Category: Holidays

Easter basket drive is under way

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src-easter-basket-driveAmong the more pleasurable projects our club undertakes are those involving kids. For the fourth consecutive year, we will be participating in Circles of Mercy’s Easter basket project for needy children ages 1 through 12.

Last year, Circles received more than 150 requests and our club alone responded by coming up with about 50. Circles anticipates at least that many requests again, so this year our goal is to match the number we provided in 2016, but our hope is to exceed it.

Please read the list below of requested basket items, do your shopping, then bring donations to our March 16 breakfast meeting or our March 9, 16, 23 or 30 dinner meetings. March 30 is the donation deadline.

Len Leonidas and his Scouts will assemble the baskets from your donations, clear-wrap them, and deliver them to Circles of Mercy. Meanwhile, John Sawchuk and the staff and students at Columbia High School will run a parallel effort, soliciting basket items, packaging them with baskets and wrappers supplied by the club, and delivering them to Circles no later than April 10.

The shopping list of requested items:

• traditional Easter candies
• coloring books
• crayons
• colored pencils
• dental floss
• toothpaste
• toothbrushes
• small toys
• small toy animals
• combs / hair brushes

Thanks for your help as always.

A chance to reduce your paper (and electronic) stockpile

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Please spread the word, share the flyer (on Facebook would be good!) and take this opportunity to make your New Year’s Resolution to clean out your basement and garage at a very low cost.

If you’ve been wondering for soooo long how to safely get rid of those personal paper records, those old computer keyboards and electronic games, and similar things taking up valuable space in your home, here’s the answer.

And, 100% of the profits will go right back into your community by supporting Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club projects that benefit people and organizations in need.

We also are looking for $100 sponsorships from businesses and individuals to offset the $650 rental cost of a paper shredder for the day. If you can help in that area, please contact Terry Brewer.

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Lake jumpers, bowlers shoot for $30K mark

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The participants before the plunge.

On New Year’s Day, a hardy band of District 7190 Rotarians participated in the annual “Polar Plunge” at Shepard Park in Lake George.

The go-jump-in-the-lake event in frigid waters is a major fundraiser for Rotary’s anti-polio efforts.

To warm up afterward, they joined other Rotarians in the annual “Bowl Over Polio” event.

Says District Governor John Mucha, “We’re hoping to exceed $10,000 with pledges and donations, and with the [Bill & Melinda] Gates [Foundation] match, that’s $30,000 to fight polio. ”

 

RI float a winner in Tournament of Roses parade

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The 2017 Rotary International float

The Rotary International float in Monday’s 2017 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA, emerged with a major trophy.

The smoke-breathing floral dragon float, titled “Doing Good In the World,” was awarded the Princesses’ Trophy which goes to what the judges consider the best float in the 35-feet-and-under category.

 

Scenes from our Holiday Party 2016

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The annual “SRC Holiday Party & Gift Basket Silent Auction” took place Thursday evening to a packed house — Murray’s and Maggie’s house, to be specific.

In addition  to the usual suspects, this year we had an international flavor with our Youth Exchange student and a Rotarian from South Africa by way of Delmar and then back to South Africa. And, we were graced with the presence of almost the entire Rosetti family who are hosting our Brazilian student while their eldest daughter is an Exchange student in Italy for a year.

Here are some scenes from the evening. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year to all. See you again on January 5.

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The latest on our 3 ‘Adopt-a-Family’ efforts

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srcadopt-logoThis promises to be our biggest “Adopt-a-Family” holiday period in club history. We have three separate efforts now under way that you can choose to support in one way or the other. Here are the details:

CIRCLES OF MERCY
Rensselaer

April Dowd is spearheading this effort for a local 70-year-old who is caring for her three young great-grandchildren and is herself battling cancer.

April emailed the family’s “wish list” to all members several weeks ago, but if you missed it or trashed it, you can click here to see an update on the effort that contains the shopping list. You can contact April at 238-1950.

DOORS OF HOPE
Averill Park

Terry Brewer has taken the lead on this effort on behalf of a family with three children. You can contact Terry at 221-4050. The “wish list” is as follows:

Girl (13): Favorite colors are blue, pink, black, white, gray

Long-sleeve flannel shirts, woman’s size small; PJ’s with long sleeves, woman’s size small; scarf and gloves, black/gray; Ariana Grande poster; teen magazines; movie tickets; Target gift card

Girl (8): Favorite colors are pink and purple

Theme toys (Trolls, Emoji, Shopkins); long-sleeve shirts with theme items, girls’ size 8/9; PJ’s with long sleeves, girls’ size 8/9; toys (Trolls, Num Noms, Animal Jam, Tsum Tsum); age-appropriate crafts

Boy (9): Favorite colors are blue and red

Theme toys (Pokeman, Star Wars abd Marvel characters); PJ’s and long-sleeved shirts, size boys medium, with theme characters; Halo figures, small’ Marvel figures, small; Civil War toys; Qixels crafts; books (Pokemon Moon, Pokemon Sun, Pokemon the Official Strategy Guide)

COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL
East Greenbush

Club member John Sawchuk, principal at CHS, is marshaling his students and staff in an effort to adopt at least seven families for the holidays on behalf of SRC. If you’d like to help there, you can call John at 487-0990, although this appears to be pretty much a contained effort at the school.

 

How to create a themed basket for our holiday silent auction

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basketAs of today, we are a mere three weeks (!) from one of our best-attended annual events — the “SRC Holiday Party & Themed-Basket Silent Auction.”

That’s right. Just 21 days. The dinner and festivities are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 22, at the Forth residence in East Greenbush. (And, an advance “thank you” to Maggie and Murray for once again volunteering to be our hosts.)

The basket auction portion of the evening is always a display of ingenuity, and prompts a lot of bidding that supports our club’s many community service projects.

Deciding on a theme, then creating a basket around it, is something everyone can participate in, no matter their artistic skill levels. And, to give you some ideas to jump-start the process, take a look at these examples:

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A very happy Thanksgiving Day to all

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This oil painting by the iconic American artist Norman Rockwell is called “Freedom from Want.” It also is known as “The Thanksgiving Picture” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

It is the third work in the “Four Freedoms” series of four oil paintings by Rockwell inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address, a speech known as “Four Freedoms.”

The painting was created in November 1942 and published in the March 6, 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post magazine. All of the people in the picture were friends and family of Rockwell in Arlington, Vermont, who were photographed individually and painted into the scene.

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