Members in Attendance (12): Carole Heaney, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Kevin Leyhane, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Chris Bystroff, and Andy Leyhane

By Zoom (1): Charlie Foote

Guests (0): None

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:

Storage: If you have things from storage, for historical record keeping, please send Pat Bailey a picture or list of the item(s) you have.

Speakers: Needed for this year. Contact Phil Kellerman with any speakers. 

Board Meeting: January 20th at 6:30 pm via Zoom.

Global Grant: Per Roberto Martinez, the Club’s 5K portion has been submitted to the Rotary Foundation. The first $1000 has been transferred to Kenya. The next step is to see if the well is going to work or not.

Regional Grant: Roberto completed and submitted the interim report. We will be discussing next year’s grant submission.

Defensive Driving: The AAA course will be held on May 17th at the Nassau Library 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.

Zoom: There are issues with using Zoom in the back room. It is also difficult to hear when someone is having a side conversation near the mics. Roberto is looking for feedback from the Zoom users. Let Roberto know that you will attend by Zoom. He will email you the agenda.

Clynk: Clynk stickers are available from Kevin.

Membership: Will schedule a Club Assembly to discuss.

Bowl-A-Thon: Per Phil Kellerman, the Bowl-A-Thon is scheduled for April 6th. It will cost $16 for 1 1/2 hours or $20 for 2 hours. The special is $90 per lane of 5 people ($17 per person) which includes 2 hours of bowling, shoes, and food (pizza and soda). Phil will contact Debbie Oligue at Maple Hill about the status of the Iron Giraffe project. Sponsorship is $50.

Soap: Is available from Roberto Martinez and Jim Leyhane. “Clean up your act!”

Benefit Concert: Phil Kellerman is looking for a venue. It will be held in the spring.

CNY News: Information on all of this and more is posted to the website, cnyrotary.org.

California Disaster Relief opportunities: Shelter Box and Local Clubs.

CNY Member Orientation, 4^th Tues of each month, Jan 28^th, 7 pm.

Savvy Social Media Webinar, Jan 29^th, 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 1: Club Admin, Feb 2^nd , 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 2: Finance/ Risk Management, Feb 11^th, 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 3: Public Image/ Branding, Feb 19^th 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 4: Membership and Leadership, Feb 27^th, 7 pm.

RLI March 1, Johnson City, NY. LI is $25, L2-G is $40. The Club will cover tuition. Sign up at http: //www.rlinea.org.

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.

RI Conventions: Calgary, June 21-25, 2025. Carole Heaney will be attending. Minneapolis 2028.  Chicago 2030.

Next Meeting: Thursday, January 16 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. The guest speaker is Toni Warren from the Joan Nicole Prince Home for the Dying sponsored by Carole Heaney.

Entry Choices will be Rustica Salid, Chicken Lemone and Eggplant Pharm

Club Assembly

The Club discussed the proposed community center project. Peter Brown put together and presented an initial working draft outlining what needs to be considered in planning the project. Club members discussed reviewing community needs assessments. The Club needs to define the project scope, resource availability, develop parameters for sustainability and to measure success. Based on available information, the Club has decided to move forward.

Members in Attendance (8):  Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Kevin Leyhane and Andy Leyhane.

By Zoom (5): Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Charlie Foote, Chris Bystroff and Carol Heaney.

Guests (1): Dr. Anshu Chandra

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:

Storage: If you have things from storage, for historical record keeping, please send Pat Bailey a picture or list of the item(s) you have.

Speakers: Needed for this year. Contact Phil Kellerman with any speakers. 

Global Grant: Per Roberto Martinez, the Club’s 5K portion has been submitted to the Rotary Foundation. The next step is to see if the well is going to work or not.

Defensive Driving: The AAA course will be held on May 17th at the Nassau Library. 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.

Circles of Mercy, Cate’s Kids Adopt-A-Family Program: Thank you to Carol and Tom Heaney for delivering the gifts to Circles of Mercy on December 16th. Thank you to all who donated.

CNY News: Information on all of this and more is posted to the website, cnyrotary.org.

ClubRunner Webinar Using the CR App, Jan 15^th at 7pmSalesium Webinar for Pros, Jan 22^nd at 7 pm.

CNY Member Orientation, 4^th Tues of each month, Jan 28^th, 7 pm.

Savvy Social Media Webinar, Jan 29^th, 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 1: Club Admin, Feb 2^nd , 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 2: Finance/ Risk Management, Feb 11^th, 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 3: Public Image/ Branding, Feb 19^th 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 4: Membership and Leadership, Feb 27^th, 7 pm.

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.

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

Next Meeting: Thursday, January 16 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.

Entry Choices will be Antipasto Salad, Penne Alfredo and Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Building a Future of Sight

Dr. Anshu Chandra

Dr. Chandra was born in India and grew up in the United States and India. She received her Batchelors in Biology at SUNY Albany and her Doctors of Optometry at SUNY College of Optometry in 2008. Dr. Chandra completed her Residency in Ocular Disease at SUNY College of Optometry and Woodhull Medical Center. Following her mother’s example, she looked for opportunities to give back. She ended up going to Fond-des-Blancs,Haiti where eye care is scarce and spent a month working there. She worked part-time jobs so she could continue missions to Haiti. She opened Bay Eye Charitable Foundation Clinic at a hospital in Haiti in 2015 and lived there for 4 years.

At the clinic, they do 12,000 to 15,000 eye exams per year. Staff at the clinic are volunteers and were trained by Dr. Chandra to perform comprehensive eye exams. She established a retinopathy of prematurity screening program in 2019 and pediatric vision screening for children 0-19 years of age. People come from all over Haiti for care making it the busiest clinic in the country.

They are now looking for a new site since the current location can no longer house the clinic. They are also trying to raise money to buy land and build. They are a 501(c )(3) nonprofit organization and all donations will go to building the clinic. To donate or obtain more information, email Anshu.Chandra@gmail.com. A short video is available at: https://youtu.be/zl_tGGOpJ28 and the website is www.globaleyeproject.org.

Happy New Year