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An impressive cache of donations to the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s annual “School Supplies Drive” was delivered today to Circles of Mercy, our Rensselaer-based partner in the effort.

SRC has been involved in this initiative to aid needy students in the Rensselaer City School District for the past five years. “Circles volunteers told me when I delivered the supplies that overall donations had been ‘a little light’ this year,'” said project coordinator Bill Dowd, “but that our generous carload of items put them over the top and they now have ample supplies to help all the kids.”

This year, for the first time, we also partnered with the Greenbush YMCA which collected donations from Rotarians, YMCA members, and the general public at the facility. Those items will be divided among needy students in the East Greenbush and Schodack school districts.

Service to youth and education are among the ongoing avenues of service for Rotarians everywhere, so we thank all who participated in this effort.

The final event of our “SRC Summer Casual” schedule is set for 6 p.m. this Thursday at the home of Murray and Maggie Forth in East Greenbush.

“Cookout By the Pool II” is designed as a family-friendly event, and there’s plenty of room in the swimming hole. The Forths need your reservations no later than Tuesday evening (email them at mmforth51@gmail.com), so please let them know how many will be in your party.

Guests should plan on contributing $15 per person or just $30 per family. Those with surnames A through M are asked to bring a small appetizer, and those N through Z a small dessert.

This promises to be a fitting blowout to celebrate the end of our summer, and a last chance to socialize before we resume our weekly dinner meetings next month at Quigley’s.

We hope to see you there.

(SRC members are asked to pick up raffle tickets to sell from Andy Leyhane or Jim Leyhane. This initiative is expected to be a major fundraiser for the club, but we are working on a tight turnaround time period. Please share this poster on social media to all your local contacts.)

A warm summer night, a luscious buffet layout, and a new — for us — venue created “Dinner at The Clubhouse” for Thursday’s “SRC Casual Summer” event.

Ray and Lois Hannan played hosts in the clubhouse of their new residential complex, The Spinney at Pond View, with catering by Alexis Diner supplemented by appetizers, desserts, and beverages provided by attendees.

This was the next-to-last of SRC’s summer events. The last is set for 6 p.m. next Thursday, August 23: the family-friendly “Cookout By the Pool II,” at the home of Murray and Maggie Forth. The reservation deadline for emailing them your RSVP to mmforth51@gmail.com is next Monday, August 20.

Attending the clubhouse event, besides, of course, Ray and Lois, were Dick and Mary Drumm, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Dean and Doris Calamaras, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Rodriguez, Pat Bailey, and Carol Orvis. Here are a few scenes from the evening:

No one screamed for it, but there were plenty of smiles at the “Sundaes On Sunday” ice cream social held this afternoon by co-hosts Debbie Rodriguez and Pat Bailey at Debbie’s residence.

Besides the co-hosts and “auxiliary host” Chuck Rodriguez, Andy and Kara Leyhane and kids, Roberto Martinez, Carol Orvis, April and Bill Dowd, Dick and Mary Drumm, Phil Kellerman, Jim Leyhane, and Ray and Lois Hannan got together on a beautiful summer afternoon to enjoy some cold desserts and warm conversations. The event was part of the “SRC Summer Casual” schedule.

Next up is a “Get-Together At the Clubhouse,” at The Spinney at Pond View’s clubhouse at 6 p.m. this Thursday, hosted by Ray and Lois Hannan. If you’d like to attend, please be sure to bring a small appetizer or dessert. And, of course, be sure to RSVP by email to Ray110b@yahoo.com no later than this Monday.

Here are a few  more scenes from today’s event:

While some parts of the Capital Region endured another rainy evening, the skies over Joseph L. Bruno Stadium somehow held their water long enough on Wednesday for a small SRC contingent of Rotarians, familiy, and friends to enjoy our annual pavilion picnic and ValleyCats pro baseball game. (The home team won, 8-7, by the way.)

This was yet another event on our “SRC Summer Casual” schedule. Next up is this Sunday’s 4 to 6 p.m. “Sundaes On Sunday” ice cream social at Debbie Rodriguez’s residence, co-hosted by Pat Bailey.

Meanwhile, here are a few more scenes from the ValleyCats event:

OK, you should have received our message about making reservations for our August 12 “Sundaes On Sunday” event either via website, Facebook, or email. Now, we’re asking for RSVP’s for another event — the “Picnic at The Spinney Clubhouse.”

This “SRC Summer Casual” event is yet another family-friendly gathering, this one to be hosted by Ray and Lois Hannan at the clubhouse at The Spinney at Pond View complex where they recently took up residence.

The address is 2500 Pond View Drive, Castleton, located just ½ mile from Exit 10 off I-90 East. The time and address: 6 p.m. Thursday, August 16. The reservation deadline is Monday, August 13 (contact the Hannans via email at ray110b@yahoo.com)

The menu will be a tasty one — chicken teriyaki, fingerling potatoes, vegetable, and tossed salad — augmented by attendees’ dishes as everyone is asked to bring an appetizer or a dessert. The gathering will be BYOB. The Hannans will provide non-alcoholic beverages.

As we near the end of our “SRC Summer Casual” calendar for July and August, we strongly urge all SRC members and families to make a real effort to interact with their fellow Rotarians and get to know each other even better in this growing organization dedicated to public service and fellowship.

We’ve had our account with the Clynck recyclable container service for just a few months, but we’ve already topped the 2,000 mark!

The graphic above shows the environmental impact of turning in that number of deposit cans and bottles for redemption and recycling. And, in the bargain, we’ve earned well over $100 for the SRC general treasury with lots more to come — assuming the liquid-consuming days of late summer create more returnables.

We handed out a lot of of the official recycling bags and bar code stickers — both of which are mandatory for SRC to get credit for the returns — at the Mac-Haydn Theatre night out, but we have plenty of more. Just let project coordinator Bill Dowd know what you need.

Who likes ice cream? Probably only you … and, your significant others … and your kids and/or grandkids … and maybe even a few friends.

Take advantage of their good taste to enjoy another good taste — a family-friendly “SRC Summer Casual” social event called “Sundaes On Sunday,” to be co-hosted by Debbie Rodriguez and Pat Bailey from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 12, at Debbie’s residence.

We need to know by email whether you plan to join us, or whether you are declining the invitation, no later than this coming Tuesday, August 7. (Debbie’s email address is debannrod@yahoo.com and Pat’s is pbailey7@nycap.rr.com.) While this is not a dinner event (note the hours) they still need to know who’s planning to attend so they can shop for all the goodies for the make-your-own ice cream sundae bar.

This looks to be a fun, kid-friendly event that won’t take much time and, given that it is scheduled for a Sunday afternoon, it will allow those who have difficulty participating in our weekday events to reconnect with our Rotary family, something we strongly encourage.

We hope to see you there!