This listing, frequently updated, covers not only SRC’s activities, but social, training, fundraising, service, and other activities throughout District 7190. You can get to it by simply clicking on “Calendar” in the “Inside Information” listing on the website home page, or go directly to the club Facebook page and click on “Events.”
The second and final delivery of donations for SRC’s 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” was made today, completing our effort to assist students at the high school and lower elementary grade levels in the Rensselaer City School District.
“This portion of our drive was a very generous effort by students at Columbia High School put together by John Sawchuk,” said project coordinator Bill Dowd. “I had suggested club members might think about creating a ‘kids helping kids’ component to the drive, and John used his position as Columbia principal to make it happen. Columbia kids have in the past also helped with other SRC projects. and we’re very grateful to them and their strong community spirit.”
A day earlier, Bill had dropped off several hundred donated items from club members and families at the Circles of Mercy service agency that is packaging the items for individual students and will be distributing them before school resumes.
By a rough count our drive resulted in more than 500 items for kids living in a school district in which one-third of families live below the federal poverty level. The effort was in line with one of Rotary’s key areas of assistance — improving literacy and education.
NOTE: This project will be featured in the September issue of The District 7190 Toolbox electronic newsletter.
The first of two batches of donations to the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” was dropped off this morning at Circles of Mercy in Rensselaer.
Project leader Bill Dowd delivered more than 200 items ranging from backpacks to notebook paper to rulers to pencil boxes to binders to dictionaries and much more.
The supplies will be distributed by the family services agency Circles of Mercy to high school and pre-school kids in the Rensselaer City School District where more than one-third of the children come from families living below the federal poverty level.
A second delivery, being put together in support of the SRC drive by John Sawchuk and a group of his students at Columbia High School, will be dropped off at Circles of Mercy on Tuesday.
“I thank all of our SRC Club members and their families who pitched in to help make this very worthwhile drive a success again this year,” Bill said.
“Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a huge difference in the lives of those less fortunate than we, and this is one of those ‘painless’ efforts directly in line with one of Rotary’s core principles — fostering improved education and literacy.”
… and we do so once every summer. This particular Thursday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, the 60+ contingent of Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club members and friends was joined by more than 100 Rotarians and guests from other clubs in District 7190 for a true Rotary night.
After a picnic dinner in the pavilion we were treated to a 4-2 win by the Tri-City ValleyCats over the visiting Abderdeen (MD) Ironbirds. Here are some scenes from the evening, captured by Bill Dowd and Roberto Martinez.
April Dowd and her driver Bill this morning delivered the first batch of non-perishable food donations to the Ronald McDonald House complex in Albany. And, that was only the beginning.
April is heading up a food drive through September 8 for the family residence facility where heavy recent use has pretty much stripped the shelves bare of the sorts of food items families can turn to.
Fresh foods are not a problem because of the steady stream of volunteer cooks working in the RMH kitchen, but guests often have very long days at Albany Medical Center, missing regular mealtimes and needing sustenance often at odd hours.
Here is the suggested shopping list RMH provided. You can bring your donations to any of our club events through September 8 or, if it’s the only way we can get them, we’ll schedule a time to come to you to collect the food items.
• Jell-O Cups
• Pudding Cups
• Individual Cracker & Cookie Snacks
• Individual Chips and Pretzel Snacks
• Cereal Cups
• Apple Sauce Cups
• Ramen Noodle Cups
• Microwave Meals (non-frozen kind)
• Microwave Popcorn
• Easy Mac&Cheese Cups
• Granola Bars
• Nuts & Dried Fruit Packs
• Healthy Snacks
• Grocery Gift Cards
• Stewart’s Gift Cards
• Amazon Gift Cards
Thanks, as always, for your ongoing generosity to those in need.
Our 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” is going strong. (See the accompanying photo of a jam-packed car trunk.) And, we’re not done yet.
If you haven’t yet dropped off your donations, you still have 16 days to do so. And, John Sawchuk has pledged the efforts of some of his Columbia High School students to join the effort.
We’d appreciate it if everyone throughout the club would at least in some small way take part in purchasing and donating school supplies for needy kids in the Rensselaer City School District where more than one-third of the students live at or below the national poverty line.
Donations may be brought to any of our events, and given to project coordinator Bill Dowd for delivery. A checklist of preferred items (for high school and pre-school students only) is provided below.
If you don’t plan to attend any of the next few club events, please let Bill know and he will make arrangements to personally pick up your donations. We don’t want anyone to miss the opportunity to participate in the project.
Such a drive is in keeping with one of Rotary’s six stated areas of concentration: Improving basic education and literacy.
Here is the checklist:
• pencils (regular lead #2 and color)
• pencil sharpener
• erasers (for pencils)
• pens (black or blue)
• markers (dry erase and color)
• pocket folders (assorted colors)
• 3-ring binders (in 2” and 3” sizes)
• loose leaf paper (college ruled)
• graph pape
• spiral subject notebooks (1, 3 and 5 subject in college ruled)
• subject dividers
• plastic zipper pencil cases/boxes
• 3”x5” index cards
• highlighters (yellow)
• rulers (regular with metric)
• Kleenex or other brand) tissues
• hand sanitizer (small bottles)
• Post-It notes
• backpacks (no rollers/wheels)
• Spanish-English dictionaries
• flash drives (1 to 4gb sizes)
• scientific calculators
Thanks, as always, for your generosity to others less fortunate than us.
