Tucson ICO Leaders Judy Rubin, Al Bellavia, and Bill Holiday at the March 9th ICO outing with the Owl and Panther agency.  The outing was held in the Catalina Mountains at Inspiration Rock.  60 participants from the Afghanistan refugee community enjoyed the fresh snow, a short walk, and tasty food.  Everyone had a fun time.

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The Summit Hut has reached out to partner with the Tucson ICO in their Days of Giving program. The Summit Hut is excited to announce that, due to their remarkable fundraising efforts last year, their Summit Hut Days of Giving program is back!  

The Summit Hut Days of Giving program will run December 13th to December 24th. Each day, Summit Hut matches a brand partner of theirs to a different local, non-profit organization.  Every day the brand partner changes as does the donation recipient.  Summit Hut and their brand partner, Kuhl, will have Tucson ICO be their recipient organization for a donation $500 on December 23^rd.  Summit Hut says, “We think you guys have a great mission and do a lot of great things for our community!”  The Tucson ICO appreciates the Summit Hut’s support.

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ICO meetings are ongoing.  For the November 2023 meeting, we recognized the leaders and youths of the Ruby Mountain Wilderness service trip.  ICO Chair Al Bellavia publicly thanked the leaders Steve Pothier and Judy Rubin for their on-going dedication and leadership.  Al also thanked the youths Alfredo Martinez, Joel Moreno, and Analuisa Santos for their commitment to successfully completing the service trip.  All received certificates of appreciation and t-shirts imprinted with the Tucson ICO logo. 

Joining us for this recognition event were the Outdoors Activities Team from the National Sierra Club.  They included Connor McIntosh, Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center Curator; Katty Regalado, Inspiring Connections Outdoors Senior Coordinator; Marissa Llanes, Director of Chapter Outings; and Sergio Avila, Local Outings Senior Program Coordinator. 

After the awards were presented, conversations were had by all well into the evening. 

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Hope everyone had a great summer.  ICO Monthly Meetings resume in September.

The local high schoolers had an exciting time this summer on their Ruby Mountain Wilderness Service Trip.  They said they liked spending time with and getting to know amazing people from all around the United States.  They learned that camping in the wilderness and cleaning trails is “super fun”.  They learned they could do something good for the earth while having “the time of your life”.  Hiking out every day to where they were going to clear trails and then eating lunch out on the trails was the most fun part.  The least favorite part was when, “my tent got rained in because I didn’t set it up right.”  Despite that setback they said, “I would 100 percent do these service trips again!”  Check out more photos from the trip on the Past Outings tab.

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