Please do not forget about our adopt-a-family with Circles of Mercy. The list is posted on the calendar page. Items in red have already been purchased. Please Notify Kevin or Roberto as soon as you select an item to be purchased so the website can be updated. Gifts may be brought to our holiday party on the December 12, or you can arrange a later pick-up with Carole, or you may bring them to Circles of Mercy. All gifts must be delivered to Circles of Mercy by Monday December 16, 2024.
Minutes
Southern Rennselaer County Rotary Meeting
December 5, 2024
Attended by: Roberto Martinez, Phil Kellerman, Jim Lehayne, Kevin Lehayne, Dick Drumm, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Deb Brown, Ray Hannan, Andy Lehayne and Murray Forth. Dean and Doris Calamares attended by Zoom.
Roberto welcomed everyone. The pledge was conducted.
Nest week on the 12th the annual holiday party will be held at the home of Peter and Deb Brown.
Phil Kellerman introduced the guest speaker, Gretchen Zegger, co-president of Whiskers.
Whiskers, based in Albany, rescues cats and finds suitable homes for adoption. The agency currently houses 122 cats and depends on 230 volunteers.
A new state law will limit the number of cats to 12 for occupancy in any one room. Thus, Whiskers is embarking on a fund-raising campaign for a new building with larger space.
Whiskers has been around for about 40 years. Many of the cats rescued have been abandoned. Medical treatment is provided to cats when needed.
In 2024 Whiskers served 655 cats.
In regular business, Roberto thanked everyone for taking Rotary items that were brought out of storage. Pat asked everyone who took items to get her a list of what was taken for record-keeping.
Roberto announced that the global grant for funding to provide access to safe water by establishing a borehole at the Enabelibel Full Gospel Church in Narok County, Kenya had been approved. Roberto thanked Peter and everyone loudly applauded Peter’s efforts. Peter said that the next step is to arrange the hydro-geological survey to see if there is potable water.
Concerning membership, two members (Jennifer Felts and AJ Amato) have ended their participation, but the club is picking up two new members.
Pat said that she is working to schedule a defensive driving class in the spring.
The holiday party is scheduled for December 12 at the Browns. Kevin reviewed a chart with holiday gifts requested by the club’s “adopted” family to bring to the party for collection.
On December 19 our meeting will be held at Spinney and hosted by Ray and Phil. They are making arrangements for catered food and Phil will conduct a trivia contest.
There will be no meetings on December 25 and January 2nd. The next meeting will be January 9th.
Ron has a potential member, Laurie Pferr, who will be speaking in either January or February.
John Justino has agreed to speak on the transition of the SUNY Albany School of Public Health in February.
Carole Heaney will be conducting a Holiday Grief Conversation December 8th from 1-3pm at the Lyons Funeral Home.
Roberto mentioned several Rotary international conferences coming up.
Peter and Kevin addressed the intention for our club to hold a Cornhole Tournament to raise funds. While the casino in Schenectady would draw lots of competitors, Kevin thought that holding it at an East Greenbush school would be more family friendly. Discussions are ongoing with the East Greenbush school board.
Phil said that he wanted to communicate with representatives at the East Greenbush Methodist Church about holding a benefit charity concert in the spring with a band from Florida and the Albany-based band “Enjoyous.”
This Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 6:00 pm the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club will be holding its weekly meeting at Moscatiello’s on Route 4 in North Greenbush. Joining us for a presentation will be Gretchen Zegger from Whiskers Animal Benevolent League. If you are unable to join us in person you may do so virtually using the Zoom link located on the calendar page of the website. Entree choices for the evening include a choice of Rustica Salad, Lasagna, or baked ziti.
We are expecting some winter weather from Wednesday into Thursday morning. Should be clear by Thursday afternoon, but if the storm lingers and we feel safer to moving to a all virtual meeting please check the website, and we will send out an email.
