Members in Attendance (12): Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Kevin Leyhane, Murray Forth, Dick Drumm, Andy Lehane, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown and Chris Bystroff.

By Zoom (0): 

Guests (1): Sari Medick

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:

Treasurer Update: Almost done using Quicken to reconcile expenses. Phil Kellerman called the IRS. The package has been found. There was a 16 week wait period. The Club should be reinstated around March 24th.

Bowl-A-Thon: Per Phil Kellerman, the Bowl-A-Thon is scheduled for April 6th from 1pm until 3pm. It will cost $16 for 1 1/2 hours or $20 for 2 hours. The special is $90 per lane of 5 people ($17 per person) which includes 2 hours of bowling, shoes, and food (pizza and soda). Sponsorship is $50. Proceeds go to the Anchor. Debbie Rodriguez and Kevin Leyhane will put sponsors on our website.

Benefit Concert: The concert is being held at the East Greenbush Methodist Church on April 26th. Donations will benefit the St. Paul Center. Phil Kellerman contacted all available media to advertise the concert.

Donation Jar: The jar was passed around to raise funds for the Global Eye Clinic in Haiti.

Global Grant: Concerning the Water Hole project in Kenya, Peter said that there had been a delay because the district in Kenya was informed that they may be paying too much for the drilling, and that a rebid of the project may have to occur.

Defensive Driving: The AAA course will be held on May 17th at the Nassau Library from 9 am until 3:30 pm. We need a minimum of 25 people to sign up. If you are a member of AAA, the cost is $22. If you are a non-member, the cost is $27. Depending on your insurance, you can save 10% to 15% off the cost of your insurance and it should be good for 3 years. Contact Pat Bailey if you wish to attend.

Community Project: Kevin Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown and Phil Kellerman, Roberto Martinez and Jim Leyhane will meet with members of the East Greenbush School District on Tuesday, March 18th, at 1:30pm. Peter Brown has been in touch with Jef about the backpack project to provide food over weekends for at risk students Kevin Leyhane will talk to the Athletic Director and co-workers about a possible fundraiser with the running clubs.

Star of Hope: Per Roberto Martinez, will be relocated to Columbia High School this spring.

Public Image Grants: Carole Heaney noted that the CNY Public Image Committee is offering grants for $250 in matching funds for branded materials. The March 1st deadline was postponed.

Circles of Mercy 2025 Cate’s Kids Easter Basket Program Schedule: Baskets are collected from February 24th to April 14th.The baskets are given out to our client families during Holy Week (April 14 thru April 18) before the Easter Sunday Holiday on April 20. Looking for leads to collect the baskets.

Valley Cats: The game was rained out last year. The Club tickets rolled over to this year. Available home game dates on Thursdays are: June 12th, June 26th, July 3rd, July 31st, August 7th and August 21st. Please check your calendars. We will vote on a date next week.

CNY News: Information on all of the following and more is posted to the website, cnyrotary.org.

CNY Member Orientation is held every 4th Tuesday of each month. The next will be held on April 22nd at 7 pm.

In Person PETS Training: March 15-16, double Tree Syracuse. Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane and Phil Kellerman will be attending.

Foundation Grant Management Seminar: Foundation Grants Management Seminar, Zoom, Sunday March 23, 6-7pm, must preregister (Jim, Roberto registered, Debbie Rodriguez will register).

District Conference: April 4-6th, Hilton Downtown Albany. Registration required. Roberto Martinez will be going.

District Conference Learning Assembly: Friday April 4^th 8am-12p. Registration separate from District Conference. This is a FREE learning event designed to prepare club leaders in all roles – Secretary, Treasurer, Public Image, Membership, Foundation, DEI and more. It is open to all members, and you don’t need an official title to come learn something new! Come for general sessions, choose two breakouts based on your interest or role for next year, and enjoy a free breakfast. Registration is required!

Conference of Champions: April 4-6th, Hilton Downtown Albany Registration is open.  Fifty of our inbound and outbound Youth Exchange students will be present, you will have ample opportunities to connect with fellow members and CNY leaders, and we even baked in some site-seeing time before and during conference. Many volunteers are working hard to make sure you get a ton of value for your time and money to be immersed in Rotary all weekend! Register today at cnyrotary.org, Roberto, Phil, Jim going. Hoping for more attendees.

CNY Epic Day of Service: Hold the date and more to come 05/17/25

RI News

Advancing Women, Building Peace to Celebrate International Women’s Day 2025. Tuesday March 11^th in Chicago, 11am Chicago time.  Register and even if you can’t attend you will receive a recording of the session.  Any attendee?RI: Rotary PolioPlus Legacy: March 27, 2025, 10a EST, Live on Zoom2026 Rotary Peace Fellowships Applications open until May 15, 2025.

RI Conventions: Calgary, June 21-25, 2025. Carole Heaney will be attending.

Next Meeting: The next meeting is Thursday, March 20th 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. The guest speaker will be Laurie Pferr retired from the NYS Office of Aging.

Entry Choices will be Antipasta Salad, Chicken Marsala and Eggplant Parm.

