Today we held our Quarterly Assembly, a time to reflect on Club goals, accomplishments and opportunities. President Bob Grady called the meeting to order and invited Frank Presson to give the Invocation.
Introductions
We welcomed Gayle Peacock, visiting Rotarian from Chapel Hill, N.C. who will be relocating to Tucson in the Fall. Tom Robertson introduced Bruce Simmons, Board member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, who has had a successful career in sales. Simmons shared that he enjoys hiking adventures and tennis in his spare time.
Queen of Hearts
The pot this week totaled $3540 with 14 cards left, including the Joker and the Queen of Hearts. Dick Carlson won the chance to take home $1770 but pulled the 2 of Spades. So the pot continues to grow.
Sergeant at Arms
Phil Four-Way, assisted by the one and only “Bobby D” DeLaney as the can man, named the birthday celebrants, Dick Carlson and Bob Grady, who each gave a leg up. M Craig put $ in the can in honor of her 38 years with hubby Steve and the 5 month birthday of her grandson. Sharyn Chesser & Maria Elena McElroy had 35 first time participants in Dr. Canes workshop on Saturday and had an extraordinary review session for previous Wellness Education participants on Sunday.
Phil then took us down memory lane for special moments in the movie and novel, The Godfather. All in all, we did well answering 40% of his questions correctly. Probably not good enough for the Godfather but sufficient for us.
Happy bucks began with visiting Rotarian Merle Anderson announcing that he and his wife would be heading back to Iowa and would see us in early December. Plus, this summer, he and his wife will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary with all of their family and then travel to Eastern Europe. Norm Rebenstorf and his wife Becky just returned from Israel. Dorice Beren’s son was selected to participate in the Fall Festival again. Maria Elena shared that April is Mariachi Month in Tucson and encouraged members to attend the Mariachi Conference at the end of the month that involves 1000 students using different instruments and dancing. Bob DeLaney extended best wishes to the Lady Wildcats for an NIT win.
Program
President Bob presented the Club Update. The following are the highlights.
Board Initiatives
President Bob reminded us of our mission focus; To Change the lives of children in need while ensuring we stay a growing and engaging club. Our Big Idea Project to establish the Center for Creative Arts this year for the BGCT is a $50K commitment by our club to change the lives of over 4500 youth each year.
Approved Honorary Membership for Dr. Lisa Kiser
Tracking of service hours and meeting attendance. Service and Committee Chairs will report on individuals and number of hours served. Members should report any activity or makeups to Tony Spear for attendance.
We are testing Club Runner, a data management and communication tool for keeping attendance, managing volunteer coordination and for the weekly meeting notice.
We have held several well-attended Happy Hours.
Working on membership growth and retention planning
Progress on Goals from Strategic Plan
Membership increase: 56 towards goal of 63
Service hours per member: 17; goal is 36
Rotary Foundation donations: 66% participating with a goal of 60%
Per Capita Giving: $448 exceeding goal of $175
Member Engagement/Attendance: 73%; goal is 80%
Service Participation: 73% of membership; goal is 75%
Social Media Penetration(Facebook likes): currently 16% increase; goal is 5%
Literacy
A few members and spouses are now volunteering for Literacy Connects, working with students in TUSD. The director of Literacy Connects will present to us in May and hopefully more CRC members will participate in the next school year.
President Bob opened the floor for suggestions for future projects that members would like to see our involvement. Some suggestions:
Get involved with Special Olympics
Field trip for low income youth to an area different from where they live.
Review opportunities to volunteer with the three big idea finalists.
Click on one of the photos below to open the gallery and read captions.
