Members in Attendance (14): Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Laurie Pferr, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Murray Forth, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Carol Heaney, Charlie Foote, Dick Drumm and Kevin Leyhane.

By Zoom (1): Chris Bystroff

Guests (1): Mark Yurkiw

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: Thanks to Carole Heaney and Terry Brewer for the great meeting last week on what Rotary is and who Rotarians are. Carole has proposed a pop-up sign to highlight the Rotary meeting and invite people to come join us. Roberto will check with Moscatellos. We are using the new banner and the old flags and banners have been moved to storage.

Food Drive: Per Phil Kellerman, he has received another $165 in post donations from the bowling fundraiser. The raised the amount of the donation to the food pantry to $1370.

Zoom AI: Carole Heaney is looking into using Zoom AI to take the meeting minutes. On May 14th, our District Rotary will have a webinar on this subject.

RI Contact Page: Our Treasurer and Secretary need to make sure our contact data is correct in Club Runner.

Treasurer Report: Phil Kellerman reported that the IRS cannot find the submitted paperwork. They are backlogged and processing paperwork submitted last September. Phil endeavors to persevere.

SRC Facebook: The Facebook page is live. Please join and invite others. It has been linked to the website and the old Facebook page has been removed.

Global Grant: The well came up dry. The water flow is so low that a low flow pressure pump cannot be used. Alternatively, they are now looking for a suitable location to collect rainwater. The water will need to be treated and stored. Since the church where the well was located is not a suitable location because it has its own collection system.

Defensive Driving: The AAA course will be held on May 17th at the Nassau Ambulance (note change) from 9 am until 3:30 pm. We need a minimum of 25 people to sign up. If you are a member of AAA, the cost is $22. If you are a non-member, the cost is $27. Depending on your insurance, you can save 10% to 15% off the cost of your insurance and it should be good for 3 years. Contact Pat Bailey if you wish to attend. Fifteen people have signed up.

Community Project: The next meeting for the backpack project will be on 5/15 at 1:30 pm.

Fun Run: The Field Day Fun Run to benefit the backpack program will be held on Friday, June 13 from 11:30 am until 2:00 pm at Goff Middle School. There will be a quarter of a mile, half a mile, and mile and a half runs. Per Kevin, they are seeking donations, and the entry fee is projected to be $15. The kids will get a free t-shirt.

Star of Hope: Terry Brewer contacted Jeff Simon to set up another meeting with his management team, the architect, landscape architect and Turner Construction and to identify the new site.

Scholarships: Terry Brewer sent out the letters to the Schodack, East Greenbush and Rensselaer School Districts asking them to select one student each to receive a $1000 scholarship. Students selected should meet the Rotary goal of service. May 29th has been set aside for the scholarship presentation. This is also Ray Hannan’s birthday. He will bring in cake for dessert.

Board Meeting: To be held on May 19th. Send any agenda items to Roberto Martinez.

Donation Jar: Donations from the jar will go to the Haiti eye clinic this year.

Valley Cats: The game was rained out last year. The Club tickets rolled over to this year. Debbie Rodriguez dropped off the contract for this year to the box office. The Club would like to attend the August 7th game. If you did not sign up last year but wish to go this year, let Debbie know. She will pick up the tickets in July.

District Grant: Needs to be submitted by the 15th.

Change-Over Dinner: The change-over will be held on June 19th at Debbie and Peter Brown”s house.

Summer Social Events: The Valley Cat’s game is August 7th. We are also looking at going to S&S Brewery and touring the Mohawk -Hudson Animal Center.

CNY News: Information on all of CNY events and more are posted to the website, cnyrotary.org. CNY has several excellent webinars coming up that will inform and inspire, and we hope you will add to your calendars. Visit cnyrotary.org/events to get all the details and zoom links.

RI Conventions: Calgary, June 21-25, 2025. Carole Heaney will be attending. The Club voted that Carole would represent SCR Rotary as our Delegate to the Convention.

Next Meeting: The next meeting is Thursday, May 15 at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Zoom WILL NOT be available. Program to be determined.

Entry Choices are Chicken Rustica Salid, Eggplant Pharm and Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Mark Yurkiv traveled across Ukraine to “deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid to the front lines near Kharkiv in the east.” He speaks the language and is trying to save lives. He was born in NYC and his parents spoke Ukrainian. He joined the army and was assigned to photography. He is also an artist with exhibitions in Aisa and Tiawan. For more information on his exhibits go to www.signsofcompassion.com.

In this 15min video Mark tries to immerse you in how the people in Ukraine integrate their daily lives with this senseless terrorism  https://youtu.be/AEGWEjRvZSA. The people are like us. They have homes, work and shop in supermarkets but at night they make drones.

For three years Mark has been filling shipping containers with obsolete medical supplies and equipment to fill shipping containers to send to Ukraine. Shipping is expensive. The link to donate for shipping is https://ridgefieldresponds.org/ridgefield4ukraine/.