We have received the list for the adopt a family and it is posted on the calendar page below the calendar. This is just an image of the list and it can be zoomed in on. If you select an item to purchase notify Kevin via email so he can color code the items to show if they have been purchased. We will discuss this more on Thursday. Looking forward to seeing everyone this Thursday.
Quick reminder, no meeting this week. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Members in Attendance (15): Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Ray Hannan, Mary Alice Caldes, Charlie Foote, Debbie Rodriguez, Ron Annis, Monica Annis, Dick Drum, Phil Kellerman, Kevin Leyhane, Carol Heaney and Andy Leyhane.
By Zoom (1): Becky Raymond
Guests (1): Richard French
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: Per Murray Forth, bought the boxes and items from storage. After the meeting, members went through the boxes and took home items to save.
Membership: Chris Bystroff will submit the membership fee.
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. The meeting will be catered. The price is $30 per person. Bring a drink. Afterwards, there will be cake and ice cream to celebrate Lois’s 75th birthday.
Circles of Mercy, Cate’s Kids Adopt-A-Family Program: Gifts to be delivered to Circles of Mercy December 16th. Richard from Circles of Mercy was notified that we would adopt a family. He will have the list by Thanksgiving. Carol Heaney will coordinate.
CNY News: Member Orientation: Nov 26, Tues at 7pm, and December 17, Tues at 7pm. Town Hall, December 5th at 7pm. Every club is encouraged to send at least one member to obtain information to bring back to them. Information on all of this and more is posted to the website, cnyrotary.org.
Rotary Gift Giving: To be held on Tuesday, Dec 3rd. This Global Day of Generosity is an opportunity for all members to make a big impact with a gift of any size. A donation to the Annual Fund-SHARE supports projects you’re passionate about, both in your community and around the world. A gift to PolioPlus helps transport vaccines and immunize children to keep them safe.
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, December 5th 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. Gretchen will speak about the Wiskers Cat Rescue.
Entry Choices will be Rustica Salid, Lasagna and Baked Ziti.
Disaster Response
Richard French
Richard French volunteered at the DeFreetville Fire Company in East Greenbush. He served twice as Chief. He remains an active firefighter. He joined the NYS Office of Emergency Management in 1998. He served as the State Liaison Officer at the Incident Command Post and Emergency Operations Center following 911. After hurricanes Francis and Ivan in Florida, he served as the Operations Section Chief. He also served as Operations Branch Director after hurricane Dennis and as Safety Officer in Jackson County, Mississippi after hurricane Katrina. In NYS he responded to hurricanes Irene, Lee and Sandy and to the Lake Ontario flooding.
Disasters include natural hazards such as fires, floods, winter storms, earthquakes, landslides and tornados. Disasters also include technology failures such as power failures and health hazards such as pandemics. Disaster response for families starts with planning ahead. Families can build a disaster kit, be financially prepared by making copies of bank and credit card information, passports and birth certificates. They should have a plan for any pets, for shelter and for evacuation. They can also obtain safety skills such as basic first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Businesses and governments should also plan ahead. They should have impact analysis, risk assessments, mitigation, and all-hazard comprehensive plana and they should train their employees. Others, such as FEMA, Volunteer Organization Aiding in Disaster (VOAD) and faith-based organizations can help. Per Mr. French, “all disasters start and end locally.”
Happy Thanksgiving
This Thursday, November 21, 2024, the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club will be hosting its weekly meeting at Moscatiello’s on Route 4 in North Greenbush. Joining us will be Ryan French and he will be speaking “Disaster Response” in our local area. As usual if you are unable to join use in person you may do so remotely using the Zoom Link on our calendar page of our website.
Entree choices for the evening include; Antipasto Salad, Eggplant Parmesan, or Spaghetti and Meatballs. Looking forward to seeing everyone this Thursday.
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 16th. 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 5th 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.
Schenectady Rotary
Cornhole for a Cause
Lisa Jackson and Don Kellish
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.
This Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 6:00pm the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club will be holding its weekly meeting at Moscatiello’s on Route 4 in North Greenbush. Joining us as or guest presenter will be Lisa Jackson from the Schenectady Rotary Club. Lisa will be presenting on the very successful Cornhole Tournament that their club sponsored as a fund raiser for the Schenectady City School District. We will also be having representatives from the East Greenbush Central School District joining us as we begin to plan our potential Cornhole Tournament to raise money for a community room for members of the East Greenbush Community. We will do our best to make sure that Zoom is up and running if you would like to try and join us remotely, however due to the large expected turnout we may have some audio issues with Zoom.
Looking forward to seeing everyone this Thursday.
Minutes
Southern Rennselaer County Rotary Meeting
November 7, 2024
Attended by: Roberto Martinez, Phil Kellerman, Carole Heaney, Jim Leyhane, Kevin Leyhane, Dick Drumm, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Deb Brown, Ray Hannan, Chris Bystroff, and Andy Leyhane. Ruth Russell joined in via Zoom.
Next week’s speaker will be Lisa Jackson from the Rotary Club in Schenectady.
Roberto welcomed everyone. The pledge was conducted.
Speaker Bob Connor was introduced by Phil Kellerman. Bob spoke about the history of Juneteenth. Bob specifically talked about General Gordon Granger as the man behind Juneteenth and James Montgomery, abolitionist warrior, as major contributors to advocating for the recognition that blacks solders made to the Union effort and the freeing of slaves, resulting in the Juneteenth holiday.
Bob was kind of enough to offer the sale of three of his books and proceeds were donated to our water project. $152 was raised via the sales.
In regular business, Roberto mentioned that Murray was moving Rotary memorabilia and other items out of storage. These items were previously on display at Quigley’s restaurant where we used to meet.
Concerning our Rotary water project, Peter reported the good news that a bank account had been established in Kenya. The next step is payment for the hydro geological survey.
Phil provided a tax status update by saying he had submitted to the IRS the application for reinstatement of 501c4 status and the financial filings for the past 4 years. He credited Terry for doing the bulk of the work.
A speaker has been selected for December 5th. Phil said that he is seeking a speaker for December 19. However, a live meeting will not be able to be held at Moscatiellos since they will be booked during the holidays. A decision will be made as to how to meet that day.
Roberto said that a CNY Rotary member orientation was held October 22nd. Carole said that she learned a tremendous amount as she attended the P1 part as she is a relatively new member. Jim took P2 and Roberto took the graduate part.
It was announced that the Scotia Rotary Club was making available washable menstrual kits to be distributed to girls all over the world who do not have access to menstrual products.
Club members decided to once again adopt a family for the holidays via Circles of Mercy. Roberto said that we needed a leader to spearhead our efforts to collect holiday gifts for the adopted family.
The Shelter Box annual event is to be held November 14 at 8 pm EST at ShelterBoxUSA.org/virtual.
Roberto said that the Rotary Foundation is embarking on a large fundraising campaign to build the endowment to over 2 billion dollars to enable the Foundation to issue district grants.
CYN is sponsoring a youth exchange at the CYN Rotary Conference in Albany, April 4-6, 2025. They are looking for a donation of $500 from each club in the district, and want a response by the end of November.
Information on CYN events can be found at http://www.cynrotary.org.
The Legacy Brunch will be held on Sunday, November 17th at the Doubletree in Binghamton, New York.
The Rotary Presidential Peace Conference will be held February 20-22, 2025 in Istanbul.
The Rotary International Convention will be held in Calgary June 21-25, 2005. It will be in Minneapolis in 2028 and in Chicago in 2030.
In other business, Deb Brown said the she and Peter will host the holiday party on December 12 at their house. Arrangements are being made to order food from La Bella in Valatie. A sign up sheet will be handed out at next week’s meeting.
Pat said she is interested in helping to organize a defensive driving course at the Nassau free library.
Jim announced that he still has soap to sell to raise funds for the club.
Roberto mentioned that Hoffman’s Car Wash may have tickets for car washes that we can sell to raise money. He will talk to Murray about this.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 