The Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s next monthly continental breakfast meeting is scheduled for this week — Thursday, June 16, 7 to 8 a.m., at the Greenbush YMCA, 20 Community Way, East Greenbush. This will be the last breakfast meeting until September 15.

The speaker will be club member Mike Dewey, a financial planner, who will share information on the important elements of developing a financial plan.

If you’d like to attend this Third Thursday event — and please remember that guests are very welcome — be sure to inform club president Terry Brewer by email or by calling 465-0934, or Y director Shannon Romanowski by email or by calling 479-0615 no later than Tuesday.

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On Thursday, June 23, the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club will formally induct its 13th, 14th, and 15th new members in the 2015-16 Rotary Year.

That increases our membership by a full 50%, a figure we suspect is an all-time record among the 41 clubs in District 7190, and most assuredly a record for our club.

The newest people to become Rotarians will be:

• Becky Raymond
• Phil Kellerman
• Julius Frankel

Already inducted in this Rotary Year:

• David Taylor
• Mike Dewey
• Andy Leyhane
• Monika Annis
• Melissa Bill
• Matt Smith
• Marko Koshykar
• John Sawchuk
• Bob Horan
• Michael Bennett
• Jim McHugh
• Josh Wainman

Each of these individuals is depicted in the accompanying illustration (feel free to count them). We hope to see as many of you “freshman” Rotarians as possible at our 6:15 p.m. dinner at Quigley’s, 593 Columbia Turnpike, East Greenbush, on that night. We’re expecting District Governor Milan Jackson to be present for the festivities, and a strong turnout will make the dinner even more special.

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We have had a string of after-dinner programs in this Rotary Year that has taken us to such far away places as Greece, Guatemala, Malawi, Sweden, Sierra Leone, Haiti, and, last week, India.

This week we’ll be hearing from Ethan Brown on his recent volunteer stint in an orphanage in the southeastern African nation of Zimbabwe. Ethan, as many club members know, is a grandson of Peter and Debbie Brown.

The menu for the 6:15 p.m. dinner at Quigley’s is beef tips in mushroom gravy, salad, vegetable, bread, dessert, and beverages. Guests are welcome, but we do need to know in advance who plans to attend so we can have the proper seating and menu portions. If you haven’t already informed dinner coordinator Debbie Brown at mdbrownb@nycap.rr.com, please do so no later than Tuesday evening.

Here’s the current list of people planning to attend:

Amato, A.J.
Annis, Monika
Annis, Ron
Bailey, Pat
Brewer, Terry
Brown, Debbie
Brown, Ethan (speaker)
Brown, Peter
Butterworth, Jim
Dowd, April
Dowd, Bill
Foote, Charlie
Forth, Murray
Frankel, Julius
Hannan, Ray
Leyhane, Jim
Rodriguez, Debbie
Tolentino, Rommel
Taylor, David

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We have several cookouts, a wine-tasting dinner, a baseball game and picnic, plus …

Well, that’s up to you. We still have three dates remaining open for anyone who wishes to host an event or arrange a family-friendly outing for the club.

Those dates:

• Thursday, July 28
• Thursday, August 4
• Thursday, August 25

We then will have a break, from August 26 through Wednesday, September 7, before resuming our regular dinner meetings at Quigley’s on Thursday, September 8.

If you’re interested in helping fill one of those three available dates, please contact Debbie Rodriguez ASAP. For details on the activities already planned, just click on “Calendar” under the “Inside Information” listing here on the website.

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The menu entree doesn’t reflect the program for this Thursday’s Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club dinner meeting at Quigley’s, but we doubt there will be complaints.

The program will be a presentation by club member and travel specialist Carole Spencer on her recent travels through India. The dinner entree will be Chicken Marsala, accompanied by salad, veggies, bread, beverages and dessert.

As always, the reservation deadline is today (Tuesday), via email to Debbie Brown. We need an accurate headcount for Quigley’s kitchen. Here’s who has signed up so far:

Monika Annis
Ron Annis
Pat Bailey
Terry Brewer
Debbie Brown
Peter Brown
Jim Butterworth
April Dowd
Bill Dowd
Dick Drumm
Charlie Foote
Ray Hannan
Phil Kellerman
Jim Leyhane
Roberto Martinez
Debbie Rodriguez
Carole Spencer
Rommel Tolentino

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A slate of club officers for the 2016-17 Rotary Year that will begin on July 1 was approved by acclamation at this week’s meeting.

