Here is the connection to the livestreaming event marking the 6th annual World Polio Day today, October 24, 2018.

Or, you can watch it at Thursday’s SRC dinner meeting at 6:15 p.m. at Quigley’s. Please join with us one way or the other.

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Members and famiies of SRC are being asked to assist the Greenbush YMCA, where SRC member Shannon Romanowski is the director, in its Caring Community Basket Brigade.

The effort collects food for needy families in the community at Thanksgiving. The flyer below contains all the details.

A purchasing tip: The variously-branded Golub Corp. supermarkets — Price Chopper, Market 32, and Market Bistro — have a wide variety of 10-for-$10 grocery items on sale this week.

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The Oley Foundation has been very effusive in its thanks for financial support from SRC. The latest acknowledgement is seen in the clipping above from the organization’s newsletter.

The Oley Foundation, Phil Kellerman’s employer, has as its mission statement, “Striving to enrich the lives of those living with home intravenous nutrition and tube feeding through education, advocacy, and networking.”

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OK, so Murray Forth won the raffle for a wine-pairing dinner for 12 at Cafe Capriccio in Albany on Saturday night that was a fundraiser for SRC.

The big question: What 11 people did he select to accompany him to the event prepared  by chef-owner Jim Rua — the gentlemen with the white beard in the photo below?

Here’s the answer.

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Time is growing short to make your reservations for District 7190’s annual Foundation Dinner, set for Thursday, November 8, at the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia.

The keynote speaker will be Mary Beth Growney Selene, a current Trustee of The Rotary Foundation and a past director of Rotary International.  She will share a unique perspective on the work of The Rotary Foundation around the world and the special role each Rotarian plays in its successes.

In addition, we will have a meal crated by the renowned chefs from Mazzone Hospitality, plus a wine pull and several raffles, all of which are intended to increase the evening’s donation to The Rotary Foundation.

Individual tickets are $150, at least $90 of which will be sent as a donation to the Foundation in the winning Rotarian’s name.  Couples can purchase two tickets for $250, and at least $130 will be sent as a donation to the Foundation either in the name of the Rotarian or credited equally if both are Rotarians.

You can get additional details about the event, the menu, suggested attire for the evening and your donation by clicking here. Registration closes on October 31.  Payment by credit card is encouraged, but information about purchasing tickets by check can be found at the end of the registration process.

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The Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club, enhanced by its Danes Rotaract, had the largest participation — 10 people — in Saturday’s Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI), held at the UAlbany School of Public Health on the Health Sciences Campus.

RLI offers three sequential levels of study, plus a graduate level. Roberto Martinez completed the third level on Saturday, and was awarded a certificate of completion. That brings to five the number of SRC Rotarians who have graduated (in earlier years, Bill Dowd — who took a graduate-level class today, Debbie Rodriguez, Dean Calamaras, and Doris Calamaras did so). Plus, this year Jim Lehayne and Andy Leyhane completed Level 2 and are on track to graduate next year, and John Justino completed Level 1.

Also completing Level 1 were four Danes Rotaractors — president Lindsey Riback, Lindsey Tolman, Christopher Joseph, and Dustin Moore. This was the first year Rotaract members were eligible for RLI involvement, and SRC paid the registration fees for all four as well as all its own members’ fees.

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The club secretary no longer keeps minutes of the proceedings, so we’ve switched to this briefer format, written primarily in less-detailed note form to preserve the club’s electronic archive.

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Members Attending (17, quorum achieved): Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Debbie Rodriguez, Phil Kellerman, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Dick Drumm, Ray Hannan, Kevin Leyhane, Charlie Foote.

Guests (1): Rachel Stark.

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President Andy Leyhane welcomed the members and our guest from the Capital District Rotary Club. Tonight’s meeting was planned as a club assembly to update and discuss the direction and activities of the club. …

… Bill Dowd reported that the total of donations from individual members to our latest ShelterBox drive has reached $5,290. He reiterated that he would be collecting through the end of the month before delivering the checks to Assistant District Governor Jack Faddegon, our district ShelterBox officer. Our goal is $6,000, and Bill emphasized that donations at any level are welcomed; members so far have donated in amounts ranging from $20 to $1,000 each. Anyone else wishing to help is asked to give or mail checks to Bill, made payable to ShelterBox, which makes them tax deductible. …

Andy reported on the breakfast meeting held this morning and its special guest, Auggie the therapy-dog-in-training at Bell Top Elementary School. SRC was presented with a certificate of appreciation from the school for its financial support of the therapy dog project. (Click here for a breakfast meeting report.) …

… A general discussion was held on several topics, chief among them member participation and attendance, and club fundraising activities. Terry Brewer solicited ideas on some of the questions to include in the member survey he is working on. Much of it will be based on Rotary International surveys. He will distribute it in the next week, and ask for a response from all members within a week of receiving it. … The club’s Board of Directors, which will gather immediately after this meeting, will further discuss the efforts. (Click here for a Board meeting report.)

