Because our club secretary no longer keeps minutes of the proceedings, we’ve switched to this briefer format, written primarily in less-detailed note form to preserve the club’s electronic archive.

Members Attending (14, quorum): Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Kevin Leyhane, Bill Dowd, Debbie Rodriguez, Terry Brewer, Carole Spencer, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Dick Drumm, Phil Kellerman, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Pat Bailey.

Guests: Matt Episcopo.

Bill Dowd provided an update on the ongoing effort to raise funds for ShelterBox via member contributions. Our club goal is to raise $6,000 by the end of October, to be added to any donation from the club treasury. As of tonight’s meeting we have collected $4,290, so we are just $1,710 from reaching the goal. Bill emphasized that donations of any amount are gladly accepted, explaining, “It is the cumulative power of donations large and small that will help ShelterBox in its ongoing efforts to aid many of the estimated 85 million people worldwide affected by conflict and natural disasters.” All checks should be made payable to ShelterBox to assure tax deductability, and mailed or delivered to him by our November 1 meeting for aggregation and delivery to the District 7190 Shelter Box liaison officers. …

… Bill also reported that a club-record 10 SRC and Danes Rotaract members have been registered for the Saturday, October 20, Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) to be held at the UAlbany School of Public Health. Our record had been last year’s eight. Because we matched or exceeded last year’s figure, the District is underwriting the cost of one registration fee. We have people registered in all four levels of training, but we still have room for more. The revised deadline is this Saturday, and anyone interested in being signed up is asked to contact Bill no later than Saturday noon, and he will handle their registration. …

… World Polio Day is scheduled for Wednesday, October 24, with a live streaming program worldwide. John Justino plans to record the program, then show it at our Thursday, October 25, dinner meeting. Our special guest at that event will be Dr. Martha Lepow, a childhood infectious diseases specialist who was a pioneer in the battle against polio. Dr. Lepow was interviewed by Dr. Jim Leyhane on-camera as part of our World Polio Day video project last year. … Our Danes Rotaract club is in the process of recruiting new members to replace those who left the area after graduating in June. Their first event will be a “Happy Hour Fundraiser” to benefit the Freedom From Fistula Foundation (FFFF). It will begin at 7 p.m. next Tuesday at Wolff’s Biergarten on Broadway in Albany’s Warehouse District. $1 from the price of each drink purchased will go to the foundation. …

Matt Episcopo, a former law enforcement specialist who now is a much-traveled motivational speaker, was the evening’s guest. He presented what he described as a small slice of one of his most popular presentations, “How To Make A Strong First Impression.” … Event coordinator Murray Forth will be circulating a signup sheet for volunteers to staff a shift at our “SRC Recycling Day,” scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, November 3, at the Wainschaf Associates headquarters at 589 3rd Street Ext., Rensselaer (behind Target). He said he will have an employee on hand to do the heavy lifting, but we need staffers to collect money, answer questions, help accept papers for shredding, etc. …  President Andy Leyhane reminded all attendees that next week’s session at Quigley’s will be a Club Assembly, “so please come armed with your ideas and questions for our club to foster a good discussion.” The club’s Board of Directors will meet after the dinner meeting.