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.
After being forced to cancel our annual “SRC Holiday Party & Basket Auction” in December 2020 because of you-know-what, we’re planning to resume the event that has always provided us with good food, good fellowship, and a fun way to raise funds for the club treasury.
As veteran Rotarians know, the centerpiece of the event — scheduled for Thursday, December 16, at Moscatiello’s — is our gift basket silent auction. Spirited competitive bidding adds an element of surprise to the outcome.
Once again we’ll be asking you to come up with a themed basket to contribute to the festivities. It can be anything from color themes to beverage baskets to toy-box collections to … well, you’re limited only by your imagination.
To help spur those imaginations, here are a few suggestions that may be of help. But as always, the key is not to wait till the last minute.
MEMBERS ATTENDING (19): Debbie Rodriguez, Bill Dowd, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Charlie Foote, Pat Bailey, Dick Drumm, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Kevin Leyhane, Tony Morris, Murray Forth, Andy Leyhane, Becky Raymond, Carol Orvis (by proxy), Dean Calamaras (by proxy), Doris Calamaras (by proxy), Roberto Martinez (by proxy), Jim Leyhane (by proxy).
GUESTS (1): Lois Hannan.
President Debbie Brown presided (from Connecticut) at the Zoom meeting.
MEETING NOTES:
• Guest Lois Hannan spoke on her experiences as a volunteer at Kate’s Closet, the used clothing shop at Circles of Mercy in Rensselaer. She noted that both she and husband Ray are Associates of the Sisters of Mercy, the religious order that operates the family services organization. She explained the process for allowing people in need to shop there, purchasing items from 50 cents to $5 each. She said children’s items are particularly needed now. (Note: Richard Zazycki, Circles executive director, will be our dinner speaker on December 2.)
• The club’s Zoom account has been upgraded to eliminate the time limit. Thanks to those members who donated money to pay for the first year’s subscription at $14.99 per month.
• The deadline for payment of half-year dues is December 1. Anyone paying by this process is asked to mail their check, made payable to SRC Rotary, to the club at P.O. Box 71, East Greenbush NY 12061.
• Each year, the presiding president designates the organization that will receive funds donated to the “Pocket Change Jar.” President Debbie announced tonight that this year’s recipient will be Unity House of Troy.
• Treasurer Murray reported receipt of a thank-you note from the crew of the USS Slater floating maritime museum for our $150 donation in memory of former member Bill Wyld.
• Next week’s dinner meeting at Moscatiello’s will begin slightly earlier than usual — at 6 p.m. — and end by 7 p.m. to allow for a Board meeting immediately afterward.
We’re scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. this Thursday via Zoom. We hope you’ll join us by going to the club website calendar page (http://SRCrotary.org/calendar) and clicking on the meeting link to gain access.
Don’t plan to join us? You still can be counted toward a quorum by sending your proxy via email to President Debbie Rodriguez (debannrod@yahoo.com) by this evening.
Meanwhile, keep up to date with everything going on locally with Rotary by regularly checking the club website or its Facebook page (called SRC Club).
The deadline for submitting the second installment of your 2021-22 Rotary dues, for those who pay in two parts, is coming up.
Please be sure Treasurer Murray Forth receives your check, made payable to “SRC Rotary,” no later than December 1. It can be mailed to the club at P.O. Box 71, East Greenbush, NY 12061.
Sounds like a long way off? Check the calendar. It’s only 30 days from now.
Our club is required to report the current paid membership to RI by the end of December, so we need all dues collected with enough time to allow for the proper paperwork to be completed and submitted.
An Afghan health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Kandahar province in 2019. Since 2018, the Taliban has blocked polio vaccination campaigns in parts of the country. Photo credit: Javed Tanveer/AFP via Getty Images
For years, the Taliban has blocked medical volunteers in many parts of Afghanistan from providing anti-polio vaccines to the people. Now, that appears to be changing.
Says a National Public Radio report, “For the first time in three years, the Taliban has agreed to allow health workers from the United Nations to begin a nationwide polio vaccination campaign in Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
“The door-to-door campaign, in which health workers go from one house to another to administer vaccines, is scheduled to begin next month across the country. The Taliban has not yet confirmed the announcement from UNICEF and the WHO, according to the Associated Press.”
The Taliban had been blocking health workers for a variety of reasons, among them misinformation being spread that polio vaxxing was a plot to sterilize Muslim children.