Stretch Zone

Sari Medick

Sari Medick is the Regional General Manager and Chief Operating Officer for Stretch Zone. Jordan Gold established the business for his father who had diabetic neuropathy. With this system, certified practitioners use patented straps and tables to position the muscles for stretching to increases one’s stretch and range of motion. When the body is in balance you feel and sleep better. You can do more because your joints don’t hurt. Mr. Gold’s father was able to go from difficulty getting up from a chair to dancing at a wedding.

There are 400 Stretch Zones around the country. Locally, Stretch Zones can be found in Delmar, Colonie and Clifton Park. Next year they will add Stretch Zones in Niskayuna and Saratoga. They employ 20 people across the three locations. The first session is an hour appointment. Subsequent sessions last half an hour and cost $40 to $50 per session but specials for $36 per session can be found. They also work with clients with Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, tremors and hip replacements. They are open seven days a week by appointment only. For further information call 518-280-0870 or go to stretchzone.com.

Members in Attendance (11): Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Kevin Leyhane, Ray Hannan, Murray Forth, Dick Drumm, Becky Raymond and John Justino.

By Zoom (2): Dean Calamaras and Carole Heaney.

Guests (1): Mike Stangl.

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:

Treasurer Update: Almost done using Quicken to reconcile expenses. $500 will go to the District in April to support exchange students. The check will be given to Marissa. Phil Kellerman will inquire about the tax status. The membership approved allocating $600 to the Boy Scouts.

Bowl-A-Thon: Per Phil Kellerman, the Bowl-A-Thon is scheduled for April 6th from 1pm until 3pm. It will cost $16 for 1 1/2 hours or $20 for 2 hours. The special is $90 per lane of 5 people ($17 per person) which includes 2 hours of bowling, shoes, and food (pizza and soda). Sponsorship is $50. Phil met with the principal of Maple his yesterday about the bowl-a-thon with the suggestion that proceeds go to the Anchor.

Benefit Concert: Phil Kellerman sent an application to the East Greenbush Methodist Church to hold a benefit concert to support a charitable project of the Church. Phil has not heard back yet. He will contact the Church.

Global Grant: Per Roberto Martinez, is moving along.

Defensive Driving: The AAA course will be held on May 17th at the Nassau Library from 9 am until 3:30 pm. We need a minimum of 25 people to sign up. If you are a member of AAA, the cost is $22. If you are a non-member, the cost is $27. Contact Pat Bailey if you wish to attend.

Community Project: Kevin Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown and Phil Kellerman met with 17 members of the East Greenbush School District on February 13th about the backpack project to provide food over the weekend for at risk students. There are seven schools in the district which split $25,000 to cover the cost of food. It is administered by Regional Food bank. Funding is donated by various local businesses and the PTO. The SRC Rotary will help organize fundraising for this project on an ongoing basis. Kevin Leyhane spoke to the Athletics Director yesterday about a fun run fundraiser to support the backpack program.

Star of Hope: Per Roberto Martinez, will be relocated to Columbia High School this spring.

Public Image Grants: Carol Heaney noted that the CNY Public Image Committee is offering grants for $250 in matching funds for branded materials.

Members in Action: Phil Kellerman spoke to the Cobleskill Rotary yesterday about immigration.

CNY News: Information on all of the following and more is posted to the website, cnyrotary.org.

Blue Star Mothers 4th Annual Golf Tournament: Please see the flyer posted at the bottom of the page.

CNY Member Orientation is held every 4th Tuesday of each month. The next will be held on March 27th at 7 pm.

Foundation Grant Management Seminar, Zoom, on March 23rd. Pre-registration is required.

RLI March 1, Johnson City, NY. LI is $25, L2-G is $40. The Club will cover tuition. Sign up at http: //www.rlinea.org. Phil Kellerman and Chris Bystroff may be attending.

In-Person PETS Training, March 15-16, double Tree Syracuse. Registration has begun. Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane and Phil Kellerman will be attending.

District Conference: April 4-6th, Hilton Downtown Albany. Registration required. Roberto Martinez will be going.

RI Conventions: Calgary, June 21-25, 2025. Carole Heaney will be attending.

Next Meeting: The next meeting is Thursday, March 6th 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. The guest speaker will be Melisa Multari with an Update from the District.

Entry Choices will be Chicken Rustica Salid, Lasagna and Cheese Ravioli.

School of Public Health

John Justino

John Justino is the Director of Global Health for the SUNY College of Integrated Sciences and Vice-President of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. The College of Integrated Sciences was launched in September of 2024 after 2 years effort combining the 40-year-old School of Public Health with the 60-year-old School of Social Welfare and a new nursing program. The School of Public Health’s current location will be vacated as the combined College of Integrated Sciences moves to the main campus of SUNY Albany.

Facility fought for and acquired integrative participation in the process of creating the College of Integrated Sciences. Dr. Erin Bell, Dean of the School of Public Health will serve as Dean of the College and Dr. Vicki Rizzo, Head of the School of Social Welfare will serve as Vice-Dean. Faculty helped create the Mission and Vision Statements. An Advisory Committe was established to determine what Global Health will look like going forward. The College of St. Rose Nursing Program was shifted to the new College. Accreditation of the Nursing Program is in process.

