Rotary Youth Exchange first began with the Copenhagen, Denmark club initiating the first exchange in 1929 which was followed by the Rotary Club of Nice, France.  Rotary Youth Exchange is one of the most recognized youth exchange programs in the world and is by far the largest youth exchange program run completely by volunteers.  The year-long program was created in 1958 replacing a much shorter time program of only several weeks.  Many of the rules and procedures and frameworks of the program that were created in 1958 still exist today. 

 

Dave Gallaher has been a part of RYE since 2007 when he and Susan hosted their first student, Leanne Smith, from New Zealand and followed up by several more students.  Besides hosting students, Dave has been a counselor to several more students and while not hosting today, both he and Susan keep in contact almost daily with the many RYE students that have crossed their path.  Dave and Susan follow a long list of RCOT host families over the years.  

 

Currently, Dave has agreed to Co-Chair the District 5500 RYE Program with Jay Diallo of the Tucson Sunrise Rotary Club beginning with the 2018/2019 Rotary year.    

 

If you want another avenue of connecting and serving across the world helping to build future Rotarians and peace makers, come listen to Dave and the past participants of this amazing program. 

RICHARD WHITE led us in the inspiration, and MICHAEL DEEHAN did the pledge and song, accompanied by GARY HIRSCH on the piano: “You’re a Grand Ole Flag”. SHARON LUDWIG introduced our guests and visiting Rotarians. And for a second straight week, we had no birthday Rotarians.

 

Instead, the best Past President CHARLOTTE HARRIS awarded a Paul Harris Special Donor Crystal and Pin to FAYE MORSE. FAYE is a longtime supporter of the RCOT and sponsor of the Friday night dinner and silent auction. Accordingly, FAYE was also recognized by PAT ZUMBUSCH as a major car show sponsor. Thank you and thank you FAYE!

 

SERGEANT AT ARMS DALE BERG skillfully managed both a raffle and auction (not simultaneously). For announcements, we had several:

 

 

President CLIFF introduced the 2017 TCCS Classics Car Show Chairman JIM MURPHY.  JIM confirmed that the 11^th annual car show had indeed been an Excellent Eleventh, overcoming many new challenges and achieving much better traffic flow, great ticket sales, and over 50% RCOT volunteer participation and 24% participation by JTED students. JIM thanked the winning ticket sale team, as well as the five top ticket sellers, and then acknowledged the leadership shown by the Strategic Leadership and Tactical Leadership groups – the car show wouldn’t be possible without the contributions of all these groups. And now for the great news: over $487,000 in kind contributions from media and other supporters, which allowed the Classics Car Show to net $187,000 in proceeds for our non-profit recipients.

 

JIM signed a book for the Reading Seed Library: “King Baby”.

 

Appropriately, President CLIFF gave a toast to our non-profits to thank them for everything they do for the Tucson Community.

Rotarians,

 

Thanks to your hard work, our club was once again awarded the Presidential Citation for President Ellie's year, 2016-2017.  Past District Governor Sheryl Christensen said to our club, "Rotary Club of Tucson, Congratulations on receiving the Presidential Citation and for your support of End Polio Now.  You are why District 5500 received a Presidential Citation - First place for the percentage of Rotarians giving to the Rotary Foundation and tied for second in 5-year membership retention.  Congratulations and Thank You. - PDG Sheryl."

 

You guys are awesome - keep up the great work!

 

President Cliff

Registration is now open for the January 20, 2018 classes.  Once again District 5500 has assembled an outstanding faculty from our District Leadership. The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) is a multi-district, grassroots leadership development program of member districts organized into regional divisions throughout the world. It was recommended by the R.I. Board of Directors and strongly endorsed by the Council on Legislation at three of their triennial meetings. RLI conducts a series of quality leadership development courses for potential club officers and all other club members, including those who have recently joined a Rotary Club. The courses emphasize both leadership skills and knowledge of Rotary around the world. All course sessions are completely interactive. RLI believes that leadership education has a positive impact on membership retention by creating enthusiasm and furthering engagement for Rotary. Levels 1, 2 and 3 will be offered.

 

For event information and to register go to https://rotaryd5500train.org/cart/tickets.aspx?ECI=112063.

Joe Guyton

RLI Coordinator