Step 2: Mention you will be attending the Rotary District 5500 Conference
Group rate is only available until September 28, 2021.
Cancellation Policy: 48 hours prior to arrival date to avoid penalties.
Sally and Ernie Montagne receive the 2021 Peacemaker of the Year Award (from Bret McKeand)
Past District 5500 Governors Sally and Ernie Montagne have been chosen as recipients of the 2021 Peacemaker of the Year Award presented annually by the Rotary Club of Peoria.
Chuck Fitzgerald, Past District 5495 Governor and Past President of the Rotary Club of Peoria, presented the award during a virtual program held July 31, 2021. Friends and family members, as well as past and present District Governors, Rotary International Directors and Rotary Foundation Trustees attended the program.
According to Mr. Fitzgerald, the Montagnes were chosen due to their international service efforts over the years and especially because of their work for The Rotary Foundation and for Polio Plus.
“I can’t think of another couple more worthy of being honored by our Club,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.
“They have taken countless trips around the world to serve others and to bring peace into their lives.”
The award is normally presented during The Rotary Club of Peoria’s annual Pursuing Peace Conference, planned this year for September 17, 2021. The Montagnes are the fifth recipients of the award, and the first Rotarians to be so honored.
In describing criteria for the award, Mr. Fitzgerald said the recipients must be regarded in the community as persons of good character, must “possess a servant’s heart,” must be peaceful in their online presence and must apply the Rotary Four-Way Test in all they say and do.
“The Rotary definition of peace is ‘Service Above Self’’. Every act of service is an act of peace,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.
The announcement surprised the Montagnes. Both said they were very appreciative of receiving the award.
“It blows me away to be honored in this regard,” said Ernie.
“We believe Rotary gives each of us these opportunities to make the world a better place. Whatever your passion, you can find a niche in Rotary to do good in the world.”
Sally said, “We’re so grateful to have found Rotary and to have made it a part of our lives. This award is a lovely honor.”.
Rotary International Director Vicki Puliz congratulated the Montagnes and thanked them for their deep involvement over the years, as well as their continued commitment to Rotary.
“You keep giving and stay connected at all levels. You are truly an inspiration.”, she said.
Ernie Montagne served as District Governor in District 5500 in 2010-11, while Sally served as District Governor in 2014-15. Other honors earned over the years include:
Sally received the Rotary “Service Above Self Award”, Rotary’s highest honor.
Ernie received the Rotary International Avenue of Service Citation in 2005.
Both have received The Rotary Foundation’s District Service Award.
OUR FIRST PEACEBUILDERS E-NETWORK MEETING OF THE NEW ROTARY YEAR IS HAPPENING TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, AT 6:00 PM. WE WELCOME ALL PEACEBUILDER CLUBS AND ALL PEACE AMBASSADORS.
Dr. Matthew Whitaker will present "Pandemic, Protest and Peace in the Age of COVID-19," at this month’s meeting. The Zoom e-Network of Peacebuilder Clubs will meet Tuesday, August 17, at 6:00 pm.
Dr. Whitaker will take us on a journey that will show us how we can help fight disease AND eliminate conflicts that inhibit the achievement of healthy and peaceful solutions for our Rotary members and our communities.
Matthew C. Whitaker, Ph.D. is the founder and CEO of Diamond Strategies, LLC, a premier diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) employee learning and executive leadership training provider to Fortune 500 companies in the United States, Europe, Africa and China. Diamond Strategies is a certified Minority Business Enterprise.
Dr. Whitaker is an award-winning educator, author, DEI and community engagement specialist, motivational speaker, and founder of the Arizona State University Center for the Study of Race and Democracy where he was a professor of history for 15 years. He is the winner of the 2014 Arizona Diversity Leadership Alliance (DLA) Inclusive Workplace Award. He co-founded the Healing Racism Dialogue Series, winner of the 2008 National League of Cities Inclusive Award, and was given DLA’s 2016 Diversity and Inclusion Leader Award.
His books include “Hurricane Katrina: America’s Unnatural Disaster”, and “Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the Urban West”. His forthcoming memoir is “The Undisputed Truth: A Revolutionary Journey to Black Manhood”.
The Rotary Club of Rincon (Tucson) (from Tom Eiff)
President Scott Hagerman and outgoing President Steve Pedigo both joined Rincon Rotary in 2018!
