Members in Attendance (14):  Dick Drumm, Phil Kellerman, Jim Leyhane, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Ray Hannan, Doris Calamaras, Dean Calamaras, Pat Bailey, Kevin Leyhane, Ruth Samuels, Andy Leyhane, Debbie Rodriguez and Roberto Martinez.

By Zoom (3): John Justino, Tom Uhle and Luz Martinez.

Guests (0): 

President Peter Brown called the meeting to order.

Theme for the Year: “Building Community.”

MEETING NOTES

Student Exchange: Per Peter Brown, Jason Chevrier, Superintendent of the Schodack Central School District, will be having a conversation with the Principal of the Middleburgh High School about their student exchange program.

Speakers:   The fall programs are filling up. We are still looking for speakers for the winter and spring.

Membership: We are looking to add new members. We are relying on current members to suggest candidates for membership as we have no mechanism for recruiting.

Rotaract: John Justino reported that they have a speaker lined up for the World Polio Event on Tuesday, October 24th. He has room 110A booked at the School of Public Health from 4 pm to 8 pm. Dr. Jessica Kumar will speak. Jessica is the Medical Director at the DOH Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and working on polio prevention here in NYS. Rotary members are welcome to attend the event.

Gift of Life: Dean Calamaras reported that the golf tournament neted $14,000. They are hoping to expand the program with the District merge.

Viking Gym: Ron Annis spoke with the Supervisor of the Town Garage. The Viking gym kit is stored there. According to the Supervisor, there is no way to complete the project this fall. They have to level and ground and do some landscaping. It looks like the work will be done next spring. The gym equipment is paid for. Ron will keep in contact with the Town.

Next Meeting: Thursday, October 12th, dinner at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join the by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page. Whitney Pangburn, Rotary District Governor, will provide an update on District initiatives and activities.

Entree choices will be Antipasto Salid, Spaghetti and Meatballs or Manicotti.

“There is no fix.” The immigration system is dysfunctional and becoming more dysfunctional. It has to do with the number of immigrants. The world is inundated with immigrants. The United States, Germany and Saudi Arabia lead the world in immigration. Columbia has received 2.5 million immigrants from Venezuela. People immigrate to avoid war and persecution and because of economic hardships and climate change.

Approximately 14% of the United States population are immigrants. Border patrol has captured over 2 million immigrants. They are transported all over the country. They become a strain on city and state resources. Work authorizations take up to two months to process. In the meantime, people need rent and food money. Many cannot work. There are 60,000 immigrants in the New York City Shelter System for a cost of 12 billion over 3 years. New York State claims it does not have the capacity to manage more immigration. Many people apply for political asylum, but that is hard to get. Poverty is not a reason to receive political asylum. Immigrants find work in the construction, agriculture, architecture, engineering, health care, transportation and hospitality industries.

How do you secure a border when border crossings generate over 5 billion dollars? Phil suggests that there needs to be some way to process those who want to emigrate. The United States Government is talking about setting up processing centers in Mexico and South America. He also suggests that there also needs to be some of legislation that leads to legalization. He proposes a 15-year process where immigrants undergo a background check, pay a fine and pay back taxes. They would receive a 5-year work permit that could be renewed for another 5 years, become eligible for a green card and then citizenship. Crimes committed during this time would result in the loss of the work permit and potentially lead to deportation.