Members in Attendance (15):  Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Ray Hannan, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Debbie Rodriguez, Dick Drum, Terry Brewer, Phil Kellerman, Becky Raymond, Kevin Leyhane, Carol Heaney and Andy Leyhane.

By Zoom (0): 

Guests (4): Lisa Jackson, Schenectady Rotary; Don Kellish, Schenectady Rotary; Jen Milligan, East Greenbush School District Director of Business and Finance; and Emily Steinbach, President of the East Greenbush School District Board of Education.

President Roberto Martinez called the meeting to order.

Theme for the year: Grow membership, do good in the world, leverage social capital, & have fun!

Meeting Notes:

Membership: Roberto Martinez made the motion to vote Chris Bystroff in as a new member. Peter Brown seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved. Welcome Chris.

Storage: Per Murray Forth, he will bring the boxes and items from storage next week.

Meetings: The holiday party will be held on December 12th at the Browns. If you did not sign up at the meeting tonight, please let Debbie Brown know if you are attending. The December 19th meeting will be held at the Spinney.

Circles of Mercy, Cate’s Kids Adopt-A-Family Program: Gifts to be delivered to Circles of Mercy December 16^th. Richard from Circles of Mercy notified we would adopt a family and he thanked us and will have the list by Thanksgiving.  Need a lead from our Club.

CNY News:  Information on all of this and more is posted to  website, cnyrotary.org. Member Orientation: Nov 26, Tues at 7pm, and December 17, Tues at 7pm. Town Hall, December 5^th at 7pm.Every club is encouraged to send at least one member to get information to bring back to them. 

RI Conventions: Calgary, June 21-25, 2025.  Minneapolis 2028.  Chicago 2030.

Rotary Presidential Peace Conference: To be held February 20-22, 2025 at the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel and Conference Center in Istanbul, Turkey. Register at rotery.org/istanbul25.

Next Meeting: Thursday, November 21st at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page. Richard French will speak on Disaster Response.

Entry Choices will be Antipasto Salid, Eggplant Parmesan and Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Lisa Jackson and Don Kellish of the Schenectady County Rotary spoke about looking for a project after Covid. The Club asked the Schenectady School District who determined that there was a need for a community room at Cain Elementary. The Club determined they had the resources for the project. They put in a kitchen and three clothes washers and three dryers along with tables to fold laundry and laundry baskets. The laundry is used almost daily, and the kitchen is used for cooking classes and parent coffees.

The project was funded by holding a cornhole tournament. Lisa and Don discussed the steps that they went through to plan and hold the tournament. Communication, clear check points, due dates and assigned responsibility are important but a good project is what sells the fundraiser. Their project resulted in community building, continued ties to the school and additional projects.