News of this New York State club that practices "Service Above Self"
Author: SRCrotary
A volunteer service club located in Rensselaer County, NY, that is part of Rotary International, the 1.23 million-member international organization of men and women serving their community and their world.
If you would like to hear someone speak about a nearly $40 million local project, we have just the person lined up for our Thursday dinner meeting at Quigley’s.
Jeff Simons, superintendent of the East Greenbush Central School District, will be outlining the district’s $39.7 million capital budget proposal that will go before the voters on May 16.
The menu for the evening’s meal will be turkey and all the fixin’s, including salad, sides, bread, dessert and beverages. And, as always, the cash bar is available before, during and after the meeting.
If you haven’t yet let dinner coordinator Debbie Brown know you’re planning to attend — and whether you’re bringing a guest — please be sure to email her at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com no later than Tuesday evening. (P.S., if you have reserved a seat for a dinner recently but did not attend, please be sure to submit payment for that event to Murray Forth anyway. Even if you don’t show up, once we give Quigley’s the headcount we have to pay for it.)
The following people already have indicated their intention to attend:
Monika Annis
Ron Annis
Pat Bailey
Terry Brewer
Debbie Brown
Peter Brown
Bill Dowd
Dick Drumm
Murray Forth
Julius Frankel
Ray Hannan
Phil Kellerman
Jim Leyhane
Roberto Martinez
Bonnie Nasca
Phil Nasca
Debbie Rodriguez
Jeff Simons (speaker)
Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant 593 Columbia Turnpike East Greenbush, NY
March 23, 2017
Members Attending (15): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Terry Brewer, Bill Dowd, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Monika Annis, Ron Annis, Phil Nasca, Bonnie Nasca, Jim Leyhane, Julius Frankel, Dick Drumm.
Guests (1): Josephine Reeder.
PROGRAM: “YMCA Global Immersion Vietnam”
Speaker Josephine Reeder describing her Vietnam experience.
Josephine Reeder, Director of Health and Wellness at the Greenbush YMCA for three-plus years, spoke on her experience with the “YMCA Global Immersion” program during a work project in Vietnam.
She was among a group of Y staffers and volunteers from this area, Houston and Vietnam to help put the finishing touches — painting, sanding, caulking,etc. — on a new elementary school built by local contractors under Y grants. The existing school facilities had been insufficient to handle the number of children, and the community had fallen behind government regulations on how much schooling had to be supplied.
The group also helped students expand their English language skills, provided light sports equipment for the school, and distributed backpacks filled with notebooks, pencils, crayons and other school supplies. Because few of the children have access to cameras or cellphones and seldom have many photos of themselves, the group took cellphone pictures of each child, made hard copies with portable printers they had brought along, then showed them how to create picture frames that contained items personal to them.
The Y group also did some sightseeing, and Josephine showed slides of local markets, as well as scenes in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) that contrasted modern life — such as a five-story Starbucks and modern vehicles — with old methods of transportation and commerce. She also showed slides illustrating architecture from the French colonial period, and tunnels used by Viet Cong forces during the war with the U.S., as well as examples of some of the intricate silk embroidery used in clothing and decorative arts.
Josephine said the next such trip planned by local volunteers is “YMCA Global Immersion Peru,” to be undertaken this summer.
BUSINESS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONVENTION DELEGATE VOTE — Each club is eligible to cast one vote from among its attendees on any business coming before the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta in June. Our club will be represented by Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez and Dick Drumm. Jim moved that Roberto be the voting delegate with Dick as the alternate. Murray Forth seconded the motion, and the club voted unanimously in favor.
EASTER BASKET DRIVE — Bill Dowd said donations for the annual Easter basket project for the Circles of Mercy family assistance organization are going strong. Columbia High Scbool has been supplied with about 30 baskets for its part of the drive, and we expect the club members’ donations to require 20 to 30 additional baskets that will be assembled by Len Leonidas’ Scouts. Next Thursday, March 30, is the donation deadline.
A ROTARY COCKTAIL PARTY — Terry Brewer reminded everyone that this Saturday’s social event he and Geoff are hosting at their residence will include cocktails and “high class hors d’oeuvres.” It will run from 4 to 7 p.m., and friends of Rotary are welcome. At some point in the evening, Matt Smith will emcee a trivia contest. Admission is $10 per person, which will go toward the club treasury. Dress is casual.