Last year Rincon’s RotaryLocal made 20 deliveries totaling $15,000 to schools. Its RotaryAssist contributed $14,000 to service projects.
Anne Gartner, with Rincon'ers Stuart Katz, Club Rotary Foundation Director, and Club President Candace Lansberry, received a Paul Harris Fellow.
Anne has been a member since 2010 and has been involved with the Club's budgeting and QuickBooks for almost that entire time.
IPP Steve Pedigo nominated Anne Gartner to The Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame. Admission is based on both military service and post-military community
work.
Anne and her husband, Jeffrey, are active supporters of the Tucson Museum of Art.
The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona (TRVFA) is a non-profit organization under IRS Code 501(c)(3) whose purpose is to assist those people who qualify under Arizona law to obtain financial assistance to further their vocational studies. TRVFA is an organization which meets Arizona’s Credit for Contributions to A Qualifying Charitable Organization requirements. Our QCO Code is 20698.
Candidates who meet the eligibility requirements are identified and recommended to TRVFA by financial aid counselors in vocational education institutions/Rotarians and their Clubs. A Club interviews the student, but there is no cost to the Club.
Visit the website, Rotary members and clubs are encouraged to donate either online or by check.
Vocational Training really works!
Mailing Address: TRVFA, P O Box 14412, Scottsdale, AZ 85267
The Rotary Club of Casas Adobes (from Doug Woodward)
CASAS ADOBES ROTARY CLUB IS A TWO-HUNDRED PERCENT PAUL HARRIS CLUB
Casas Adobes Rotary Club has had its signature Eighth Grade Honors Program for more than 32 years. Each year eighth-graders are encouraged to apply for this honor, then, four years later, eligible high school seniors apply for one of the Club's scholarships.
Since inception of the program, CAR has recognized more than 4500 Eighth-graders for civic engagement and leadership and has awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships.
Rotary District 5500 selected Casa Adobes for its Thinking Out of the Box Award in recognition of its creativity in continuing the program during the pandemic.
Even more good news was on the horizon. At the Club's Passing the Gravel dinner on June 30, 2021, eight spouses were awarded Paul Harris Fellowships. And one new member was inducted into the Club and also became a Paul Harris Fellow.
But even more was to come. This newest member's spouse was not a Paul Harris Fellow so the Chair of Paul Harris Fellows, Ed Wilkinson, called her forward and awarded her with a Paul Harris Fellowship.
Casas Adobes may be the only USA club in which all 26 members are Paul Harris Fellows and all 22 members’ spouses or significant others are also Paul Harris Fellows.
These two signature activities exemplify the Club's commitment to the spirit of the Paul Harris Fellowship and to Rotary lnternational's core value of “Service above Self”.
ShelterBoxUSA Update (from Don Jorgensen, PhD, Marana Rotary)
Shelter Box USA is excited to share its 2020 Annual Report highlighting the global work your generosity has enabled during a challenging yet resilient chapter in ShelterBox history. In 2020 ShelterBox celebrated 20 years of providing emergency shelter to 1.9 million people in more than 100 countries while modifying our aid, training and employment to serve more than 200,000 people and families during the global pandemic.
In 2020 and 2021 District 5500 Clubs and individual Rotarians have given families more than the shelter and tools needed to rebuild and recover. They have given them hope. Without them, this life-saving work would not be possible.
The drawing will be on Saturday, October 16, 2021at the Car Show.
The net proceeds from the Tucson Classics Car Show will go to Pima JTED, Tucson’s unique vocational High School. Your support will go a long way in helping our Club reach our goal of over a quarter of a million dollars to go towards their newest building at Park Avenue and I 10.
If your Club will sign an agreement with the Tucson Club to sell raffle tickets, your Club will receive 50% of each ticket sold as a low-effort, mini fundraiser for your Club. Just contact Roger Harwell, rharwell@glhn.com, and he will help you get going!
Do you have valuable skills and talents from which your District and Rotary can benefit? Are you interested in growing as a Rotary leader?
Have we got an exciting leadership training opportunity for you!!
In RY 2017-18, Districts 5500 and 5495 formed a partnership to lead and coordinate the Rotary Leadership Academy, an innovative online learning approach to Rotary leadership development first created in 2004. It is the Academy’s mission to train selected Rotarians for future District leadership roles while simultaneously understanding and being sensitive to the demands on Rotarians’ time and busy schedules.
