One of our most rewarding and favorite events each year is the presentation of scholarship awards to graduating seniors from local high schools.

That’s what we’ll be doing at this Thursday’s 6:15 p.m. dinner meeting at Quigley’s, and we’d sure like to have you in attendance to help show Rotary’s strong commitment to supporting youths in the community.

We will be presenting $1,000 scholarship checks to one student each from Columbia, Maple Hill, and Rensselaer high schools. They will be accompanied by school officials and parents, so we need a solid turnout of SRC members.

And, a special guest — Tom Burdick, president of the District’s Gift of Life — will be visiting to give us a brief update on that organization that we continue to support in its lifesaving efforts for children from abroad.

The dinner menu includes an entree of roast pork, chef’s selection of side dishes, antipasto salad, bread, dessert, and beverages. And, the cash bar is available as always.

If you haven’t yet made your reservation for Thursday, please do so with dinner coordinator Debbie Brown at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com no later than Tuesday evening so she can arrange for adequate food and seating and avoid last-minute confusion.

It’s not often we hear from one of our own, but this Thursday our newest member, Peter Berry, will be our guest speaker.

Peter, a returning Rotarian who is back in the States after years in South Africa, will provide us with insights in a talk entitled “Taking the Most Out of Rotary, from Rotaract Till Now.

Including this week’s session, we have only five events remaining on our 2018-19 Rotary Year schedule. (See chart below.)

Another drawing card for Thursday is the dinner entree, Quigley’s popular Chicken Parmesan, to be accompanied by an antipasto salad, chef’s selections of side dishes, bread, dessert, coffee, and soft drinks. And, if you need one more attraction, just remember the cash bar always is available.

The following members already have made their reservations. If you plan to join us, please be sure you email dinner coordinator Debbie Brown at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com no later than this Tuesday evening so we can have enough food and seating available. Guests always welcome, but we need to have them included in the headcount.

• Bailey, Pat
• Berry, Peter
• Brown, Debbie
• Brown, Peter
• Dowd, Bill
• Drumm, Dick
• Foote, Charlie
• Forth, Murray
• Kellerman, Phil
• Leyhane, Andy
• Leyhane, Jim
• Rodriguez, Debbie

SRC is nothing if not versatile in its program offerings. On Saturday, it sponsored a driver training course by Driver Training Associates, an every-three-years educational event, at Quigley’s.

More than two dozen Rotarians and friends attended, learning/refreshing defensive driving skills, new traffic laws, and earning 10% annual auto insurance discounts. Pizza and soft drinks helped the session along.

A few images from the event. Note the various interesting expressions as the “students” filled out their quiz books:

We’re looking for volunteers to staff this important club fundraising event. If you can contribute a couple hours of your time, you’ll be supporting our scholarship program and community projects. Please see Murray Forth if you would like to do your bit.