The next dropoff date for donations to our “School Supplies Drive” for needy kids is Thursday, July 28 (NOT this Thursday). The 28th is the date for a Greek dinner at the Calamaras residence, and I’ll be accepting items there.

Contributions so far have been a bit on the light side, so I’m hoping many more of you will be doing your shopping soon. For those of you with young children, this would be an ideal effort to get them involved as “kids helping kids.”

As mentioned numerous times, the shopping list of needed items is on the club website at SRCrotary.org — just scroll down and you’ll see it.

Also as mentioned, if for some odd reason you don’t plan to participate in any club events up to and including August 21, the absolute deadline for contributions, please call me to arrange a pickup of your supplies.

Thank you on behalf of the kids.

Bill Dowd
Project Coordinator
238-1950

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As you know, our 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” began Friday. Please bring whatever you have purchased or otherwise acquired so far to this Thursday’s cookout at Jim Leyhane’s residence, the first drop-off opportunity.

(If by some crazy fluke you’re not aware of any of the emails, Facebook postings, Tweets, verbal announcements at meetings, or website postings about the project, please go to the club website and scroll down to see the details of the effort and the shopping lists.)

We’re hoping to do even better than we did last year, which should be assured, considering our membership has grown by 50% since then. The recipients will be pre-school and high school students in the Rensselaer City School District, where more than one-third of the students live at or below the federal poverty level. (Other grades will be served by other programs.)

If you won’t be attending and/or contributing at Thursday’s event, you have another few weeks after that. If for some reason you don’t plan to join us for any of our activities before August 21, the contribution deadline, please let Bill Dowd know and he’ll personally come to your home or place of work to pick up your contributions.

Please don’t miss this opportunity to help fulfill one of Rotary’s six stated areas of concentration: “Improving basic education and literacy.”

Thank you as always for your generosity.

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Today is the start of our 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” that we told you about last week.

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 next six (6) 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 for some reason you don’t plan to attend any of the next six 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.

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Many of you will recall that last summer we conducted a club drive to collect school supplies for needy students in the Rensselaer City School District. There is a particular need there because the poverty level is so dire — the worst in Rensselaer County.

Nearly half the district’s 1,100 students qualify for meal assistance; more than a third of them live at or below the poverty level, which is 10% more than the national average. There is no indication things will get better before the next school year, so Bill Dowd again will be coordinating an SRC Rotary Club drive, beginning this Friday,  July 1. The concentration will  be on items for high school and pre-school students, based on a survey of needs.

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Such a drive is in keeping with one of Rotary’s six stated areas of concentration:

Improving basic education and literacy.

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“Last summer, we had a successful drive in a very short period — about four weeks,” Bill said. “This time around we’re starting earlier, plus we’re coordinating distribution via the Circles of Mercy family services agency that has tacked an extra week onto the drive period. That extra time, plus the addition of 15 club members since last summer, should assure us of a very successful effort — if everyone pitches in.”

Participation is simple: Purchase or otherwise donate supplies from the following list. Then get them to me over the course of the next six weeks or so, no later than August 21. You can do that by bringing the items to one of our club events, or by volunteering to be a drop-off point from which Bill will pick up the final donations.

The needs:

• 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.

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