Category: Holidays

Adopt-a-Family project is different this year

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Screen Shot 2018-11-21 at 11.27.47 AMWe’re headed into the major holiday season, a time of family, friends, and celebration. It also is a time for sharing, and once again the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club will be involved in making the season a happier one for some of those less fortunate.

We are again partnering with Circles of Mercy to adopt a family, but this year with a couple of twists. The family we’ve been assigned is a small one — just a mother and one child. However, a second family, consisting of parents and three kids, will be adopted by Columbia High School in its first year of involvement in this effort.

The other change is that SRC will be creating individual personal hygiene kits for as many people as possible — a target number is 50 to 100 kits. These simple items are distributed to many people during the winter by Circles of Mercy. Details on kit contents and our two-person family and what they need is shown below.

Please be sure to email project coordinator Bill Dowd (billdowd4troy@gmail.com) ASAP to let him know what aspect of the two-pronged drive you plan to be involved in. If it’s the hygiene kits, let him know how many you will create.

The deadline for turning in gifts (wrapped and tagged with recipients’ names, please!) and personal hygiene kits is at our Thursday, December 13, dinner meeting.

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PERSONAL HYGIENE KIT / CIRCLES OF MERCY

Each kit should contain all the items below and be small enough to fit into a backpack pocket with ease. Odorless products are best due to allergies. Items to be placed in Glad-brand zip-lock heavy duty bags (one gallon size). All need to be travel-sized containers of:

  • shampoo
  • hair conditioner
  • toothpaste
  • dental floss
  • toothbrush
  • breath strips
  • mouthwash
  • small first-aid kit (i.e. assorted Band-Aids and antiseptic such as Neosporin)
  • very small travel-size sewing kit (minimum thread and needle)
  • deodorant
  • soap or bodywash
  • hand sanitizer
  • lotion
  • lip balm (such as Chapstick)
  • combs, brushes and hair bands

 

Starter ideas for your themed holiday baskets

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Basket 2
A bird lover’s basket has it all

Basket 3
An all-in-one cupcake kit

For the umpteenth consecutive year, we will be holding a “Holiday Party & Themed Basket Silent Auction.” This year, it is scheduled for Thursday, December 20, on the eve of the winter solstice, at a site to be determined.

Basket 4
Cook up breakfast with this cup of handy ingredients

golf
A golfer’s bucket list is in this “basket”

The dinner always is delicious, and the basket auction always is fun. For the former, you don’t have to do anything except show up and enjoy it. For the latter, you have to do two things — (1.) use your imagination to create a theme, and (2.) bid on the other baskets that appeal to you. (Proceeds go to our club treasury to support various services.)

The themed baskets have, in the past, taken on many forms, including such things as wine-and-cheese collections, baking sets, travel guides and beverages, candy samplers, Bloody Mary kits, toys and games assortments, and so on. You’re limited only by your imagination. And, other sorts of containers can serve as “baskets.”

Basket 5
Hunter/hiker’s assortment in a handy tote bag

We’ve sprinkled images of a variety of baskets around this posting to prime your imagination’s pump. Remember, it’s never too early to start getting your basket together. After all, the Holiday Party & Themed Basket Silent Auction is just 33 days away!

Basket 6
Warm-and-cozy-for-winter basket

Basket 7
A Christmas cookie kit

Italian
Italian dinner in a colander

mary
A  bushel of Bloody Marys

Healthy
A basket of healthy snacks for kids

pamper
A package of pampering products

 

How’s that holiday auction basket coming along?

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Screen shot 2017-12-15 at 11.43.24 AM
Ready for a holiday feast?

Time is growing very short. Any last-minute reservations for the annual “Holiday Party & Themed Gift Basket Silent Auction” should be made with Murray and Maggie Forth (mmforth51@gmail.com, 518-477-7433) by this Sunday.

The party will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 21, at their residence in East Greenbush. Attendees are asked to bring a small appetizer for six people. The Talk of the Town catering service will provide the remainder of the dinner ($25).

A reminder: The themed baskets are a major part of this social event, and all winning bids go to the club treasury to help support our many public outreach initiatives. We suggest baskets in the $15 to $45 range. And, of course, the more variety the better. Anyone needing an imagination jump start may want to revisit the suggestions we’ve posted in recent weeks on the club website. Check here, here, and here for some examples such as those below.

Screen shot 2017-12-08 at 2.31.52 PMScreen shot 2017-12-15 at 10.55.14 AM

 

Santa-esque delivery at Circles of Mercy

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Toys 1
Executive Director Richard Zazycki poses with SRC project coordinator April Dowd during drop-off of gifts for our Adopt-a-Family drive today.

Screen shot 2017-12-15 at 10.56.04 AMChristmas came 10 days early to Circles of Mercy in Rensselaer today when the annual collection of “Adopt-a-Family” gifts from the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club arrived at the family services agency.

SRC project coordinator April Dowd and her chauffeur had to enlist the help of Circles Executive Director Richard Zazycki and several of his volunteers in unloading a car crammed to capacity with gifts for a needy “blended” family with children ranging in age from 18 years to 18 months. We had promised Richard “shock and awe” at the treasure trove of presents, and he concurred that the result was startling.

About half of the club members participated in the effort.

Said April, “Our family this year had eight children and two adults, and bringing Christmas to their home could have been a daunting task. But, due to your generosity ‘Adopt a Family 2017’ was quite a success. Bill and I delivered the presents, gift cards,  grocery items, and specialty baskets today to Circles of Mercy. Thanks to all of you who participated in this joyous and satisfying venture.”

The mission of Circles of Mercy, with whom SRC partners in several other efforts such as an annual school supplies drive and an annual Easter basket program, is very much in line with Rotary’s guiding principles.

The organization, which has its roots in Dublin, Ireland, in 1827,  works to “improve the quality of life in the community by working to end the cycle of poverty, especially among women and women with children. Animated by the Gospel and [founder] Catherine McAuley’s passion for the poor and underprivileged, we honor the dignity of each person. We offer hospitality and provide services, compassion, hospitality, stewardship, leadership and collaboration, with a special concern for the poor and disadvantaged without regard to a person’s religious affiliation, ethnicity or sexual orientation; which is performed in an effort to instill hope and empower individuals to reach their full potential.”