BOWLING SOCIAL — The District’s Next Gen Council is sponsoring another family-friendly mixer at the Lucky Strike Social Club at 11:30 a.m. this Saturday at Crossgates Mall. Admission is $15 for adults and $9 for kids 12 and under.$495.
COOKING FOR RONALD McDONALD — Volunteers are needed for two meals the club is scheduled to prepare at Ronald McDonald House in Albany. Please contact Terry Brewer if you can help with the breakfast on Saturday, April 22, or Bill Dowd if you can help with the dinner on Wednesday, May 31.
FOOD DRIVE — Bill Dowd reported that the Rotary Clubs of the Capital Region team was the No. 1 donor to the “CANstruction Hunger Hero” drive for Food Pantries of the Capital Region, collecting 2,434 cans of food and $495. Last year, Rotary was No. 2.
NEXT MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, March 30. Jeff Simons, superintendent of the East Greenbush Central School District, will speak on the upcoming capital budget referendum.
You can stay abreast with the schedule of events for our club and our district by checking the “EVENTS” listing on our Facebook page. Here’s a look at the ever-changing lineup.
Although our Thursday after-dinner speaker will be talking about Vietnam, there will be no pho or mung beans on the menu. We will instead be dining on a very American entree of beef tips and mushroom gravy over noodles, plus chef’s selection of sides, salad, bread, dessert and beverages. And, as always, the cash bar is available.
Then, we will hear a presentation on the “YMCA Global Immersion Program Vietnam” from Josephine Reeder, YMCA Director of Health and Wellness.
We already have a good reservation lineup, but if you haven’t yet signed up to save a seat (including for any guests you may want to bring), please be sure to email dinner coordinator Debbie Brown no later than Tuesday. Friends and family always welcome.
Here’s who has signed up so far:
Monika Annis
Ron Annis
Pat Bailey
Terry Brewer
Debbie Brown
Bill Dowd
Dick Drumm
Murray Forth
Julius Frankel
Ray Hannan
Phil Kellerman
Jim Leyhane
Roberto Martinez
Debbie Rodriguez
Josephine Reeder (speaker)
From left: District 7190 Governor John Mucha, SRC President-elect Roberto Martinez, and District Governor-elect Fred Daniels share a moment.
Rotary International President-Elect Ian H.S. Riseley spoke at today’s multi-district Presidents-Elect Training Sessions (PETS) event in Syracuse.
Riseley, who lives in Sandringham, Victoria, Australia, will become RI president on July 1. While in Syracuse, he shared his vision for the 2017-18 year with the theme “year on Rotary Making a Difference.”
RI President-elect Riseley
Riseley is a practicing accountant and principal of Ian Riseley and Co., which specializes in advising local and international businesses, and has a strong interest in international affairs.
He received the AusAID Peacebuilder Award from the Australian government in 2002 in recognition of his work in Timor-Leste. He also received the Order of Australia medal in 2006 for service to the Australian community.
“Governments see Rotary as positive representatives of a civil society,” he says. “We should work with them to advocate for peace and conflict resolution, just as we are advocating for polio eradication.”
Riseley, a Rotarian since 1978, has served Rotary as treasurer, director, trustee, RI Board Executive Committee member, task force member, committee member and chair, and district governor.
He also is a former member of the Australian Polio Eradication Private Sector Campaign and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation’s Service Award for a Polio-Free World.
A hotel greeting for the PETS group.No diet plates for these Rotarians.The gang’s all here.The four districts represented at the PETS event.
Dinner Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant 593 Columbia Turnpike East Greenbush, NY
March 16, 2017
Members Attending (12): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Becky Raymond, Dean Calamaras, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Dick Drumm, Julius Frankel, Stewart Wagner, Jim Leyhane.
Guests (4): Sarah Stangl, Mike Stangl, Medora Jones, John Justino.
PROGRAM: “The Modern American Dream – The Refugee Resettlement Experience”
Speaker Sarah Stangl with attentive mom and dad, Becky Raymond and Mike Stangl.
Becky Raymond introduced her daughter Sarah Stangl, a case manager with the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island.
Sarah often works with as many at 70 refugees. She displayed a map of where current refugees are coming from — about half from Syria, but other places elsewhere in the Middle East and Europe as well. She said the numbers have been seriously reduced since January, and spoke about how extensive the vetting process is, showing a list of 20 different items including background checks, interviews with Homeland Security, and interviews with the State Department.
