Members in Attendance (12):  Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Kevin Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, John Justino, Ray Hannan, Debbie Rodriguez and Mary Alice Caldes.

By Zoom (0): 

Guests (1): Richard Zazycki

President Peter Brown called the meeting to order. 

Theme for the Year: “Building Community”

MEETING NOTES:

Iron Giraffe Bowl-a-Thon: The bowl-a-thon will be held on Sunday April 14 from 2 pm until 4 pm. The cost will be $13 per person. Per Phil Kellerman, sponsorships are $50. Phil has several sponsors. Please let Phil know if you want to be a sponsor.

Membership: Each SRC Rotary member is asked to bring a friend to either the Rotary meeting on April 11th or the meeting on April 25th. One of these meetings will have a speaker (TBD).

Water for Kenya: Tony Kasura, one of Peter and Debbie Brown’s guides during their trip to Maasai Mara Kenya, Edith Kenara of the Rotary Club of Enkare Naroch and Peter Brown agreed to locate the bore hole in Enabelibel Village at the Full Gospel Church. Mr. Kasura and Ms. Kenara will be visiting the Full Gospel Church on February 7th. Peter is sending them a model of a Memorandum of Understanding which will also include what everyone is responsible for. The next step is to develop a needs assessment. Peter and other Club members will meet with Jeff Simons, Superintendent of the East Greenbush Central School District, at Genet at 10 am on Monday, February 5th.

Exchange Program: Peter Brown reported that the Schodack School District is still looking at the Program.

Grants Management Training: There will be two sessions to choose from. Trainings will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, February 7th at 7 pm. and on Monday, April 1st, at 7 pm. The Club needs at least two people to attend. Register for grant training at https://cnyrotary.org/.

PETS Training: The first of the four free virtual pre-PETS trainings will be held Monday, February 5th at 7 pm, Tuesday. The other trainings will be held on February 13th at 7 pm, Wednesday, February 21st at 7 pm and Thursday, February 29th at 7 pm.

Rotary District: The in-person PETS training will be held March 15th through 17th at the Double Tree in Syracuse. Mario Cesar Martins de Carmargo from Brazil, the RI President for 2025-26, will be attending. Register early to secure a hotel room. For further information go to  http://www.RotaryEmpireMDPETS.org. The majority of the meeting will be held on Saturday if you are considering attending for one day.

Rotary Leadership Institute Northeast America: The Institute is holding a graduate class on succession planning on Saturday, March 2nd, at Johnson City High School in Johnson City, New York. The class will start at 7:30 am and end at 3:30 pm. The course includes suggestions on how to develop leaders. You must have completed the Rotary Leadership parts I, II and III to take the graduate course. Register at RLINEA.org.

Easter Baskets for Circles of Mercy: Roberto and Jim Leyhane purchased 25 baskets and delivered them to the YMCA. Richard Zazycki, Circles of Mercy, is asking that the baskets include coloring books, color pencils, facial tissues, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, hair combs, hairbrushes, small stuffed animals, toys, small games, small books, and different types of wrapped candy. Shannon needs the items for the baskets by March 18th so she can get the baskets to Richard by March 22nd. Easter is on March 31st this year.

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 8th at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join the by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page. Our speaker will be Sister Betsy Van Deusen, CEO of Catholic Charites in Albany.

Entree choices will be Chicken Cesear Salid, Veal Marsala and Baked Ziti.

Circles of Mercy

Richard Zazycki

Richard Zazycki is the President and CEO of Circles of Mercy located at 11 Washington Street in Rensselaer. The Sisters of Mercy sponsor the organization. For twenty-five years, Circles of Mercy has provided services for people in need with a special emphasis on helping women and children.

Circles of Mercy offers free tax preparation assistance, financial literacy and computer training and assistance with employment searches and resume preparation. They provide kids programs, coordinate and run Christmas adopt-a-family, back to school and Easter basket programs providing Christmas gifts, school supplies and Easter baskets to families in need. They provide human service resource referrals for those services not provided by Circles of Mercy.

