Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
May 17, 2018

Members Attending (13): Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, April Dowd, Debbie Brown, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Andy Leyhane, Ray Hannan, Dick Drumm, Terry Brewer, Geoff Brewer, Peter Brown.

Guests: None.

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BOARD ELECTION: President Roberto opened discussion on the  election of a board for the 2018-19 Rotary Year. He explained that the Board’s desire was to involve Matt Smith as president-elect. Matt, whose meeting attendance has largely been at monthly breakfast meetings although he has been very active in various SRC activities, is making changes in his professional schedule to allow time for more Thursday meetings as he transitions toward the 2019-20 Rotary Year when he will be available each week. Bill Dowd moved, and was seconded by Murray Forth, that “The current slate of elected club officials who have said they will continue to serve, plus Matt Smith as President-elect, be approved for the Rotary Year to commence on July 1.”  The motion passed without dissent. Thus, on that date our board will consist of President Andy Leyhane, President-elect Matt Smith, Immediate Past President Roberto Martinez, Treasurer Murray Forth, Secretary Pat Bailey, Members At-Large Jim Leyhane, Bill Dowd, and Terry Brewer. Other At-Large members may be added at some time.

YOUTH TOPICS: Information has been sent to local high schools on the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program and our scholarship awards. … Current RYLA participants will visit SRC on May 31 to comment on their experience. … Students from Columbia High School spoke at today’s breakfast meeting on the “We Rise” student movement that sprang up across the country in response to the spate of school mass shootings. Click here for details on their talk.

GRANT TRAINING: John Justino, Jim Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, and Roberto Martinez underwent a special training session hosted by PDG Sue Austin of the District 7190 Grants Committee. SRC now has qualified to submit grants to be decided in the 2018-19 Rotary Year. We plan to apply for a District grant to go toward our annual scholarship awards. The deadline for doing so is June 1.

ROTARY HOME COOKING: “An International Wine & Cheese Tasting” is set for 6 p.m. this Saturday at Roberto’s residence, with Bill Dowd and Jim Leyhane also co-hosting. Roberto is urging attendees to car pool to help ease parking.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE: Registration is open for the June 1-3 District 7190 Conference to be held at the Rivers Casino in Schenectady. The theme is “Sparking Change in the Capital Region.” Click here for details.

ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: Registration has opened for the RLI workshop to be held at the UAlbany School of Public Health on October 20. Any SRC member interested in participating will have registration paid for by SRC. Program details and registration information is available from Bill Dowd or Debbie Rodriguez, both of whom are graduates of the three-year, three-level program.

STAR OF HOPE: The refurbishing of this memorial to Columbia High School students who died before they graduated will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 9. The memorial is located on the grounds of the East Greenbush Public Library. A task force from CHS, and an oversight group from SRC, will take on the work. The neighboring Greenbush YMCA will take on the responsibility of watering and weeding the plantings there. Faddegon’s Nursery has offered a planting design.

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PROGRAM: “4th annual Great North American Whizbang Trivia Test”

Bill Dowd presented his annual competition, with Peter Brown emerging on top. That keeps intact the string of a different winner in each event. However, it took a tiebreaker round for Peter to edge out his sister, Pat Bailey. Each received different specialty books of “best of” lists and puzzles as awards.

This year, the number of categories was reduced from five to four, and more multiple choice opportunities were added. The categories were “American History,” “Around the World,” “Television,” and “Odds & Ends.” Click here to see the questions and answers.

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