The School of Public Health was formed by David Axelrod when he created a partnership between SUNY Albany and the NYS Department of Health to train future health care professionals. Many faculty are appointed from the Health Department. The College has a growing undergraduate public health program, as well as, Master’s in Science, Master’s in Public Heath, Doctoral Programs and accredited Graduate Certifications along with a social worker program. There are more than 1,000 students of which 450 are in Public Health. There are 197 faculty and 12,000 alumni. Many of the students are commuters.

Note: Next week’s meeting is cancelled.

The next meeting will be held on 2/27/25.

Members Meeting by Zoom (12): Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Kevin Leyhane, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Ruth Russell, Dick Drumm, Charlie Foote and Andy Leyhane.

Guests by Zoom (1): Dan Maksin.

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:

Treasurer Update: Quicken is being used to monitor expenses and income and to delineate line items. About 90% of the imputing of finances has been completed. Next, Murray Fourth and Phil Kellerman will set up a budget. $500 will go to the District in April to support exchange students. Murray Forth sent a message to be careful when making payments using checks. He read that many cases of check fraud is being done by post office employees.

Bowl-A-Thon: Per Phil Kellerman, the Bowl-A-Thon is scheduled for April 6th. It will cost $16 for 1 1/2 hours or $20 for 2 hours. The special is $90 per lane of 5 people ($17 per person) which includes 2 hours of bowling, shoes, and food (pizza and soda). Sponsorship is $50. Phil has not heard back from Maple Hill. He has suggested that the activity be aligned with the backpack project with the East Greenbush Central School District.

Benefit Concert: Phil Kellerman sent an application to the East Greenbush Methodist Church to hold a benefit concert to support a charitable project of the Church.

Global Grant: Per Peter Brown, the Rotary Club in Kenya has an agreement in place with Crown Hydro who will serve as the contractor for the project. $1,000 was added to the project to cover the costs of the permits and survey. The cost may exceed the available funding by a small amount.

Defensive Driving: The AAA course will be held on May 17th at the Nassau Library from 9 am until 3:30 pm. We need a minimum of 25 people to sign up. If you are a member of AAA, the cost is $22. If you are a non-member, the cost is $27. Contact Pat Bailey if you wish to attend.

Community Project: Kevin Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown and Phil Kellerman met with 17 members of the East Greenbush School District on February 13th about the backpack project to provide food over the weekend for at risk students. There are seven schools in the district which split $25,000 to cover the cost of food. It is administered by Regional Food bank. Funding is donated by various local businesses and the PTO. The SRC Rotary will help organize fundraising for this project on an ongoing basis.

RYLA: The District is restarting RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). RYLA will be held from June 29th to July 2nd. The District is looking for donations of $350 per student. The Club voted to put RYLA on hold for this year.

CNY News: Information on all of the following and more is posted to the website, cnyrotary.org.

Pre-PEL 3: Public Image/ Branding, Feb 19^th 7 pm.

Pre-PEL 4: Membership and Leadership, Feb 27^th, 7 pm.

Rotary 120th Birthday Extravaganza will be held in Glenville, February 23rd from 2 pm until 4 pm.

CNY Member Orientation is held every 4th Tuesday of each month. The next will be held on February 25th at 7 pm.

Foundation Grant Management Seminar, Zoom, Feb 26th from 7:3 pm until 8:30 pm.

RLI March 1, Johnson City, NY. LI is $25, L2-G is $40. The Club will cover tuition. Sign up at http: //www.rlinea.org. Phil Kellerman and Chris Bystroff may be attending.

In-Person PETS Training, March 15-16, double Tree Syracuse. Registration has begun. Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane and Phil Kellerman will be attending.

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.

District Conference: April 4-6th, Hilton Downtown Albany. Registration required. Roberto Martinez will be going.

RI Conventions: Calgary, June 21-25, 2025. Carole Heaney will be attending.

Next Meeting: There is no meeting next week. The next meeting is Thursday, February 27th 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. The guest speaker will be John Justino from the School of Public Health.

Entry Choices will be Antipasta Salad, Chicken Limone and Baked Ziti.

Community Action Agencies

Dan Maskin

Dan Maskin worked for thirty years with the Otsego County Community Action Services. He started out in 1987 working part-time, was appointed to the Board, became CEO and retired on July 1, 2024. There are over 1,000 Community Action Agencies in the United States, 40 in New York State and one in Rensselaer County. The agency started out with the War on Poverty Act in 1964. The Agencies are overseen by a Board consisting of 1/3 public officers, 1/3 community workers and 1/3 people receiving services. Agencies develop their own work plan and measure outcomes.

With an eight to nine-million-dollar budget, they funded Head Start, 2 shelters, a home energy assistance program and the Women, Infants and Children’s (WIC) health and nutrition services. A payroll of 4.5 million funded 150 employees. Funding comes from the Federal Community Block Grant.

Rensselaer County has an 11.5% poverty rate. This translates to 18,000 people, 16% of which are children and 2% are over 65 years of age. This does not include the number of people who work but do not have a livable wage but make too much to qualify for assistance.