She noted that a few people have waited as long as 20 years for clearance. She cited as an example a man named Burkan, a Sunni and a radiologist in the Iraqi Army who fled the country in 2011. He spent three years in Jordan then a year completing security and background checks. He and his family finally arrived in Rhode Island in November 2014.
Refugee resettlement is overseen by the State Department, and there are 10 VOLAGs — thr acronym for voluntary agencies — that take on the responsibility of resettlement. Among them are Church World Service, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Lutheran Immigration & Refuge Service, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Dorcas International Institute first receives a “travel notice” that a family is coming and must then prepare an apartment, doctors’ appointments, cultural orientation, education and job search. Dorcas staffers and other members of the community welcome the immigrants at the airport.
She said refugee immigrants receive $925 per family the first month they are here to cover rent and food. Families with young children receive additional funds — $554 per month for a family of three, or $635 for a family of four. They are required to quickly become employed, which, Sarah said, may leave little time to learn English or become acclimated, so Dorcas offers additional services such as ESL (English as a second language) classes, employment services, case management services, public school advocacy, and legal referrals. They continue to monitor families over the next few months and some even for years. Anyone 2ishing to contact Sarah for additional information can email her at sstangl@diir.org.
[Sarah’s presentation can be viewed on our website’s Program Presentation Archives page. Click here to access it]
Announcements & Businesss
NOTE: Scroll down for the minutes of today’s breakfast meeting that contain updates on:
• Ronald McDonald House cooking dates
• The polio video project
• Two club social events
• Results of the indoor golf fundraiser
GRANT SEMINAR: Debbie Rodriguez and Becky Raymond have registered for the District Grants Training session scheduled for April 1. Clubs are required to have at least two attendees to be able to apply for grants in the following Rotary Year.
DISTRICT CONFERENCE: Several SRC members are planning to participate in the annual District Conference scheduled for Friday-Sunday, May 5-7, in Lake George. You can get registration details online by clicking here.
NEXT DINNER MEETING: 6:15 p.m. Thursday, March 23, at Quigley’s. The speaker will be Josephine Reeder, YMCA Director of Health and Wellness, on the topic of “YMCA Global Immersion Program: Vietnam.”
Breakfast Meeting at Greenbush YMCA
20 Community Way
East Greenbush, NY
March 16, 2017
Members Attending (8): Murray Forth, Jim Leyhane, Andy Leyhane, Shannon Romanowski, John Sawchuk, Roberto Martinez, Mike Dewey, Matt Smith.
Guests (1): Jeff Simons.
Announcements/Business
INDOOR GOLF: The Indoor Golf Simulator Tournament at Burden Lake Country Club last Saturday was a success, raising about $800 for funds for both community service projects and the Ronald McDonald House. The winners of the two raffles d0nated their winnings back to the club.
RMH BREAKFAST/DINNER: The club approved a Saturday, April 22, date for preparing breakfast at the Ronald McDonald House in Albany. Anyone wishing to be on the kitchen crew is asked to contact Terry Brewer. Earlier, the club approved a Wednesday, May 31, date for preparing dinner at RMH. Three of the six kitchen crew slots for that effort have been spoken for. Anyone who wishes to volunteer is asked to contact Bill Dowd.
ROTARY HOME COOKING SERIES: Terry and Geoff Brewer are co-hosting “A Rotary Cocktail Party” with drinks and hors d’oeuvres at their residence from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 25. Cost is $10 per person. Family and friends are welcome, but please be sure you contact Terry if you haven’t already done so to allow him to have an accurate headcount. … Then, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, April and Bill Dowd will host a guided tasting of high-end tequilas, served with Mexican -inspired tapas. Cost is $35 per person. Just four seats remain. … Proceeds from both events will go to the club treasury to help support our community service efforts.
POLIO VIDEO PROJECT: Shooting and editing continue today. The goal is to have a finished product depicting the history of polio and Rotary’s support of work against the disease video ready for presentation at the District 7190 Conference in Lake George in May. This is a group effort among SRC Rotary, CASDA, the District, and the UAlbany School of Public Health.
Speaker
Breakfast guest speaker Jeff Simons
Jeff Simons, in his first year as superintendent of the East Greenbush School District, was in attendance.
Prior to his current position, Jeff had been superintendent of the Rome (NY) City School District for nine years. He gained significant community support there for three capital referendums totaling $92 million.
He now is working on gathering support here for a proposed $39.7 million capital project, which he outlined at breakfast today. Details of the proposal are publicly available online at egcsd.org/CapitalProject.