The 11-member slate is a mix of veteran, returning, and new Rotarians. The lineup, expanded beyond the current board size, provides the club with a strong presidential succession method, sets up the top leadership through the end of June 2019.

The Nominating Committee consisted of chair Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, and Murray Forth. Here is your new board. The order of presidential succession is included in the listing:

PRESIDENT 2016-17
Debbie Rodriguez

PRESIDENT-ELECT
Roberto Martinez
(2017-18 president)

VICE PRESIDENT
John Sawchuk
(2018-19 president)

TREASURER
Murray Forth

SECRETARY
Pat Bailey

BOARD AT-LARGE
Jim Leyhane
Bill Dowd
Jim Butterworth
Andy Leyhane
Ron Annis

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Terry Brewer

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As of today, (5) five events officially are on our “summer casual” schedule, that annual period during which we forego formal dinner meetings in favor of cookouts, picnics, and field trips.

Still to be filled are July 28, and August 4 and 25. Although that leaves one late-summer Thursday (September 1) before the Labor Day Weekend, traditionally we do not schedule anything then because so many people are on vacation.

We also may swap one of those three available Thursdays for a Sunday bus trip to take in an antique airplane show  at the Old Rhinebeck  Aerodrome in Dutchess County. More details on that possibility will be forthcoming.

Here is what we have firmed up so far. If you’d like to host or set up an event, please contact Debbie Rodriguez ASAP.

• July 7 — Cookout, 6 p.m., hosted by Jim and Andy Leyhane at Jim’s residence in East Greenbush. The pool will be open.

• July 14 — Cookout, 6 p.m., hosted by Roberto Martinez and Jim Leyhane at Roberto’s residence in East Greenbush.

• July 21 — Picnic, 6 p.m., hosted by David Taylor and Ray Hannan at Eastwyck Village in Rensselaer.

• July 28 — Open date to be filled.

• August 4 — Open date to be filled.

• August 11 — Wine tasting dinner, 6 p.m., hosted by Debbie Rodriguez and Pat Bailey at Brookview Station Winery at Goold Orchards in Castleton.

• August 18 — Take us out to the ballgame, and feed us, too. Picnic dinner at 6 p.m. in the covered pavilion, followed by a ValleyCats pro baseball game, Joseph L. Bruno Stadium at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.

• August 25 — Open date to be filled.

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A REMINDER: We will be voting on a slate of officers for the 2016-17 Rotary Year at our Thursday, May 26, meeting. All members were emailed the slate, and it has been posted on our website but, in case you misplaced your copy, click here for the full details.

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Think you know a lot about ticks? Maybe so, but our scheduled speaker for this Thursday’s dinner meeting at Quigley’s knows a lot more.

Dr. Linda Pessolesi of Hudson Valley Community College will present a very seasonally-appropriate talk on “The Wondrous World of Ticks.” And, if you want to get a head start on the topic, you can click here for a newspaper article on Lyme disease, which is spread by ticks.

Before her talk, we’ll be enjoying a dinner of baked salmon, salad, vegetables, bread, desserts, and beverages. And, as always, the cash bar is available for pre-meeting refreshment.

The deadline for RSVPs is Tuesday, via email to Debbie Brown. And, please, please, please be sure to let her know if you’re bringing a guest so she can get a correct headcount for seating and food ordering. Here is who has signed up to attend so far:

1. Annis, Monika
2. Annis, Ron
3. Bailey, Pat
4. Brewer, Terry
5. Brown, Debbie
6. Brown, Peter
7. Butterworth, Jim
8. Dowd, April
9. Dowd, Bill
10. Drumm, Dick
11. Foote, Charlie
12. Forth, Murray
13. Frankel, Julius
14. Hannan, Ray
15. Leyhane, Jim
16. Martinez, Roberto
17. Pessolesi, Linda (speaker)
18. Rodriguez, Debbie
19. Spencer, Carole
20. Taylor, David

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