Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
April 26, 2018
Members Attending (8): Ray Hannan, Phil Kellerman, Carole Spencer, Dick Drumm, Debbie Rodriquez, Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane, Murray Forth.
Guests (2): Alessandra Barbarossa and Paul Bednarczyk (host dad).
Business/Announcements
OPENING — President Roberto welcomed members and guests. There was an insufficient number of members in attendance to create a quorum.
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION NIGHT — Mike Harkin, the new principal of Columbia High School, is the newest person admitted to SRC Rotary membership. All club members are urged to make every effort to attend the scheduled induction of our new SRC Rotarians and Danes Rotaract members at our May 3 meeting.
RYLA — Shannon Romanowski and Matt Smith of our Youth Committee will contact all local high school officials about the program. We will again sponsor a number of students, but will make attendance at a Rotary meeting before and after the program a requirement for receiving sponsorship.
SUNSHINE & SHADOWS — All members are asked to remember to let April Dowd know if any Rotarians or their family members are ill or hospitalized, or of any deaths in the family, so she can send cards or flowers in a timely fashion.
MISCELLANEOUS — Bill Dowd will represent our club at the District 7190 “Public Image and Social Media Seminar” set for Thursday, May 24, in Clifton Park. … SRC will be honored by Circles of Mercy with the Sister Gail Rieth Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service at its annual “A Taste of Mercy” fundraising dinner. (Click here for details.) … SRC participated in the recent inaugural Gift of Life fun run held in Bethlehem. (Click here for details.)
RONALD McDONALD HOUSE MEALS — We have a full complement of volunteers to prepare dinner at RMH on May 6 (Bill and April Dowd, Julius and Effie Frankel, Phil Kellerman, and two Danes Rotaract members). … Anyone who would like to join the team preparing breakfast there on April 29 should contact Murray Forth or Shannon Romanowski.
SHELTERBOX MATCHING FUNDS — A reminder that a special online-only fundraising effort on behalf of the ShelterBox international disaster relief agency sill be held from noon May 1 to noon on May 2. Click here for details.
RECYCLING & SHREDDING DAY –– Our third such event is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 5, at the Wainschaf Associates headquarters in Rensselaer (behind Target). Please continue to share the event flyer (click here to see it) via social media and/or bulletin board postings. Anyone who would like to help work the day should contact Murray Forth.
PROGRAM: ‘An Italian exchange student pays a visit’
Our speaker was Alessandra Barbarossa, an Italian student currently studying at Columbia High School.
She described her pleasure at being in the Student Exchange Program and how much she has learned since being here.
Alessandra said she enjoys meeting a diverse range of people and learning from them. She has visited Niagara Falls, Canada, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, so far.
Back home in Italy, she is the president of her 22-member Interact Club that works in cooperation with Rotary and Rotaract clubs. In the past few years, they have completed multiple philanthropic events such as blood drives, collecting food for people in need including earthquake support, collecting toys for the holidays, and photography fundraisers. Last October, her Interact Club celebrated its 30th birthday.
The first time Alessandra visited our club she presented us with a club banner and we gave her an SRC tote bag. This evening we gave her one of our Rotary T-shirts.
Click here to access Alessandra’s PowerPoint program containing a multi-year look at some of her very busy Interact club’s activities.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 