The Nominating Committee appointed by Club President Terry Brewer several months ago has created a slate of officers for the 2016-17 Rotary Year, to be voted upon by members at our Thursday, May 26, meeting.

The Nominating Committee consists of Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, and Murray Forth.

In accordance with Article 3 of our Club Bylaws, after the committee “presents its slate of officer candidates to the membership, additional nominations may be made from the floor before a vote is taken.” If we have contested offices, a written vote will be taken. Otherwise, the president will conduct a voice vote. Duties of the various offices are spelled out in the Club Bylaws.

You will notice that the offices of president-elect and immediate past president do not require a vote, for obvious reasons. Traditionally, the immediate past president remains on the board for one year.

All those elected will take office on July 1 for the Rotary Year ending June 30, 2017. The order of presidential succession is included in the listing below for your consideration.

OFFICER CANDIDATES FOR THE 2016-17 ROTARY YEAR

[* No election necessary]

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

The Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s next monthly breakfast meeting is scheduled for this week — Thursday, May 19, 7 to 8 a.m., at the Greenbush YMCA, 20 Community Way, East Greenbush.

Club member Bob Horan, superintendent of the Schodack Central School District, will be the speaker.

If you’d like to attend — 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, May 17.

The Let’s Share the Sun Foundation‘s mission statement says it “aspires to facilitate the use of solar energy in poor communities around the world where harnessing the power of the sun will enhance the quality of life of those communities.”

The foundation helps install solar power devices in some of the poorest parts of the world, including in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, “places that are rich in their access to the sun but lack fundamental resources.”

We’ll be hearing all about its work at our 6:15 p.m. Thursday dinner meeting at Quigley’s in East Greenbush. The topic may be of interest to some non-Rotarians you know, so feel free to extend an invitation.

Please be sure to RSVP to dinner coordinator Debbie Brown at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com no later than this Tuesday evening, and be sure to let her know if you’ll be bringing a guest so she can provide Quigley’s with an accurate headcount.   The entree is lasagna. (And, please remember the per-person rate now is $18, so bring singles to help Murray make change.)

Jim Leyhane has firmed up the date for the latest defensive driving course that will allow attendees, upon completion, to apply for a discount in their auto insurance premiums.

It will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 5, in the conference room at Community Care Physicians, 81 Miller Road, Schodack.

The cost will be $35 to $45, depending on the number of enrollees. To register, the sooner the better, please contact Jim via email or by phone at 477-4881 as soon as possible.

The need was for dinner for 40 — no, not for 4, or 14, or even 24 or 34, but 40 guest lodgers at the Ronald McDonald House complex in Albany.

A team of seven Southern Rensselaer County Rotarians — led by chef Bill Dowd and sous chefs April Dowd, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Rodriguez, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, and Mike Dewey — whipped up a wide range of foods to feed the multitudes on Thursday evening.

The menu:

A pair of “Rotarians by marriage” will be our after-dinner presenters at this week’s meeting at Quigley’s.

Deb Dewey, wife of new member Mike Dewey, and Betty Brewer, wife of President Terry Brewer, will speak on “Occupational and Physical Therapy In Schools.”

The menu calls for sauteed beef tips and mushrooms in sauce, with veggies, salad, bread, beverages, and dessert. As always, the cash bar is open to all. (Remember, dinner now is $18 per person.)

If you haven’t yet emailed your RSVP to dinner coordinator Debbie Brown — at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com — remember the deadline is Tuesday evening for doing so. Please be sure to let her know if you’re bringing a guest so we can have an accurate headcount for Quigley’s kitchen.

Once again, the generosity of Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club members and their families shines through. Our “Clothes for Kids” drive, in conjunction with the annual Rotary Day of Service, resulted in about 400 pieces of new and like-new clothing being collected.

Project coordinator Bill Dowd today delivered the clothing — a full car load of it, both trunk and backseat crammed full — to the Rensselaer family aid organization Circles of Mercy.

The items will be distributed at extremely low cost through the organization’s Catherine’s Closet thrift shop that serves low-income and at-risk families throughout our service area.

The donations came at a perfect time. The volunteers at Catherine’s Closet recently switched over from winter to spring and summer inventory and realized they had very little kids’ clothing. When the unloading began this morning, they immediately began sorting our donations and getting them ready for their clients.