Members in Attendance (15):  Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Kevin Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, Ray Hannan, Debbie Rodriguez, Murray Forth, Terry Brewer, Monica Annis, Ron Annis and Dick Drumm.

By Zoom (0): 

Guests (1): Sister Betsy Van Deusen and Lois Hannan.

President Peter Brown called the meeting to order. 

Theme for the Year: “Building Community”

MEETING NOTES:

Iron Giraffe Bowl-a-Thon: The bowl-a-thon will be held on Sunday April 14 from 2 pm until 4 pm. The cost will be $13 per person. Per Phil Kellerman, sponsorships are $50. Phil has collected $300 so far in sponsorships. Proceeds will go to the Anchor Food Pantry and to the Maple Hill water project. Phil will pick up some gift cards for the raffle. He will also ask participants to bring a food item for donation. He also spoke to Christine Fowler regarding student participation.

Membership: Each SRC Rotary member is asked to bring a friend to the Rotary meeting on April 11th. Terry Brewer will put a program together about Rotary, what the Club does and what we can do for individuals to interest them in Rotary. Members should be prepared to talk about why you joined Rotary. The Club will cover the costs for guests.

Water for Kenya: Ms. Kenara and members of the Rotary Club of Enkare Naroch visited the Full Gospel Church on February 7th. They reported that it was an excellent meeting and all are excited about the community project. They are discussing a small charge for water in order to generate funds to maintain the well. The next step is the needs assessment.

Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez and Debbie Rodriguez met with Jeff Simons, Superintendent of the East Greenbush Central School District, on Monday, February 5th. Mr. Simons is looking at ways that students and staff can be involved in the process.

Lois Hannan reported that she has received the Sister’s of Mercy grant application for the water project. She may need some help with that.

Phil Kellerman and Debbie Rodriguez will take the Rotary International Global Grant training.

Exchange Program: Peter Brown spoke with Jeff Simons about the possibility of a summer exchange program. Mr. Simons will pursue the idea. The Schodack School District is considering how to proceed.

Grants Management Training: The next training will be held via Zoom on Monday, April 1st, at 7 pm. Register for grant training at https://cnyrotary.org/. Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane and Debbie Rodriguez completed the training offered on February 7th. In the new CNY Rotary District 7190, there are more than 100 clubs and greater than 3,000 Rotarians. There were 87 participants in the training. There are three categories of grants, District, District Scholarship and Regional. There is $60,000 available for grants this year. Applications are due by June 1.

PETS Training: The next free virtual pre-PETS trainings will be held on Tuesday, February 13th at 7 pm, The rest will be held on Wednesday, February 21st at 7 pm and Thursday, February 29th at 7 pm.

Rotary District: The in-person PETS training will be held March 15th through 17th at the Double Tree in Syracuse. Register early to secure a hotel room. For further information go to  http://www.RotaryEmpireMDPETS.org. The majority of the meeting will be held on Saturday if you are considering attending for one day. Jim Leyhane and Roberto Martinez will attend the District PETS training.

Rotary Leadership Institute Northeast America: The Institute is holding a graduate class on succession planning on Saturday, March 2nd, at Johnson City High School in Johnson City, New York. The class will start at 7:30 am and end at 3:30 pm. The course includes suggestions on how to develop leaders. You must have completed the Rotary Leadership parts I, II and III to take the graduate course. Register at RLINEA.org.

Easter Baskets for Circles of Mercy: Lois Hannan is coordinating the collection this year. Roberto and Jim Leyhane purchased 25 baskets and delivered them to the YMCA. Richard Zazycki, Circles of Mercy, is asking that the baskets include coloring books, color pencils, facial tissues, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, hair combs, hairbrushes, small stuffed animals, toys, small games, small books, and different types of wrapped candy. Items can be dropped off every Thursday at Moscatiellos. Shannon needs the items for the baskets by March 18th so she can get the baskets to Richard by March 22nd. Easter is on March 31st this year.

Viking Gym: Ron Annis reported that the equipment is at the Schodack Town Highway Department. Ron met with the Town in November. The Town Highway Department will clear the land in April. Ron will work with the Highway and Park Departments to lay out the equipment location. The Town will drill the holes and coordinate the concrete order and delivery. Volunteers will be needed to hold the equipment in place during the concrete pour. Along with Rotarians, volunteers will be recruited from the community, boy scouts, Kiwanis and other groups. Top Form will provide scan codes for how to use the equipment and we may add a Rotary Peace Pole. The Club will look at publicity for the project.

Student Scholarships: Terry Brewer will get the scholarship letters out. The Club agreed to three $1000 scholarships to a student from the East Greenbush, Maple Hill and Rensselaer School Districts. Will try to have the responses from the Districts by April 15th so that the Club can meet the recipients in a meeting on May 16th or 23rd but no later than June 6th. Terry will speak with Andy about a Cafe Capriccio Dinner fundraiser.

Gift of Life: Per Leyhane, 5,000 children around the world received heart surgery. If every Rotarian contributed $50 to Gift of Life, another child could receive a transplant. To donate go to https://www.giftoflife.org/contrib#makecontribtoday.

Social Capital: Peter Brown attended a seminar on social capital, also called community resilience, which generates value for a community. An organizational process has been developed. Peter will provide further information ideas.

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 15th 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. Our speaker will be Kevin Bailey from High Peaks Solar speaking on water projects in Tanzania.

Entree choices will be Chicken Rustica Salid, Lasagna and Cheese Ravioli.

Sister Betsy Van Deusen is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph Carondelet. She is a social worker by training and has served as Director of Church Relations for Habitat for Humanity International and Director of Community Partnerships for the Diocese of Albany. She serves on the Boards of the Regional Food Bank and the College of Saint Rose. Sister Betsy has been the CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany since July of 2022.

Catholic Charities of Diocese of Albany encompasses 14 counties witch cover 10,000 square miles. There are 10 agencies with 85 programs. The organization employes 700 people and has a 48-million-dollar budget. They serve 100,000 people a year. Funding comes from the Counties and the State with some Federal grants. They also fund raise.

Catholic Charities provides health, housing and shelter, youth and family, older adult and community services such as residences for pregnant teens, foster family placement and substance abuse assistance. They also have food insecurity and nutrition programs which include food pantries. For example, they provided a bus token to an individual so he could apply for a job and then provided steel toed shoes so he could do the job. That individual is now self-sufficient. They also provide services for run-away youth and help incarcerated individuals re-enter society. They provide community outreach and emergency services.

There are 168 Catholic Charity organizations in the Country. They are the largest service provider in the Country and in New York State. For more information go to https://www.ccrcda.org/.