Greetings my Fellow Rotarians,
I wanted to thank you for the honor to serve as your 2022 – 2023 President of The Rotary Club of Tucson. There are so many I would like to thank but need to start with our Centennial President Mark Irvin. What an amazing year our Centennial was. We had a record-breaking amount raised for JTED thanks to Joni Condit and Jim Lubinski as well as all the efforts from our Club members. We made our move back downtown and left our legacy on the corner of 5th and Toole for all to see over our next 100 years. Membership is a perennial goal for Rotary and under President Mark’s term, we knocked the cover off the ball. We increased our diversity, brought in younger members, corporate members and increased our percentage of women to over 30%.
Thank you to so many past Presidents for their mentorship. President Mark was a constant support throughout the year. Past Presidents Jen, Bob, Chuck, Jon, and the list goes on. As you will hear on the 13th “it takes a village”. Congratulations and thank you to all my Board members along with Dorinna and Kari and I look forward to us creating memorable experiences for all our members this next year.
My Rotary career began back in the spring of 2009. Mike Schulte and I worked together back in the mid to late 80’s in real estate. We stayed in touch after he opened his own commercial brokerage and I fell into the Title Insurance industry. One day he approached me about attending a Rotary meeting. I ran into many other friends and business acquaintances but the openness and how welcoming everyone was, could be felt. I was at a point in my life where it was time to give back to our community and joined. Little did I know what I was in for.
First, I was pulled into a little fund-raising event that is called the car show. Although I formed so many great relationships with members during our service projects at the Triangle Y Ranch camp, the Salvation Army Bell ringing as well as our mixers, the Car Show is where incredible relationships are formed. In 2017, after being set up by past event chairs and past presidents for “a beer” (Thank you Chuck, Jim, and Steve), I agreed to be the event chair of the 2018 “Terrific Twelfth”. In 2019, I was elected to the Board under Bob Logan’s “Reign of Terror” to head up our social mixers. Shanghaied again in 2021 under the pretense of a friendly little Thanksgiving hike by President Mark, and here I am ready to serve as your 102nd President.
President Mark has asked the questions: Why did you join and why do you stay? The answers are almost universal. They join because they want to give back and serve our community as well as expand their business and/or personal connections to the community. Why do they stay, because of the incredible relationships that are built through our fellowship. If there is any word of advice I can provide for our newer members, it’s get involved. Do not just be a “lunch member.” Become involved in committees, the fellowships, areas that are of interest to you and become involved in our community service projects. If there are areas of interest that we might not be doing, let me know. Let our Board members know.
Jennifer Jones is Rotary Internationals first female President, and her theme for this next year is IMAGINE.
You will hear more about that on the 13th. As a result of being able to attend the SW Districts Conference, the President Elect Training (PETS), and most recently the Rotary International Conference, I appreciate Rotary in such a different manner than before. You really begin to appreciate the size and scope of the largest service organization in the world. The Global impact we make. The way we can help areas at war that allow Rotary to assist because we are a nonpolitical organization. The clean water to communities, bringing health care to communities and the list goes on.
As a result, I can IMAGINE the impact we (RCOT) make and other ways we can help our community. Besides just imagining, what comes to mind is INSPIRE and CREATING MEMORIES.
My goals for our year besides continuing the momentum of increasing our membership in the areas listed above as well as bringing dynamic programs that no one will want to miss are:
- Increase engagement
- Inspire/Create Memories
- Enhance members’ experience
- Expand membership through a Companion Club
I look forward to our year together. I want to hear from you on ideas you have for us to reach our goals. The Rotary Club of Tucson has had an amazing impact on Tucson over the past 100 years. Our focus is now on the future. Where are we going, what does the future hold for our Club and for our community? I look forward to discovering that future with all of you.
Yours in Rotary
Bruce Jacobs
President 2022 - 2023
.jpg)
.jpg)