Annually, Past District Governors, Governors, Assistant Governors and RLA graduates nominate candidates for the Academy. These nominees, past Rotary Club Presidents, Rotary Leadership Institute graduates and Rotarians interested in leadership roles beyond their Clubs are provided training which prepares them for the “next step,” a District/Rotary International leadership role.
Each fall the participants begin the Academy’s annual program with an orientation to its self-paced, computer-based online learning framework. The primary objectives of the Academy are: (1) to expand the foundation of Rotary and District leadership, (2) to provide opportunities for excited and engaged Rotarians to expand their leadership talents and (3) work within the parameters and constraints of Rotarians’ busy lives.
This quality online training is facilitated by talented and experienced past District Governors and senior Rotarians. Additionally, each student is linked to a “topic of their Rotary area of interest” learning group, a small group of five or six students who share questions and ideas during each course and support one another during the Academy year.
The following is the Academy’s course of study. Each course requires between 10 and 12 hours to complete.
September: How Rotary Works and the History of Rotary and its Leadership in Arizona
October: Understanding and Utilizing The Rotary Foundation
November: Collaboration and Funding to Meet Needs
January: Pathways to Rotary
February: Rotary Brand: Becoming a Brand Champion
March: Rotary’s Fiduciary Responsibilities and Youth Protection
Go to arizonarla.org and explore the Arizona Rotary Leadership Academy website and learn about its history, courses and other learning resources. It will be well worth your brief review.
During July and mid-August, 2021, the District Governor, Past District Governors, Assistant Governor, and graduates of the Arizona RLA will be seeking nominees for this year’s Academy class.
If you are a current or Past Club President, graduate of RLI or a Rotarian seeking a leadership role beyond your Club, let a Past or the current Governor, Governor Elect, current AG or RLA graduate know of your interest in being nominated to attend the Arizona Rotary Leadership Academy.
You will be glad you took action.
Be well.
If you have questions, please contact Hank Huisking, Governor, PDG Diane Ventura-Goodyear, Ann Huber, Executive AG, or Gene Medina, Dean, RLA 2020-2021 at otivar2@gmail.com or (360) 509-9980
The Rotary Club of Tucson Sunrise (from Myron Donald)
New Members
Stephanie Bermudez
Stephanie Bermudez is the Founder and CEO of Startup Unidos.
Startup Unidos has been cultivating collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship in underserved border communities since 2015. The group has more than 30 active partners, has hosted more than 40 events and has volunteered more than 6000+ hours with the goal of empowering local communities.
Startup Unidos provides entrepreneurial and workforce education, capacity building and youth programs, such as, Waste Not: Borderlands Innovations in Food Waste Management, Emprende Amigo and Borderoots in the Arizona-Sonora border area.
Stephanie is a proud wildcat with a Bachelors of Environmental Science from the UAZ College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a Certificate of International Innovation and Sustainability from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
She is part of the Pima Community College Small Business Development Center, an advisor and community partner to the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Hub Tucson, an organizer for Techstars Startup Weekend, a community leader for the Kapor Center Latinx In Tech, a committee member of the Pima County Workforce Investment Board, and advisor to Startup Tucson and a co-organizer for Saturdays.AI.
Recent recognition for Stephanie includes: February 2020, Top 20 Woman of Impact by Tucson Lifestyle Magazine; March 2019 Minority Business Owner of the Year, Inside Tucson Business Women of Impact; October 2018 TENWEST Idea Funding, Larry Hecker and Sherry Hoskinson Bright Futures Award; December 2016 Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as 40 under 40 Woman of the Year.
Stephanie is an Ambos Nogales native. (Ambos Nogales means “both Nogales”) She has dual citizenship and is bilingual in Spanish and English. She enjoys being a borderlander and traveling back and forth between Mexico and the United States.
She has a 20-year-old son, Ilias De La Roca, is a Pisces, likes hiking, volunteering and exploring new cuisines.
She came to Tucson Sunrise through collaboration with Bob Kahl at UAZ Eller College of Management, McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation Young Entrepreneurs Academy in youth entrepreneurship education at the high school and college level and was his guest to the Club several years ago. Then she was ‘enticed’ by Gina Murphy-Darling!
She joined Rotary and Tucson Sunrise because she wants to expand her network while engaging in community service.