Catherine’s Closet is a thrift shop run by Circles of Mercy and also located at 11 Washington Street. They provide clothing grants for clients and families, layette sets for newborns and monthly grants for baby clothes, diapers and wipes. The thrift store is open from 10 am until 2 pm Monday through Friday. Donations are accepted from 10 am until 1:30 pm. They do not accept toys, household electrical or baby equipment.

Though their donations and grant revenues were down this past year, Circles of Mercy was able to provide 7,900 service transactions involving 1,600 clients. They have maintained and expanded their volunteer and benefactor base and have met or exceed their strategic planning goals. For more information on Circles of Mercy and Catherines Closet go to https://circlesofmercy.org/.

Members in Attendance (13):  Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Kevin Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, Terry Brewer, John Justino, Ray Hannan, Debbie Rodriguez and Charlie Foote.

By Zoom (1): Guest David Hannan.  

Guests (4): Dr. Jessica Kumar (Speaker) and family.

President Peter Brown called the meeting to order. 

Theme for the Year: “Building Community”

MEETING NOTES:

Iron Giraffe Bowl-a-Thon: The bowl-a-thon will be held on Sunday April 14 from 2 pm until 4 pm. The cost will be $13 per person for 50 bowlers. Per Phil Kellerman, sponsorships are $50. Please let Phil know if you want to be a sponsor.

Water for Kenya: Tony Kasura, one Peter and Debbie Brown’s guides during their trip to Maasai Mara Kenya, Edith Kenara of the Rotary Club of Enkare Naroch and Peter Brown agreed to locate the bore hole in Enabelibel Village at the Full Gospel Church. The next step is to develop a needs assessment. There will be a Zoom meeting tomorrow at noon with the Enkare Naroch Rotary Club. If you are interested in participating, contact Peter Brown or Roberto Martinez for the Zoom link.

Grant Training: There will be two sessions to choose from. Trainings will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, February 6th or Thursday, February 7th at 7 pm. The Club needs at least two people to attend.

PETS Training: The first of the four free virtual pre-PETS trainings will be held Monday, February 5th at 7 pm, Tuesday. The other trainings will be held on February 13th at 7 pm, Wednesday, February 21st at 7 pm and Thursday, February 29th at 7 pm.

The Rotary District in-person PETS training will be held March 15th through 17th at the Double Tree in Syracuse. Mario Cesar Martins de Carmargo from Brazil, the RI President for 2025-26, will be attending. Register early to secure a hotel room. For further information go to  http://www.RotaryEmpireMDPETS.org. The majority of the meeting will be held on Saturday if you are considering attending for one day.

Easter Baskets for Circles of Mercy: Roberto Martinez spoke to Shannon Romanowski at the YMCA. The YMCA will again partner with us. Roberto and Jim Leyhane will purchase 25 baskets and members of the YMCA will put the baskets together. Richard Zazycki of Circles of Mercy is asking that the baskets include coloring books, color pencils, facial tissues, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, hair combs, hairbrushes, small stuffed animals, toys, small games, small books, and different types of wrapped candy. Shannon needs the items for the baskets by March 18th so she can get the baskets to Richard by March 22nd. Easter is on March 31st this year.

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 1st at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join the by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page. Our speaker will be Richard Zazycki of Circles of Mercy.

Entree choices will be Antipasto Salid, Chicken Parmesan and Penne ala Vodka.

World Polio Day

NY and Beyond 2024

Dr. Jessica Kumar

Jessica Kumar, D.O., MPH is the Medical Director of the Office of Communicable Diseases Control and Prevention. She did Residencies at Albany Medical Center and Case Western. She joined the Department of Health in 2019. She was hired for the Immunization Program but moved to Communicable Diseases with the outbreak of COVID. She worked on the vaccine related polio outbreak in 2022 in NYS.

Polio is caused by the Enterovirus poliovirus. The virus is passed through poor hygiene and ingestion of fecal contaminated food and/or water. People are most infectious prior to exhibiting symptoms although 75 percent of children show no symptoms. Only a small percentage develop paralysis. Jonas Salk developed an inactivated (killed) polio vaccine in 1955 and Albert Saben subsequently developed an attenuated live oral vaccine.

