Tucson ICO

Tucson ICO (Inspiring Connections Outdoors) provides outdoor opportunities for underserved youth of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds to explore, enjoy and protect the natural world.

Tucson ICO is dedicated to providing safe and fun wilderness trips for people with limited access to the outdoors. Volunteer leaders collaborate with community partners to get outdoors with people—especially youth—who may not have access on their own to safely discover the wonders of the natural world.

Tucson ICO leaders and volunteers meet on the second Tuesday of every month (except June and July) at the Main Library on the University of Arizona campus. Our meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. for socializing and free pizza. Meeting agenda begins at 6:15 p.m. The address is 1510 E University Blvd. Email Al Bellavia at albellavia@hotmail.com for room location. Free parking is in Zone 1 on Vine St., just south of Speedway Blvd. Thank you to our sponsor, Brooklyn Pizza Company, who since 2017 provides us pizzas for our meeting.

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Fundraising Partner

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 Recognition Event

ICO meetings are ongoing. For the November 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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Summer Wrap Up

People hiking on narrow mountain trail bordered by fields of yellow flowers.

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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