Breakfast Meeting
Greenbush YMCA
20 Community Way
East Greenbush, NY
October 19,2017

Members Attending (12): Roberto Martinez, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Terry Brewer, Geoff Brewer, Jim Butterworth, Shannon Romanowski, Matt Smith.

Guests (1): Wes Slyke.

FOOD BASKETS –.Shannon Romanowski will spearhead the club’s efforts to assist the “Caring Community Basket Brigade” in providing Thanksgiving food baskets, for which money and/or supplies are needed. The deadline for contributing is November 10, with locations for donating supplies to be announced. (See above image for details.)

SPEAKER — Club member Peter Brown, making the first of his two presentations today (he also was scheduled to speak at the dinner meeting on a different topic), spoke on mental health, the culture in schools, and how to make necessary changes to reduce violence.

CALENDAR — The next breakfast meeting will be November 16, with no speaker. (The dinner meeting for that date has been cancelled because it conflicts with the District’s annual Foundation Dinner.)

Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
October 12, 2017

Members Attending (15): Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Debbie Rodriguez, Dick Drumm, Dean Calamaras, Jim Leyhane, Bill Dowd, Terry Brewer, Julius Frankel, Jim Butterworth, Kevin Leyhane, Jennifer Felts, Carol Orvis, Stewart Wagner.

Guests (1): Deborah Ciprioni.

PROGRAM: Physical Therapy & Essential Oils

Club member Jennifer Felts introduced Deborah Ciprioni, owner of Comprehensive Physical Therapy Solutions in Castleton.

Deborah, born and raised locally, has been a practicing physical therapist for more than  20 years and has been operating her own business for about five. Her staff includes two part-time therapists as well as her mother.

She said she wanted to get into business for herself to increase the amount of time she can spend with each client. She said she spends about a half-hour on average with each one she treats compared to 10-15 minutes while in group practice. She said this allows her to get to know her clients much better which, in turn, improves their treatment regimen.

Deborah said her clients range in age from 8 to 92, with needs ranging from accident and injury recuperation to post-stroke therapy. She also has worked with high school football and soccer teams on conducting balance assessments which help in improving training programs.

Deborah also is involved in therapy using essential oils: i.e., compounding natural distilled ingredients for use as topical and aromatherapy applications. She said there are literally hundreds of products available for a variety of concerns. She displayed a sample box and distributed samples. Deborah also holds educational workshops on roughly a monthly schedule for the public.

Announcements/Business

ROTARY HUMANITY T-SHIRTS — President Roberto said a few shirts still are available to members at no charge.

RUSS EDBERG IN MEMORIAM — Longtime member Russ Edberg’s funeral on Wednesday was attended by a number of members, several of whom served as pallbearers. A post-burial gathering was held at the East Greenbush Fire Department where Russ was a longtime  member and officer. SRC will make a monetary donation in Russ’s memory to the Doors of Hope charitable organization Russ and his late wife Dottie worked with for many years.

WORLD POLIO DAY — SRC hopes to have a table at the event to introduce the public to Rotary on Tuesday, October 24, at the UAlbany Health Sciences Campus in Rensselaer. Roberto displayed a promotional brochure for the event. Click here to see it on the website.

HURRICANE RELIEF FUNDRAISER — SRC will make a financial contribution to the effort planned during the October 20 professional development day sponsored by Questar III at Columbia High School. Our money will be used to purchase lunch items, which will be sold to attendees to raise funds.

COMMUNITY APPRECIATION CELEBRATION DINNER — The followup to our February dinner that raised about $4,500 for the club treasury will be held on Tuesday, December 5, at Moscatiello’s Restaurant on Route 4 in North Greenbush. We will be honoring community leaders in emergency services, military, education, and other fields. Tickets will be $35 per person, and sponsorships will be available at $100.

FOUNDATION DINNER — Because the Thursday, November 16, District event will conflict with our weekly dinner we will not meet that evening. However, members are urged to attend the breakfast meeting scheduled for that day. Members are urged to enroll for the Foundation Dinner. Simply go to the club website to find a posting about the event and click on the link to the reservation form.

RECYCLING DAY — Murray Forth said more volunteers are needed to staff  Saturday’s recycling and shredding day at the Wainschaf Associates warehouse in Rensselaer.

BOARD RETREAT — The SRC Board of Directors will meet in  a working session from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, October 16, at Schodack Internal Medicine. Roberto will send out an updated agenda.

ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE — Registration for the Saturday, October 24, training session has closed. SRC has eight members signed up which, we are told, is the largest contingent from any club. They are Dean and Doris Calamaras (Level 3), Roberto (Level 2), and Jim Butterworth, Ray Hannan, and Jim, Andy, and Kevin Leyhane (Level 1).

DISTRICT MEMBERSHIP TRAINING — Terry Brewer, who is chair of the District Membership Training Committee, said the next training session will be held on November 8 or 9. Vice President Ray Hannan also will attend as the club’s representative. Anyone else who wishes to attend is asked to contact Terry.

