WOW, what a turn out for this meeting at the beautiful Hacienda Del Sol in the Casa Luna Room. The room was A-Buzz with lots of conversation, fellowship, and friendship. New and old friends were excited to see each other (mask free!). Curiously, there were many ROTARIANS wearing bow ties – more on that later.
PRESIDENT JEN HOFFMAN rang the bell to begin the meeting. MATT BLAIR with Cirrus Visual Communications led us in the pledge and song “God Bless America” with a keyboard accompaniment by KHRIS DODGE. As you can imagine, the full room created a beautiful chorus as we all sang.
The inspirational moment was presented by LYNN STRUTHERS PEATE, The Four-Way Test. As Rotarians, these are our core values and always important to remind ourselves of them and hold them in high regard. We don’t need any more inspiration than these four questions.
A warm welcome by the Club was given for all guests, joining in person and virtually.
Rotarian JEFF RONSTADT with Ronstadt Insurance, introduced our speaker, JUAN CISCOMANI, the Senior Advisor for Regional & International Affairs from the Office of the Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. JUAN stated he was honored to be speaking to us today as both of his parents were Rotarians; he is very familiar with the four-way test. He was born in Hermosillo, his family moved to Tucson when he was young and now, he represents his childhood birthplace as a liaison to the Governor’s Office. JUAN is the liaison for a total of 32 countries that have a diplomatic presence in Arizona. The top two being Mexico and Canada. He updated our Club on the recent lifting of the mask mandate statewide due to COVID 19. Over 2.6 million people have been vaccinated so far in Arizona and a bit of trivia; Arizona was the only state in the country to offer a 24/7 vaccine site at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. JUAN expressed a thank you from the Office of the Governor for all those who have done their part to get vaccinated. Since Governor Ducey was sworn into office his main priority was to create economic initiatives to support small businesses to help them thrive and grow. Overall, the Arizona economy has bounced back to pre-pandemic numbers. Governor Ducey knows the importance of supporting Arizona’s economy by bringing in new companies that create jobs to all of Arizona. He recently signed an Executive Order to change the unemployment benefits to encourage those who have been receiving state funded unemployment benefits to get back to work. Governor Ducey continues to invest in education not only by increasing teacher salaries but by giving community colleges the option to offer four-year degree programs. His office has been focused on building a strong relationship with Mexico. The Arizona-Mexico Commission is a 62-year old legacy of cross-border collaboration which works with a 16 bi-national committee that works together to keep these relationships strong. JUAN closed with questions from ROTARY CLUB members. The book “A Bright Day at The State Capitol, There Ought to be a Law” was given to JUAN to sign for our Make Way for Books Library.
Birthday announcements were next: PRODIP DUTTA a member since 2017, CHUCK SAWYER a member since 2004, GENE CASAGRANDE a member since 2019 and SCOTT VAUGHAN a member since 2001 are all celebrating a birthday this month. Happy birthday to all of you!
JO DECHATELET inducted ROTARIANS DON and MARY RUTH SHROPSHIRE in the Rotary Club Foundation Legacy Society. Those who knew DON knew his signature was his bow ties (that’s why!). DON and MARY RUTH’s daughter, Melanie, spoke fondly of their 46-year legacy to the CLUB, of the long-lasting friendships that were built and maintained to this day by her, her siblings, and her children. Over time they donated over $94K together. Melanie thanked the Club for this honor, a standing ovation was given by all attendees for the SHROPSHIRE’s.
MARGARET HIGGINS gave a brief description of The Four-Way Test Award that JIM MURPHY presented to Kathy Alexander and Paul Lindsay. Both have contributed countless hours to honor the Four-Way Test and exemplify the core values of ROTARY. Both Kathy and Paul lead by example in everything they do. Kathy, standing next to her husband, thanked the Club for the great honor.
BRUCE JACOBS announced our Mixer is next week at Brother John’s on 5/26 from 5:30p-7:30p. Please register on the club website.
PRESIDENT JEN HOFFMAN began the closing of the meeting by thanking all those who attended in person and online. Reminded us all the to pick up our Car Show Ticket Packets and don’t forget to turn in your name tags. Happy birthday to PRODIP, CHUCK, GENE and SCOTT. Congrats to Kathy and Paul. Don’t forget to register for next weeks Mixer.
PRESIDENT JEN HOFFMAN gave a final closing instead of a toast. PRESIDENT JEN reminded us all of the four-way test, what our Club stands for and our motto of Service Above Self. Ask yourself why you are here, why you are committed to making a difference for so many, why the Car Show and other fundraising/volunteering efforts are so important to our benefactors and what great things we all create by being a part of our wonderful ROTARY CLUB. We all need to work toward Service Above Self in all we do, especially while representing ROTARY CLUB OF TUCSON and reminding ourselves of these four questions…
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
PRESIDENT JEN HOFFMAN then rang the bell to adjourn the meeting.
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The Club will hold a Replacement/Social Mixer on WEDNESDAY, 5/26/21 at Brother John's Beer, Bourbon & BBQ, 1801 N. Stone Avenue, from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. This Mixer will be a replacement meeting for our Wednesday 5/26/21 lunch meeting. Let's all have some fun and fellowship on Wednesday. If you have any questions, please contact the Rotary office.
The following New Member's application has been submitted for membership in Rotary Club of Tucson:
The Change of Administration (COA) will take place on Saturday, June 26th, at the Westward Look Resort (Sonoran Rooftop) start time is 6:00 p.m. Please mark your calendars for this fun evening when President Jen passes the gavel to incoming President, Mark Irvin. More details will be coming shortly so keep an eye out for registration information.
Rotary International Polio Update: "For the first time, all of the sites that undertake environmental testing for the wild poliovirus in Pakistan and in Afghanistan near the border have concurrently shown no presence of the wild polio virus. This is a sign of tremendous progress in the 35 plus year effort to eradicate polio. We have also gone 14 weeks without a wild poliovirus case. There have been just four cases of the wild polio virus in the last six months. We have seen two wild polio cases since January 1st. Certainly, we will likely see more cases and we will later find positive samples of wild polio virus in the environment, but this is a good sign we are definitely getting closer. It is remarkably similar to what we saw in India a decade ago."
Centennial Event News and Updates...Guest List Development
Dear Fellow Rotarians, 
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