“Summer Casual” Riverside Dinner
Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina
New Baltimore, NY
August 4, 2016
Members Attending (13): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Jim Leyane, Bill Dowd, April Dowd, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Dick Drumm, Geoff Brewer, Terry Brewer, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown.
Guests (4): Mary Drumm, Maggie Forth, Jeremy Forth, Betty Brewer.
The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was picturesque, the food was tasty, and the company was jovial.
If you are getting the idea we had a great time dining alongside the Hudson River at Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina on Thursday night, you’re correct.
We have just three outings left on our “Summer Casual” schedule, and reservation deadlines are upon us. Don’t miss out. Here’s the lineup:
August 11 — Wine tasting and orchard-inspired dinner at Goold Orchards in Castleton. Reservation deadline is this Saturday — and we need to know your entree preference between chicken and fish when you make your reservation. The price is a mere $20 for everything. Send your RSVPs to SRCrotary@gmail.com
August 18 — Pavilion picnic plus ValleyCats baseball game at Bruno Stadium in Troy. Reservations closed on Thursday — and we have 54 people joining us, but if you suddenly have an opening on your calendar and would like to attend, check directly with Terry Brewer who is coordinating the tickets to see if any more are available.
August 25 — An opening night performance of the comedy play “The Addams Family” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham. Reservation deadline is Tuesday, April 9. Send your RSVPs to SRCrotary@gmail.com
Meanwhile, here are some images from the Shady Harbor outing.
How would you like to have an interesting experience for free?
May we suggest you enroll in the Rotary Leadership Institute? Your club pays the tuition charge. All you have to do is show up.
One-day workshops will be available for first-timers as well as for those who have experienced other RLI levels and are looking to add to their arsenal of information, tips, and training.
RLI courses again this year will be offered at Siena College in Loudonville. That’ s the venue; the college does not do the training which, instead, is done by accredited RLI faculty. But you’re not limited to that venue. Courses also are offered throughout the Northeast, and some people even have attended them while on the road for business since much of what you learn can be applied to your careers. For example, this year’s Graduate Course (for those who already have completed RLI Parts 1 through 3) is titled “Effective Public Speaking,” something a lot of people will find helpful.
The session at Siena College is scheduled for Saturday, October 22. The deadline for registering is October 17. The workshop runs from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Details about the various workshops are available online. And, you can register through that connection.
A pair of upcoming “Summer Casual Schedule” events have reservation deadlines this week. Act now to avoid disappointment!
• The deadline is this Thursday for reserving seats for the ValleyCats Baseball & Picnic at Bruno Stadium (scheduled for August 18).
This is one of our biggest family outings each summer. It begins with a picnic dinner in the covered pavilion on the stadium’s first-base side, followed by reserved seats for a New York-Penn League pro baseball game between the homestanding Tri-City ValleyCats and the visiting Aberdeen (MD) Ironbirds.
Tickets are just $25 each, and are going fast. The price covers the meal, the game, and a souvenir baseball cap. Parking is free on the Hudson Valley Community College campus that is home to the stadium. Terry Brewer is coordinating the event, but RSVPs should be made only via email to SRCrotary@gmail.com as quickly as possible.
• The deadline is this Saturday for the wine tasting and orchard-inspired dinner at Goold Orchards, scheduled for August 11. The price is a bargain at $20 per person, thanks to co-hosts Pat Bailey and Debbie Rodriguez who are making all the arrangements again this year.
When you RSVP to SRCrotary@gmail please be sure to (1) include the number of guests you will be bringing, and (2) indicate everyone’s entree choice. Here is the menu:
Entree choices
Stuffed Filet of Sole (broiled fish with a Fuji apple stuffing)
or
Harvest Chicken Breast (boneless breast of chicken, sauteed with cherries, sweet onions and apples, braised in an apple cider reduction
Accompaniments
Wild rice and grilled seasonal vegetables
Desserts
Harvest crumb-apple cranberry pie
Apple cider donuts
“Summer Casual” Greek Dinner
Calamaras Residence
Castleton, NY
July 28, 2016
Members Attending (11, no quorum): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Bill Dowd, April Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Murray Forth, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Debbie Brown, Melissa Bill, Ray Hannan. (No quorum)
Guests (3): Maggie Forth, Jeremy Forth, Lois Hannan.
BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
• After the pledge and invocation, no business was conducted. We had an absence of a quorum for the second consecutive week. (A quorum requires attendance by at least 12 members, according to our bylaws.)
• It was noted that longtime member and past president Rommel Tolentino has tendered his resignation from the club via a letter to Treasurer Murray Forth.
• Many more donations were received this evening for our annual “School Supplies Drive,” which runs through August 21. Bill Dowd is coordinating the drive, so please give donations directly to him at each of our get-togethers.
• Bill Dowd issued a request for attendees to be sure to fill out the RSVP chart for upcoming summer events, most of which have earlier-than-usual deadlines because they are at commercial venues rather than being member-hosted. Next week’s event is a buffet dinner in the Boathouse Grille at Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore. The price is $25 per person. Terry Brewer is coordinating the event.
ACTIVITY
Dean and Doris Calamaras hosted this “Summer Casual” club event, treating those assembled to a Greek dinner of chicken souvlaki, Greek salad, rice pilaf, corn on the cob, and baklava, along with various appetizers and desserts contributed by attendees.
We raised $260, which Dean and Doris designated for the Gift of Life program. Here are some scenes from the dinner, provided by Bill Dowd and Roberto Martinez.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 