Mike Moscatiello the younger of the family that hosts our biweekly dinner sessions at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant in North Greenbush, will speak at this week’s meeting on a very timely topic: “Operating restaurants during a pandemic.”

The Moscatiello family, besides running one of Rensselaer County’s busiest restaurants while at the same time developing another restaurant called The Roosevelt Room across the street, is in the thick of the financial battle and has some interesting insights to share. Supply chain woes, staffing shortages, financial pressures, etc., all figure into the equation.

As always, we’ll begin our social period at 5:30, with dinner at 6 o’clock (your entree choice of spaghetti and meatballs or chicken Caesar salad) and the cash bar is available throughout.

Note to SRC Board members: We’ll meet immediately following the dinner session. Please be sure to let President Debbie Rodriguez know by Tuesday if you have anything to add to the agenda she circulated several days ago.

See you all on Thursday!

Saturday was “Healthy Kids Day” at the Greenbush YMCA. With the family-friendly event came a perfect opportunity to spread the word in the community about Rotary.

To do so, SRC set up a table to greet visitors and answer questions about our organization. Thanks to our volunteers who donated their time and expertise.

The National Weather Service’s forecast for Thursday is decidedly unsettling — maybe rain, maybe snow showers, a balmy high of 51, a brisk low of 34. Everything but hail and lava.

But, who cares? We’re meeting via Zoom this week, so put on your comfy lounging clothes and join us at 7 p.m. for our last session of April.

As always, just go to the website calendar page (http://SRCrotary.org/calendar) and click on the April 28 link to gain access to the meeting.

Not planning to join us? We’ll miss your presence, but you can be counted toward a quorum by emailing your proxy OK to President Debbie no later than Wednesday (debannrod@yahoo.com). And, if you want to add anything to the agenda, please let her know.

See you on Thursday!

Due to staffing issues at the restaurant, scheduled speaker Mike Moscatiello has had to rearrange his talk to the club. He will address us at our May 5 meeting rather than this Thursday.

That switch means we have just three open program dates — all on Zoom nights — remaining in this Rotary Year. So, if you or someone you recommend wishes to take one of those dates for a virtual presentation, be sure to contact Becky Raymond or Kevin Leyhane. Check the available dates on the website calendar at http://SRCrotary/org/calendar

One of the hardest-hit sectors of our business world during the years-long COVID-19 pandemic has been the hospitality industry.

We have lost some longstanding eateries, seen others severely cut back days and hours of operation because of staffing shortages and supply chain issues, and seen prices rise as part of the inflationary spiral virtually every industry has experienced.

If you have wondered what it is like for restaurateurs to persevere in the face of such obstacles, make a point of joining us for our meeting this coming Thursday when Mike Moscatiello’s of our host venue Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant — now in its 28th year — will address us on the topic of “Restaurants During COVID.”

As always, we’ll begin our social period at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6:15, with the cash bar available throughout. The dinner entree choices will be the ever-popular Chicken Caesar Salad and Chicken Limone (chicken breast sauteed in a white wine, garlic, caper, and lemon sauce with mushrooms and olives, served over spinach). No need for advance reservations.

We do hope we’ll have a strong member-and-guest turnout even though several of our members will be vacationing during the local schools’ spring break. The program topic should be of such interest that you may want to invite a guest to attend.

A reminder: Thursday’s dinner meeting will feature speakers Cody Bloomfield and Sean Wyse from Capital Roots.

They will discuss the Troy-based organization’s efforts to nourish healthy communities by providing access to affordable fresh food and green spaces as well as nutrition education for the public. As usual we’ll be meeting at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant beginning at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6.

Dinner choices are chicken Caesar salad or linguine with white clam sauce, and as always the cash bar is open and pouring.