Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (13, quorum reached): Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Bill Dowd, Dick Drumm, Ray Hannan, John Justino, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Carol Orvis, Becky Raymond, Carole Spencer.

Guests (5): Dr, Martha Lepow, David Palmquist, Mr. & Mrs. Bill Nathan, Linda Decelle.

President Andy Leyhane called the meeting to order, and welcomed members and guests. … Bill Dowd reported that donations for our ShelterBox fund drive have topped $5,200 with a week remaining to reach the $6,000 goal. He reiterated that members and friends of Rotary have donated in widely varied amounts, and encouraged everyone else to donate something of any amount to help underwrite the organization’s many ongoing disaster relief efforts around the world. Donors can mail checks, made payable to ShelterBox (and are tax deductible), to Bill at 7 Hyland Circle, Troy, NY 12182, or give them to him at our November 1 meeting which will be the final day to do so. … We had 10 people enrolled in  last Saturday’s Rotary Leadership Institute held at the UAlbany School of Public Health, the largest group from anywhere in District 7190. We had four new Rotaractors among our numbers, and Roberto Martinez received his certificate for completing all three levels of the program. (Click here for details of the event.) …

… SRC is working to support the Greenbush YMCA’s Caring Community Basket Brigade effort to collect, assemble, and deliver Thanksgiving baskets to needy families. Shopping lists, dropoff hours, and other items of information are included in the event flyer that has been posted on the website. Click here to see it. … Online registration is available for the annual Foundation Dinner, scheduled for Thursday, November 8, at the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia. … Murray Forth, winner of the raffle for a wine-pairing dinner for 12 at Cafe Capriccio in Albany, informed us the event was excellent. President Andy asked if members would like to hold another such raffle, perhaps early in the new year and the consensus was favorable. He also noted that Bell Top Elementary School may do the same thing to raise funds for the therapy dog project we are helping underwrite there.  … We still need several more volunteers to staff next Saturday’s (November 3) Recycling Day. Please see Murray if interested. … Next Thursday’s dinner program will be a TV theme song quiz — table vs. table — being put together by Kevin Leyhane.

SRC member John Justino, director of the Center for Global Health at the UAlbany School of Public Health, spoke about the 6th annual World Polio Day, which was marked on Wednesday of this week. John then showed a copy of the livestream video that was created to mark the day.

John introduced Dr. Martha Lepow, a pioneer in polio research in the 1950s and ’60s. Martha, who was featured in the “History of Polio” video SRC made in cooperation with UAlbany, CASDA, and District 7190, continues to keep current about polio research and treatment, and updated attendees on the global situation, noting that endemic polio still is showing up in just three countries — Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria — after being declared eradicated in 122 other nations.

She stressed the need for ongoing vaccine programs because, while polio cannot be cured, it can be prevented. In response to questions from the audience, she explained the various types of paralytic and non-paralytic polio, and said the occasional appearances of what are described as “polio-like symptoms” in the U.S. “are very distant cousins of polio,” not the poliomyelitis strain that once was a global scourge.