Nicholas Hilton
Nick Hilton was born and raised in Utah and developed an interest in public service at an early age from his mother, who taught high school, and his father, who was a police officer.
He earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Political Science from Utah State University then went on to a career working in nonprofits and in government.
He first learned of Rotary when he was hired by a school district to help them with an informational campaign to raise money to rebuild schools in the very same community where his late mother had taught English years before.
A number of the schools there were structurally unsound and at risk of collapse or significant damage if an earthquake struck. He was hired to talk to members of the public about these needs and to inform them of their opportunity to vote for increased funding to invest in new or upgraded schools. As he met with members of the community, his group was invited to a Rotary meeting to discuss these issues with their members.
“I was blown away. I loved that this small Club of diverse people met regularly to try and improve their community. But, as is the case with most political campaigns, I worked long hours for little pay and was unable to join at that time, but we did win the election to improve more than 20 K-12 schools!”
Nick and his partner, David, eventually moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he worked on a series of campaigns during the 2018 Midterm Elections. Nick now works at the Office of the Governor at 400 W. Congress.
He and David rent a quirky little casita in Midtown and can be found gardening or walking their cat, Wesley, in his travel backpack around the neighborhood when the weather isn't too hot. Weekends are their favorite times because those allow them the time to explore, hike, and look for wildlife out in the desert (and maybe stop for tacos along the way!).
Sewing for Living Project
Tucson Sunrise has been collecting yard to be sent to the Rotary Club of Bali Ubud Sunset, Indonesia, for distribution to women there to turn into craft items for sale.
The Club has shipped the first 30-pound box of yarn to Bali. It has two more, similar boxes to ship as soon as it can pay for the shipping.
The Bali Club has partnered also with the Rotary e-Club of Cologne, Germany. That Club will purchase products made by the women in Sewing for Living for that Club's Christmas Markets in the Cologne area!
The Ubud Club said these donations and sales will be a godsend because the markets in Indonesia are only open on a very limited basis due to COVID. The women have not met for several weeks because of the lockdown, but have been industriously working at home to produce crocheted and sewn items.
The lockdowns have made times are very tough in Bali; they are in need of anything Rotary can provide. After one sale, a Balinese woman said, "Now I can buy rice for my family!".
The women are also producing goods, including golf club covers, which they will sell at a small market in a golf resort where RCBUS will hold a charity golf tournament on September 25th, 2021, if they are not still in lockdown.
The Catalina Rotary Club Tucson is also involved as the project evolves into a multi-Club event.
Baby Shower
Tucson Sunrise held an unusual, if not unique, meeting On Thursday, July 22, 2021. The meeting was a baby shower for members Hannah Fisher and Jessica Koꞔ, who are expecting within a few weeks of each other! Hannah, and her husband, Ken, are expecting a boy and Jessica and her husband, Erman, are expecting a girl.
THE CLUBS' SHOWCASE
(NEWSLETTER)
Please submit your Club’s news by the 20th of each month. The Clubs’ Showcase will be distributed on the first of each month.
Show off your Club. Tell us what your Club and your members are doing for our communities and for the world. Please share your best practices and what you have learned while doing your projects. Rotary Clubs all learn from each other!
Our editor, Myron Donald, is eagerly waiting for your articles. Please send articles as attachments in Word or in the body of an e-mail. Please don't send PDF files and do send any photos as attachments with the highest resolution possible and not embedded in your email. PDFs and embedded photos are difficult to transfer to ClubRunner.
Thank you!
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The award is normally presented during The Rotary Club of Peoria’s annual Pursuing Peace Conference, planned this year for September 17, 2021. The Montagnes are the fifth recipients of the award, and the first Rotarians to be so honored. 
Dr. Matthew Whitaker will present "Pandemic, Protest and Peace in the Age of COVID-19," at this month’s meeting. The Zoom e-Network of Peacebuilder Clubs will meet Tuesday, August 17, at 6:00 pm.
Do you have valuable skills and talents from which your District and Rotary can benefit? Are you interested in growing as a Rotary leader? 
Tucson Sunrise has been collecting yard to be sent to the Rotary Club of Bali Ubud Sunset, Indonesia, for distribution to women there to turn into craft items for sale.
vide. After one sale, a Balinese woman said, "Now I can buy rice for my family!".
