Held via Zoom video conference

Members Attending (14): Dick Drumm, Bill Dowd, Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Ray Hannan, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Charlie Foote, Terry Brewer, Murray Forth, Phil Kellerman, Pat Bailey.

Guests (1): Rich Griesche.

MEETING NOTES:

• President Dick Drumm presided, and welcomed special guest Richard Griesche, the new District 7190 Governor for 2020-21 and a member of the Twin Bridges Rotary Club.

• Debbie and Peter Brown will host our next in-person meeting, but at an earlier-than-usual time — 5 p.m. Thursday, September 10. It will be outdoors, thus the earlier time as the days grow shorter, and socially distanced. Details to come, but please plan to bring a lawn chair. The Browns need an RSVP no later than Tuesday, to mdbrown@nycap.rr.com or 518-732-7178.

• A Bylaws change will be up for a vote at the Browns’ meeting. If you cannot attend but would like to vote, please send your proxy “yea” or “nay” to SRCrotary@gmail.com no later than Wednesday. Earlier this week, everyone was sent the wording of the proposed change and the reason for it. In case you want to review it, click here.

• Terry Brewer explained that at Monday’s Board of Directors meeting it was decided that, in lieu of some fundraising efforts because of restrictions during the pandemic, all members are asked to make a lump-sum donation to help fund the club’s community service or international efforts. Members are asked to donate at a level comfortable to them. Checks, made payable to SRC Rotary Club, should be sent to the club mail address: Box 71, East Greenbush, NY 12061. Members have the option of directing which efforts they wish to fund (scholarships, ShelterBox, Polio Plus, Gift of Life, etc.), or they can direct the donation to the general treasury. It was noted that factors that may be taken into account when donating are that less money was spent during the summer because of the lack of events, and at least $18 is being saved each time we otherwise would have held a dinner meeting. (We usually have 38 dinner meetings, which means $684 in meal fees, as an example.)

• DG Rich reported on a variety of regional and international efforts. Among them:

(1.) Africa has been declared officially free from wild polio, leaving Afghanistan and Pakistan as the only countries on the globe still home to endemic polio. Rotary’s polio immunization programs continue in those countries despite the COVID-19 pandemic;

(2.) All Districts in New York State have joined to create a working group called New York Rotary Strong to work together and share ideas during the pandemic;

(3.) An emphasis on environment-based projects has been added to the Rotary Global Grants program for next year;

(4.) Rich, Past DG Melissa Ward, and DG Nominee Denise DiNoto are working with an RI public relations specialist from Connecticut on “Event Groove,” a virtual fundraising program exclusively utilizing social media. Our District will be only the second to try it, and he expects to be able to share details with all clubs by September 15;

(5.) The Rotary Youth Exchange program for incoming and outgoing students, which was curtailed this year, has been approved for a September 2021 restart.

In response to a question about our Assistant District Governor for the year, Rich said the number of areas and their makeup was reshuffled again this year. SRC now is in Area 8, which consists of the SRC, Albany, Colonie-Guilderland, and Delmar clubs. Our ADG is Charles Frink of the Albany club.

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