Here in New York State, the polls stay open until 9 o’clock tonight. So, if you weren’t able to get to the polling spot earlier in the day, you have plenty of time to do so.

While Rotary is a non-political organization and endorses no parties or individual candidates, it does encourage all eligible voters to exercise their civic responsibility.

Remember, while what we’ve been hearing about the most is the presidential race, there are numerous “down ballot” decisions to be made that will affect your communities and state. Don’t let Election Day end with your voice not being heard.

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Our club’s 2nd annual “Bowling for Vets” event drew an extremely disparate group of participants to the East Greenbush Bowling Center on Sunday afternoon.

Rotarians and their families, friends of Rotary, students, toddlers … all showed up for the two all-you-can-bowl sessions that — with the help of numerous lane sponsorships from individuals and local businesses — raised money we will use to support the Blue Star Mothers military family support organization and local adaptive sports programs working with Wounded Warriors.

Here are some images from the event, courtesy of Roberto Martinez:

 

The dedication of a flagpole installation at the Eastwyck Village residential complex on Wednesday drew a solid contingent of residents, politicians and members and friends of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club.

Rotarians Ray Hannan and David Taylor, residents of Eastwyck, participated in the flag ceremony along with a veterans color guard. Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko were among the speakers.

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One year ago this week, we achieved a number of firsts in one swoop.

• The 1,000th post was made on our club website.

• That post also was our first “homemade” You Tube video.

• The video briefly covered our first ” no-sew blanket” project.

It all comes full circle this Thursday when we have a first anniversary blanket-making session as part of our weekly dinner meeting at Quigley’s, in support of the Blue Star Mothers military family support group.

Everyone is invited to participate — Rotarians, family, friends and other guests. Just remember to bring scissors! (And, if you haven’t already done so,  please email dinner coordinator Debbie Brown no later than Tuesday evening to let her know you’re coming and whether you’re bringing a guest — with their own scissors.)

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We all know not to run with scissors, but you can walk briskly to Quigley’s this Thursday for our second “no-sew blanket” session.

If you’re not familiar with that particular project, go here to our archives to see what took place at the first such session.

The dinner menu calls for an entree of beef tips with mushroom gravy, chef’s choice of sides, salad, bread, dessert and beverages. As always, Tuesday evening is the deadline for letting dinner coordinator Debbie Brown know if you’d like to be added to the reservation list (mdbrown@nycap.rr.com). And, as always, please be sure to let her know if you’re bringing a guest.

This blanker-making effort would be a great time to introduce someone to Rotary in an informal, enjoyable way. Everyone who will attend is asked to bring a pair of scissors.

Here’s who has signed up so far:

• Leyhane, Jim
• Martinez, Roberto
• Rodriguez, Debbie
• Taylor, David
• Bailey, Pat
• Brewer, Terry
• Brown, Debbie
• Brown, Peter
• Drumm, Dick
• Forth, Murray
• Hannan, Ray
• Kellerman, Phil

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A  crowd of about 50 Rotarians representing dozens of clubs from throughout District 7190 attended the inaugural Membership & PR Summit held Saturday morning at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library.

The Southern Rensselaer County club was represented by a trio of members. Bill Dowd served as a speaker on public relations, website and social media use, and served on two panels — membership and general information. SRC President-elect Roberto Martinez and Board member Jim Leyhane also attended the event.

In addition to presentations on public relations using social and traditional media from Bill and Melissa Ward, both member of the District PR Committee, our District Membership Committee provided a panel discussion led by chairperson Jennifer Hendricks-Fogg on the trial use by four clubs of a new “Membership Playbook” that provides methods for recruiting and retaining members. The document can be downloaded here.