Members in Attendance (13):  Ray Hannan, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Kevin Leyhane, Andy Leyhane, Pat Bailey, Debbie Rodriguez, Murray Forth, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Phil Kellerman, Becky Raymond and Terry Brewer.

By Zoom (0): 

Guests (8): Carole Heaney, Tanya Hotalen, Peter Buckley, Dan Wagner, Janet Poole, Kevin Flanigan, Dan Vazquetelles and Dina Sevagega.

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. Proceeds will go to the Anchor Food Pantry and to the Maple Hill water project. We will also ask participants to bring a food item for donation. Bowlers are needed.

Water for Kenya: Per Peter Brown, they are waiting for bids on unified specifications.

Speakers: We still have open dates for speakers.

Rotary Multi-District Conference: Will be held on Friday April 26th- Sunday April 28th at the DoubleTree in Binghamton. Standard Rooms Rate: $129/night Single or Double Occupancy, $139/night Triple Occupancy or $149/night Quad Occupancy. 

Click ->District Conference Information– for more information on the event and speakers

Click-> Register to get signed up (does not include hotel reservation)

Click-> Hotel to reserve your room under room code “ROT” 

Next Meeting: Thursday, April 18th 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. Robert Shulman will speak about Community Emergency Response Teams.

Entree choices will be Chicken Rustica Salad, Chicken Parmesan and Penne Alfredo.

Rotary was started in Chicago, Illinois 116 years ago. Rotary’s structure is comprised of Rotary International, National, local Districts and the club level. Internationally, there are 1.2 million members in over 200 countries. There are 33,000 clubs. Rotary International, through the Rotary Foundation, and the Districts supports club initiatives through grants. The international conventions provide connections on a worldwide basis. Our District is 7190. Districts must have greater than 1000 members. Over the years our District has lost membership, therefore, the district has been reorganized into a larger Central New York District starting in July. Terry Brewer has served as the District Membership Chair. The average club has approximately 20 members. People join Rotary for many reasons such as the ability to participate in community and international service, leadership and to form friendships.

Our Club was started in 1960 as the East Greenbush Rotary Club and renamed the Southern Rensselaer County (SRC) Rotary Club. We have had anywhere from 15 to 50 members but now have approximately 30 members. Over 64 years, the SRC Rotary Club has raised and donated over 1.2 million dollars for various initiatives and organizations. Internationally, some of the things we support are Polio eradication, fresh water in Kenya, Shelter Box and Gift of Life. Among the many local activities we have done, we have supported the Boy Scout Troop since its formation. We have contributed to over 100 Eagle Scouts and over 20 Gold Star Girl Scouts. We have held recycling drives and supported local food banks. We have partnered with the Nassau Library and the East Greenbush School District to provide books to both and a therapy dog for Bell Top School. We have partnered with Circles of Mercy to provide school supplies, holiday gifts for families and Easter baskets. We have also worked with the Town of Schodack on Viking Gym for outdoor physical activity. We are open to any ideas to help make our community better. Our organizational involvement is membership driven. Peter Brown pointed out that since the 1950s, there has been a continuous decline in social capital (people coming together and interacting other than work). We would like to change that trend.

We discussed the many reasons current members joined and stayed with Rotary and different programs and activities our guests were interested in.

For further information on the Southern Rensselaer Rotary Club go to https://srcrotary.org/.