… EVENTS — A contingent of 10 SRC and Danes Rotaract members will participate in the annual Rotary Leadership Institute session scheduled for this Saturday. … Volunteers are being sought to staff the SRC Recycling Day scheduled for Saturday, November 3. Please see event coordinator Murray Forth if interested. … Next Thursday’s special dinner guest will be Dr. Martha Lepow, who Jim Leyhane interviewed on camera for the “History of Polio” video project in conjunction with District 7190, CASDA, and the UAlbany School of Public Health. Dr. Lepow was a pioneer in the early days of polio immunization research. World Polio Day is scheduled for next Wednesday, October 24, with a live streaming program worldwide. John Justino plans to record the program, then show it at the Thursday meeting. Please plan to attend.

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Meet your new Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club vice president.

Terry Brewer, a past president who had been serving as an at-large member of the club Board of Directors and as District 7190 membership chair, was elected at Thursday’s board meeting to fill the vacant vice presidential role created by Ray Hannan’s resignation earlier this year.

The Board also agreed to assign the VP and at-large directors Jim Leyhane and Bill Dowd, all of whom have served multiple times as club president, to act on a rotating annual basis as mentors to presidents and presidents-elect.

Terry’s election, approved under club bylaws regarding filling of vacancies, creates an additional vacancy in the at-large category. Thus, the Board now is seeking to fill the positions of (a) president-elect and (b) three at-large director roles. Anyone with an interest in being considered for any of the positions is asked to contact President Andy Leyhane as soon as possible. Training sessions for presidents-elect begin in January.

The Board as now constituted:

President: Andy Leyhane
President-elect: vacant
Vice President: Terry Brewer
Treasurer: Murray Forth
Secretary: Pat Bailey
Immediate Past President: Roberto Martinez
At-Large: Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, 3 vacancies

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SRC Third Thursday Breakfast Meeting
Greenbush YMCA
20 Community Way, East Greenbush

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Members Attending (6, no quorum): Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Jim Leyhane, Shannon Romanowski, Terry Brewer, Marty Mahar.

Guests (2): Jaime Gibbs and Carol Willis of Bell Top Elementary School, plus Auggie.

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• President Andy Leyhane opened the meeting with welcoming comments and the Pledge of Allegiance. He reviewed various Rotary events, our ShelterBox donation drive, Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) scheduled for this Saturday, and our Recycling Day scheduled for Saturday, November 3.

• SRC member and Greenbush YMCA Director Shannon Romanowski announced a Thanksgiving food drive by the Y, and the club will partner in the effort. Shannon will provide details to Andy for distribution throughout the club.

• SRC member Marty Mahar, principal of Bell Top Elementary School, introduced two of his teachers, Jaime Gibbs and Carol Willis. They handle the training and care of Auggie, the school’s therapy dog who they brought along to meet the Rotarians. They described Auggie’s training process, and how he is being introduced to students and staff. They also shared anecdotes about Auggie’s interaction with kids.

A program called “Letters to Auggie” has been introduced in the school that allows students to write to Auggie about their feelings. Auggie “responds” to the letters regarding student anxiety, stress, and apprehensions. The writing process is very therapeutic for everyone.

The Bell Top staffers also presented the SRC Rotary Club with certificates of appreciation for financially supporting Auggie at Bell Top.

• The next Third Thursday breakfast meeting will be held at 7 a.m. on November 15 at the Greenbush YMCA.

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The Danes Rotaract club, sponsored by SRC, held its first activity of the 2018-19 Rotary Year, a happy hour event at Wolff’s Biergarten in Albany’s Warehouse District on Tuesday evening.

The event, the second annual such initiative for the two-year-old Rotaract group, was created to benefit the Freedom From Fistula Foundation (FFFF).

The foundation, which SRC has been financially supporting for several years with member Becky Raymond as the lead, assists women with specific gynecological  problems in such African nations as Sierra Leone, Malawi, and Madagascar. (Click on the links to get updates on the work in each country.)

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