In 1988, polio was present in 25 countries. That year, the World Health Assembly established the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Rotary is one of the major contributors to this initiative. Other contributors include UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the CDC. Czechoslovakia was the first country to eliminate polio. There were 350,000 cases worldwide in 1988. Now there is less than 10. Polio is still endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In June of 2022, New York State had the first case of paralytic polio since 2013. It was found through surveillance for acute flaccid myelitis. It was identified by genomic sequencing at Wadsworth Laboratories and confirmed by the CDC. It was a case of vaccine-derived polio virus. The attenuated live oral vaccine can mutate into a virus that cause disease. If an unvaccinated person comes in contact with the mutated virus, he/she can develop disease. The public health response included communication, media messaging, modeling, predictions of new infections and wastewater surveillance. The virus was found in wastewater in Rockland and Orange Counties. In New York State, 78.9 percent of children received the polio vaccine. Emphasis is on increasing vaccine coverage. For more information on polio, check the WHO Polio Guidelines https://www.who.int/health-topics/poliomyelitis#tab=tab_1 or the Pan American Health Association https://www.paho.org/en/topics/poliomyelitis.

Members in Attendance (10):  Dick Drumm, Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Kevin Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, and Terry Brewer.

By Zoom (2):  Charlie Foote and Debbie Rodriguez.

Guests (0):

President Peter Brown called the meeting to order. 

Theme for the Year: “Building Community”

MEETING NOTES:

Iron Giraffe Bowl-a-Thon: The bowl-a-thon will be held on Sunday April 14 from 2 pm until 4 pm. The cost will be $13 per person for 50 bowlers. Per Phil Kellerman, he will ask for sponsors next week.

Water for Kenya: Tony Kasura, one Peter and Debbie Brown’s guides during their trip to Maasai Mara Kenya, and Edith Kenara of the Rotary Club of Enkare Karok talked about the different areas for the proposed well. They are now looking for a public school in need of a bore hole.

PETS Training: Roberto Martinez reported that the four free virtual pre-PETS trainings are scheduled for Monday, February 5th at 7 pm, Tuesday, February 13th at 7 pm, Wednesday, February 21st at 7 pm and Thursday, February 29th at 7 pm.

The Rotary District in-person PETS training will be held March 15th through 17th at the Double Tree in Syracuse. Mario Cesar Martins de Carmargo from Brazil, the RI President for 2025-26, will be attending. Register early to secure a hotel room. For further information go to http://www.RotaryEmpireMDPETS.org. Roberto proposed that the Club help cover the costs for some members to attend.

Next Meeting: Thursday, January 25th at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join the by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page. Our speaker Dr. Kumar will give an update on Polio Eradication.

Entree choices will be Chicken Rustica Salad, Chicken Marsala and Eggplant Parmesan.

Recruitment

Facilitated by

Terry Brewer

Terry Brewer has served as the SRC Club’s Membership Chair many, many times and has facilitated many Club discussions on membership. He has also served on the Rotary District Membership Committee. Membership is what gives us the ability to carry out our activities. It is a difficult time to attract new members. Not only is our Club aging, but the circle of friends we can recruit from is now in their late sixties and early seventies. We have lost many of our connections with local businesses and many no longer support community-based organizations. Declining membership in our District over the years led to a District reorganization.

Terry asked several questions. What are we doing about membership? Do we need to re-emphasize what Rotary is? What type of members to we want? Do we want members on paper or members who actively participate? What do we do to bring in new members? Are we offering a local, national and/or international themed Club? Is our Club too expensive? Along with the yearly membership fee and participating in the dinners, many of our resources come from member donations.

When we bring in new members, what are we doing to support them? Do they know who to contact for issues and concerns? Can they navigate the website? What do we do to follow up with new members? What activities can we do to engage and sustain members? Are we listening to what our members need and want? Are we asking them what they want from this Club to support them?

Member discussion produced several suggestions such as coming up with a signature event. We also need to come up with goal(s) and plan how to meet these goals. We also need to be more visible and define our “hook”. We need to get people thinking.

Membership is an ongoing conversation.

Happy Birthday Debbie!