Chief Cheryl Horvath has been serving as fire chief at Mountain Vista Fire District since January, 2016. Chief Horvath has been in the fire service since 1992, working as a full-time firefighter in Illinois where she served as union president for four years and as a field instructor for the Illinois Fire Service Institute. Chief Horvath is the past President of the Board of Trustees for the International Association of Women in Fire & Emergency Services and a frequent speaker at the conference in leadership and fire ground tactics.

 

For the past eight summers, Chief Horvath worked with other local women firefighters and police officers to coordinate a public safety camp in Tucson for high school girls. The camp is designed to encourage girls and young women to consider non-traditional occupations. Camp Fury, initially funded through a grant from the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona, is sponsored by local fire and law enforcement agencies and the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona. Camp Fury is a national program available through local Girl Scout councils. In recent years two additional programs have been added. Catching Fury is a one-day program designed for middle school girls to introduce them to non-traditional occupations such as public safety. Camp Fury Executives serves young women who have completed Camp Fury and may need assistance with career building skills such as resume writing and interviewing.

 

Chief Horvath serves as Chair on the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona and as a director on the Board of Directors for the January 8th Memorial Foundation. Chief Horvath was the recipient of the 2010 YWCA Women on the Move Award, for her service to the greater Tucson community.

 

Chief Horvath received the Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Designation in July from the Center on Public Safety Excellence. She also holds a Master’s in Public Administration degree from Anna Maria College; a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Illinois; and an Associate’s Degree in Fire Science from Parkland Community College.

What a fun evening our first mixer was as a replacement meeting. We had over 100 members and guests attend and the patio at El Molinito was jam-packed with friendly Rotarians enjoying each other’s company, laughing, talking and networking. When you looked around you could see new members visiting with longstanding members, guests being introduced to other guests and all in all, just a very fun time.  The fellowship was at an all-time high.

 

Our next mixer will be November 30^th at Caid Industries where we will see the latest in robotics and high-tech equipment. Tours will be conducted. There will be food and beverages and I bet another good time will be had by all. I can’t wait.

 

It was a sunny and breezy morning last Monday when I walked to One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave, Evanston, Illinois although the photo was taken the night before.  I stood for a moment before going in just to absorb this beautiful multi-level building that is the headquarters of Rotary International and affectionately referred to as the Mothership. As I walked into the lobby, my eyes first swept around the colorful display of flags from different countries and large posters about PolioPlus. Security personnel warmly greeted me, signed me in and handed me a badge.

 

With a mixture of nervousness, excitement and humility, I entered the elevator that took me to the 18th floor and to the high-tech formal boardroom. There I joined thirteen other committee members of the Rotary Peace Centers Major gifts initiative. Eleven men and three women came together from all over the world including Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Nigeria and the good old USA. Thank heavens for the translation headset devices that each member had!  Six months ago I was invited to join this committee and with a little, no, actually a lot of trepidation, I said 'yes' even though I knew I would be outranked by highly experienced Rotary leaders who have served on various executive-level committees, with multiple titles and initials behind their names. I said yes because I believe in peace and am committed to peace. General Secretary, John Hewko, in speaking briefly to the committee that morning said “no subject is more appropriate than peace. Whether it’s peace in our neighborhood or peace within countries or peace between countries it is most relevant. …creating peace and goodwill are part of our DNA and we, Rotary, should be a leader in peace just as we are in polio eradication.” RI Vice-President, Jennifer Jones, reported that in talking with RI President-nominee, Sam Owori from Uganda, he said this about peace in relation to polio: “In talking about polio, if we had gone to Rotarians thirty years ago and told them that they needed to raise 1.5 billion dollars, immunize 2.5 billion children and that it would take us thirty years to do it, would we have done it? The answer would have been most likely no, thinking we’re just not up to the challenge.” Jennifer told us her belief is that even though creating world peace may seem that it’s out of our realm of possibilities, we need to think big and be big dreamers and lay claim that we’re making a dent in this area. We have a critical mass right now of over one thousand peace fellow graduates that are getting into all areas of our globe, working on peace-building and conflict resolution in the trenches, in the boardroom and in the classroom. Let’s own creating world peace.”  I agree with Jennifer. Peace can happen; it must happen and the Rotary Peace Centers and the Rotary Peace Fellows are making it happen.

 

Please welcome the following new FAMILY member into the Rotary Club of Tucson.  She will be introduced to the Club at a future meeting.

New Active Member:  Char Sigala

 

Classification:  Real Estate:  Residential Sales

 

Sponsor:  Bob Webb

The Interact Club that Tucson Rotary sponsors at Amphi High School with Club member Allyn Bulzomi as advisor met for the first time of the new school year today. President Tiffany and Vice-president Isaiah led the meeting and talked about all of the events and works projects that were on the "to do" list for the coming year. This Club of 28 members is going to have a very busy year. So are the school counselors that help out. Tiffany said that advisor, Allyn Bulzomi is awesome and everyone agreed with her. What a great Interact Club! We wish them continued success and a great year!

 

Thank you Allyn!