NEXT MEETINGS — Peter Brown will do double duty next Thursday, speaking at the 7 a.m. breakfast meeting at the Greenbush YMCA on the topic of “Reducing School Violence,” and at 6:15 p.m. at Quigley’s on the book “Being Immortal.”

Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
October 5, 2017

Members Attending (14): Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Dick Drumm, Dean Calamaras, Jim Leyhane, Ray Hannan, Terry Brewer, Phil Kellerman, Julius Frankel, Jim Butterworth, Becky Raymond.

Guests (4): Tovah Lisky, Gracin and Merrick Lisky, Vivian Behm.

PROGRAM: “Junior Achievement”

Jim Butterworth introduced Tovah Linsky, senior district & development director of Junior Achievement of Northeastern New York.

She explained the mission of JA — which is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy — and its local and worldwide reach. Junior Achievement is an organization with offices on every continent. It is governed by a board of directors, and operates in more than began 209,000 classrooms.

The program, which began in 1919, entered this area in 1953. Here, a staff of five serves 19,000 students in a 12-county area. Their focus is on youth development, economic development, and educational development.

Training varies depending upon the ages of the students:

• Tovah passed out “job” cards to show how JA helps second graders. The cards included travel service, tax service, help with a website, dental service, legal services, car repairs and banks. Students learned the progression of using their money.

• In middle schools, the program is called “Financial Park Virtual” and is used to teach life experiences from budgeting and grocery shopping to paying bills. Students begin with a salary and must spend it all, including saving and charity giving.

• At the high school level, it is called “JA Stock Market Challenge,” a high-tech event in which students buy and sell and compete to earn the most “money.”

She ended her presentation by showing a short video titled “JA: Be Entrepreneurial.” Her complete PowerPoint presentation is available on this website’s “Program Presentation Archive” page. (Click here to access it.)

Announcements/Business

MEMBERSHIP — Kevin Leyhane was approved as a new member of Rotary at last week’s SRC Board of Directors meeting. He thus joins his brother Andy and their father Jim, both of whom are on the SRC Board, as SRC members.

FOOD DRIVE — John Sawchuk is planning a drive at Columbia High School this month for The Anchor food pantry in Castleton, with delivery of food tentatively scheduled for November 21. Debbie Brown will check with The Anchor about the efficacy of that date. The drive could be supplemented by food donations brought to Quigley’s by Rotarians.

T-SHIRTS — Several T-shirts with the “Humanity” motto remain. If you would like one, see Murray Forth.

WORLD POLIO DAY — Planning for the 5th annual event, scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, continues and the flyer is being circulated. (Click here to access it.) More than 50 people are expected to attend the event locally at the UAlbany School of Public Health on the Health Sciences Campus (formerly called the East Campus)  in Rensselaer from 5 to 7 p.m. We will have a Rotary table in the lobby, and the club will donate $250 toward purchase of refreshments.

IN MEMORIAM — Longtime member Russ Edberg recently passed away, and several members spoke about his contributions to Rotary and the community at large. Russ ran our club’s Rotary Exchange Student program for years, and he and his late wife Dottie were strong supporters of the club in numerous ways. He also was a font of information on many topics through his work with the state Department of Transportation and the East Greenbush Fire Department. (Click here for the story on Russ’s passing and a link to his obituary.)

PEACE SUMMIT FOR YOUTH — This District-led event for high school students from throughout the Greater Capital Region will be held on Sunday, November 12, in Mechanicville. The membership agreed to contribute $250. (Click here for details on the event.)

DIRECTORS RETREAT — There were a number of topics that needed further discussion after the recent Board of Directors meeting, so a “retreat” has been scheduled for October 16, 2017 at the Community Care office. Comments and concerns are welcome; contact Roberto.

COMMUNITY DINNER — A second Community Celebration and Recognition Dinner — the first was held in February —  has tentatively been scheduled for December 5, again at Moscatiello’s Restaurant in North Greenbush. John Sawchuk will coordinate with Murray Forth on plans. The initial dinner raised about $5,000 for the club.

ALSO ON THE CALENDAR — “Recycling & Shredding Day” Saturday, October 14, at the Wainschaf Associates warehouse in Rensselaer. … Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) at UAlbany’s Health Sciences Campus in Rensselaer on Saturday, October 21. We have six members signed up to attend so far. … The Capital Region Nordic Alliance (CRNA) luncheon gala fundraiser is set for 11 a.m. Sunday, October 22, at the Albany Country Club. (Phil Kellerman again will be selling coffee during the holidays as a fundraiser for CRNA.) … The District’s annual Foundation Dinner, with the theme “People of Action,” will be held on Sunday. November 19, at the 90 State Street event space in Albany.

NEXT MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, October 12, at Quigley’s. The speaker will be Deborah Ciprioni of Comprehensive Physical Therapy Solutions.