucson Young Professionals and is the incoming President of Edge Highschool. Though she’s a country girl at heart, living in Sonoita, she is committed to helping at risk youth. She is a great new addition to our club!
JON WANG offered a history lesson about the Rotary Foundation. It was started in 1917 by Arch Klumph. The Foundation has helped people around the world since then.
KHRIS DODGE held the 25/50/25 Raffle that has over $500 in the pot at this point. TOM LICKLITER was the winner. The winning card was not drawn so the pot will grow even more.
PRESIDENT MARK highlighted MIKE ANDERSON’s grandson for Irv’s Fly-Fishing Fund as well as posted our upcoming schedule. We will not have a lunch on June 29th. NICOLE LOMBARDO offered details on The Change of Administration Party being held on June 18th at the Mountain Oyster Club. The last day to register is Monday, June 13th. Cell phones are not allowed and if you’re caught using one, you’ll need to buy a round for all…and they mean it.
PRESIDENT MARK thanked our visiting Rotarians and Guests, wished happy birthday to TOM, GARY and MITCH, congratulated JOHN and DIANA, welcomed BRITTANY and thanked Jack for being our speaker. With that, he offered a toast to the good work that the Tucson Conquistadores do for Tucson and we were on our way.