Construction has begun on the Swedish Viking Gym project at Schodack Town Park, helped in part by a grant from the Southern Rensselaer Rotary Club.
Trroop 41 Eagle Scout candidate Leonardo Gonzales, SRC’s Ron Annis and John Snyder are pictured unloading the Top Form truck of all equipment and beginning the first phases of building.
Thanks go to the Home Depot store in East Greenbush and its general manager, Craig Fenoff, for supporting the project by offering a generous discount on purchase of supplies.
5 more inductees, plus club awards
Dinner Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
May 4, 2017
Members Attending (19): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Dick Drumm, A.J. Amato, Ron Annis, Terry Brewer, Becky Raymond, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Carol Orvis, Charlie Forth, Rommel Tolentino, Mary Griswold, Maggie Forth, Jennifer Felts, Bob DeBenedetti.
Guests (1): Jeremy Forth.
Induction of New Members
We inducted five new members into Rotary — returning Rotarian Rommel Tolentino and Mary Griswold from Community Care Physicians, as well as Maggie Forth, Jennifer Felts, and Bob DeBenedetti.
Club Board Member Jim Leyhane lead the event, explaining our fast-growing club, its history and his role as the inductor of new members. He also spoke about some of the things that our club has been involved in, including Boy Scouts, ShelterBox, Gift of Life, local student scholarships, Polio Plus, clean water projects and other health related projects. He also spoke about Rotary International, and about its recent changes in membership requirements and responsibilities.
Jim asked that members participate in the way they can with their talents and ideas. Jim read the “4-Way Test” and recommended they view our website for more information. The new Rotarians were given Rotary pins and decals.
Club Awards
President Debbie Rodriguez announced the recognition of various members for their efforts in numerous projects during the 2016-17 Rotary Year, and gave a brief explanation of each award and the contributions made by the recipients. Here are looks at those able to attend:
Matt Smith, Josh Wainman, and Mike Dewey for recycling events.
Awards also went to two other members unable to attend the meeting:
Community Spirit Award
• John Sawchuk for initiating the inaugural Community Celebration Dinner, and for his ongoing efforts involving the Columbia High School community with several Rotary initiatives.
Service Above Self Award
• Bill Dowd for his annual efforts creating and coordinating the school supply drive, the Adopt-a-Family drive and the Easter baskets drive, all of which benefit adult and child clients of the Circles of Mercy family service organization.
Announcements/Business
VIKING GYM — Ron Annis reported on the Viking Gym project he and Eagle Scout Leonardo Gonzalez are heading at the Schodack Town Park, and thanked the club for its financial support.
POLIO VIDEO — Roberto Martinez spoke about the polio history video that will debut at the District Conference in Lake George, and showed a portion of the completed project. He thanked CASDA, which was instrumental in the effort, partnering with SRC, District 7190, and the UAlbany School of Public Health.
TRIVIA EVENT COMING UP — Next Thursday, Bill Dowd will conduct his 3rd annual “Great North American Whizbang Trivia Test.” As always, friends and prospective members are welcome to participate.
Are you staying in the loop?
Do you keep up with all the activities of our club and District 7190? It’s easy to do. Just go to our Facebook page and click on “events.” You’ll see something like this each time you do, although of course the events themselves will change. Then, click on the headline to get the details.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 