If this development comes to fruition, it is quite important to Rotary International’s ongoing efforts to help prevent the spread of polio. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries in the world listed by health organizations as being places where polio is endemic (i.e., regularly found among particular people or in a certain area.).
Polio, once a worldwide scourge causing paralysis and often death, cannot be cured, but it can be prevented with an ongoing program of vaccination efforts. Thus, RI’s decades-long push to help eradicate the disease.
MEMBERS ATTENDING (17): Debbie Rodriguez, Pat Bailey, Terry Brewer, Bill Dowd, Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Phil Kellerman, Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth (remote), Maggie Forth (remote), Dean Calamaras (by proxy), Doris Calamaras (by proxy), Carol Orvis (by proxy), Dick Drumm (by proxy), Ray Hannan (by proxy).
GUESTS: None.
President Debbie Rodriguez presided at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant. This was our first meeting with members attending via Zoom, and we also had five attending and voting by proxy.
MEETING NOTES:
• A check for $150 has been sent to the Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center in memory of Dr. Martha Lepow, as authorized at the October 21 meeting.
• Attendees voted to authorize supporting two families for the annual Circles of Mercy “Adopt-a-Family” holiday effort. Bill Dowd volunteered to again coordinate the club’s effort. All gifts, actual and monetary, must be delivered to Circles no later than December 15. Bill will contact Circles to assign the families to us, and will provide a shopping list, donation drop-off dates, and other details.
• Potential fundraisers were discussed, and approved by consensus: Hoffman Car Wash ticket sales; holiday gift basket raffle at the December 16 holiday party at Moscatiello’s; the ongoing Clynk container recycling effort in support of ShelterBox; member designated donations. We have a draft letter on the latter effort that is being vetted by Debbie R. before distribution to members.
• The club Zoom account had been upgraded to do away with the time and participant limits. Several members contributed $25 each to pay for the first year’s fee.
• Debbie R. reported that a hygiene kit assembling session by the NYSCR Danes Rotaract that we sponsor and the Graduate Student Organization at UAlbany drew a sizeable crowd of students from across the spectrum at the school, with Debbie and Becky Raymond representing SRC. The event was designed as a service event and a Rotaract recruiting effort.
Scharlette Wilkins represented Unity House of Troy at the session held to support Unity House’s domestic violence service program. The hygiene kits were needed for domestic violence survivors staying at the Sojourner Place operated by Unity House, the only licensed domestic violence shelter in Rensselaer County.
Some photos from the session:
NEXT MEETING: 7 p.m. Thursday, November 4, via Zoom.
Gordon R. McInally, a member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland, has been selected by the nominating committee to become president of Rotary International for 2023-24.
McInally lauded Rotary’s ability to adapt technologically during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the approach should continue and be combined with the best of our past practices as Rotary seeks to grow and increase engagement.
“We have learned there is a willingness within communities to care for one another,” he says, “and we must ensure that we encourage people who have recently embraced the concept of volunteering to join us to allow them to continue giving service.”
McInally says that senior leaders’ ability to communicate directly with club members online will be one positive legacy of the changes Rotary has had to make. But, he adds, “face-to-face meetings remain important, as they encourage greater interaction.”
McInally owned and operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh. He was chair of the East of Scotland branch of the British Paedodontic Society and has held various academic positions. He has also served as a Presbytery elder, chair of Queensferry Parish Congregational Board, and commissioner to the church’s general assembly.
A Rotary member since 1984, he has been president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. He also has served Rotary International as a director and as member or chair of several committees. He currently is an adviser to the 2022 Houston Convention Committee and chair of the Operations Review Committee.
McInally and his wife, Heather, are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation. They are also members of the Bequest Society.
To learn more about McInally, read his interview and vision statement, which outline his goals for Rotary.
We hope you’re planning to join your fellow Rotarians at our dinner meeting this Thursday at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant in North Greenbush.
However, if you have other plans, you can be counted nevertheless by simply taking advantage of something our Bylaws allow: use your proxy!
To do so, just email your proxy (and its implied vote) to President Debbie Rodriguez (debannrod@yahoo.com) before the meeting and you’ll be on the record. (We need a total of 12 attendees at minimum for a quorum; without it we cannot vote on any club business.)
Our social time will begin at 5:30, with dinner and business discussions at 6:15 p.m. You can choose from among three entree options: chicken Caesar, baked ziti, or chicken Marsala. Price is $25, and we ask that you please bring the exact amount to facilitate group payment. A cash bar is available.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 