Jeff will speak on the same topic at our dinner meeting on March 30.
NEXT BREAKFAST MEETING: 7 a.m. Thursday, April 20, at the Greenbush YMCA, 20 Community Way, East Greenbush.
A reminder: If you plan to attend Thursday morning’s 7 a.m. breakfast meeting at the Greenbush YMCA and haven’t sent in your RSVP, be sure to email Terry Brewer or Shannon Romanowskiby this evening.
We will be joined by Jeff Simons, the new superintendent of the East Greenbush Central School District. Jeff will be speaking about the upcoming referendum on a proposed district capital budget.
A reminder that the cost of the continental breakfast is just $5. All funds collected from such meetings go to providing scholarships for YMCA summer programs.
Thanks have been extended to all Rotarians and friends who contributed to the “CanStruction” drive of the Food Pantries for the Capital District organization to collect canned foods for its annual “Hunger Heroes Food Drive.”
Why? Because the Rotary effort by a number of clubs in District 7190 — including Southern Rensselaer County — resulted in achieving the No. 1 spot among contributors, compared to No. 2 last year, an effort that was recognized in a ceremony at the New York State Museum in Albany.
Last year the “CanStruction” event in the Albany area ranked third in the world, generating more than 104,000 pounds of food, and was surpassed only by events in Houston and Dallas. This year, 2,434 pounds of food and $495 were contributed to the local Food Pantries organization.
A kinetic sculpture of actual canned goods is on display at the New York State Museum from through Wednesday, March 22.
Among local pantries supported by the Food Pantries for the Capital District are two that regularly are supported by the SRC — the Anchor pantry and Open Do0ors.
While you’re gazing at all the snow, your mind may drift (pardon the pun) to thoughts of hearty food. Well, that’s what’s coming up from the Quigley’s kitchen for our dinner meeting this Thursday.
We’ll be having a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner with all the fixin’s for that St. Patrick’s Eve get-together. We just need to be sure we set enough places for everyone. You can guarantee that by emailing Debbie Brown (mdbrown@nycap.rr.com) or Peter Brown (pbrown34@nycap.rr.com) no later than Tuesday evening if you haven’t already RSVP’d. As always, guests are very welcome, just let the Browns know they’ll be coming.
Our after-dinner speaker will be Sarah Stangl (Becky Raymond’s daughter) of the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island on “Refugee Resettlement In The U.S.”
The SRC Indoor Simulator Golf Tournament went off as planned on Saturday at the Burden Lake Country Club. Then event was a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House and our club’s other community service projects and scholarships.
Murray Forth and Terry Brewer, as usual, organized the effort and were aided on event day by Ray Hannan, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Pat Bailey and others. Thanks to all.
Some other images from the day:
Psst! There’a a giant keyboard creeping up on you.Getting between the projector and screen creates some fascinating visual effects on this happy group.Tickets, tickets, who will buy my tickets?A very special bucket list.
If you would like to hear someone speak about a nearly $40 million local project, we have just the person lined up for our Thursday dinner meeting at Quigley’s.
Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
CONVENTION DELEGATE VOTE — Each club is eligible to cast one vote from among its attendees on any business coming before the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta in June. Our club will be represented by Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez and Dick Drumm. Jim moved that Roberto be the voting delegate with Dick as the alternate. Murray Forth seconded the motion, and the club voted unanimously in favor.
A ROTARY COCKTAIL PARTY — Terry Brewer reminded everyone that this Saturday’s social event he and Geoff are hosting at their residence will include cocktails and “high class hors d’oeuvres.” It will run from 4 to 7 p.m., and friends of Rotary are welcome. At some point in the evening, Matt Smith will emcee a trivia contest. Admission is $10 per person, which will go toward the club treasury. Dress is casual.
Although our Thursday after-dinner speaker will be talking about Vietnam, there will be no pho or mung beans on the menu. We will instead be dining on a very American entree of beef tips and mushroom gravy over noodles, plus chef’s selection of sides, salad, bread, dessert and beverages. And, as always, the cash bar is available.
Dinner Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
A reminder: If you plan to attend Thursday morning’s 7 a.m. breakfast meeting at the Greenbush YMCA and haven’t sent in your RSVP, be sure to email 
Thanks have been extended to all Rotarians and friends who contributed to the “CanStruction” drive of the Food Pantries for the Capital District organization to collect canned foods for its annual “Hunger Heroes Food Drive.”
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 