NOTE: Those of you who regularly access the meeting minutes on this website will notice a change in the format as of this posting. Because our club secretary no longer is keeping minutes of the proceedings, we’ve switched to this shorter format, written primarily in note form so we still will have a record for the club archive.

Members Attending (14, quorum achieved): Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Bill Dowd, A.J. Amato, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Melissa Bill, Dick Drumm, Kevin Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Charlie Foote, Ray Hannan, Phil Kellerman.

Guests: None

President Andy Leyhane presided over this meeting that marked the formal start of the 2018-19 Rotary Year after our traditional July-August casual event calendar that carried us through the heavy vacation period. He noted the international motto of this Rotary Year is “Be the Inspiration.” He gave an overview of his vision for the year, touching on such points as: Sustainability & Collaboration — Matching our human and financial resources to perceived community needs  via more pairings with other organizations for fundraisers and hands-on efforts. Engaging Our Members — Personally contacting members who have not engaged in our projects/meetings/etc. in a while to invite and encourage them to be involved in specific initiatives. Celebrate Our Work — Let the public know what we do, thereby making our image stronger in the community; don’t forget to give our own people a thank-you or a pat on the back for their ongoing efforts that may too often be taken for granted. …

Our latest Gift of Life child underwent heart surgery today at Albany Medical Center, and reportedly is doing well. The girl is from Mongolia, as was our last GOL child, who was treated at AMC last September. …

Roberto Martinez explained The Lantern Project, which will engage club members in selling and/or purchasing rechargeable solar lanterns — they come in two sizes — as a fundraiser for ShelterBox. We will look into having our club logo on the lanterns rather that ShelterBox’s, and will use them as gifts for guest speakers. The lanterns can be charged by sunlight or by plug-in; the larger version also can recharge a cellphone. …

Cafe Capricio private dinner raffle tickets were distributed for members to sell at $20 each as a special fundraiser to support our many youth projects. Full details are on the event flyer seen here:

… Program assignments have been posted on the bottom of the website’s CALENDAR page. Please check to see when you’re due to come up with one. … So far, we have turned in more than 3,000 deposit bottles and cans via the Clynk program as an ongoing fundraiser for ShelterBox. Bill Dowd noted that the official collection bags — the only ones eligible for this effort — and bar code stickers will be available in the club equipment cabinet at each meeting. He also reminded attendees they can see a brief  informative video about the Clynk program on the website (click here to access it). … Next Thursday, a representative of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New York State will be our guest speaker.