The issue of mental health touches on all aspects of our society, all too frequently being front-and-center in the news when it comes to such darker topics as suicide, bullying, and drug abuse.

Tina Lee, the Community Education and Outreach Manager for The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New York State, has begun speaking to Rotary clubs in District 7190 on the overall topic of “Raising Mental Health and Awareness in our Communities.” On Thursday, September 13, she will be visiting SRC for a presentation.

Formerly executive director of NAMI’s Mid-Hudson Region, among her efforts since moving up to a statewide role, she has been working with the East Greenbush Central School District on such issues as  suicide prevention and the opioid epidemic.

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• This very important and timely program should be of interest to most Rotarians, but please remember we always welcome guests to share our programs. Thus, if you would like to bring a non-Rotarian to the dinner meeting, please include their names when you RSVP no later than Tuesday, September 11, to dinner coordinator Debbie Brown’s next invitation to ensure sufficient seating and buffet items to accommodate everyone.

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Tina says her passion for mental health stemmed from her own daughter’s battle with mental health issues. Tina is a member of the Dutchess County Prevention Council DCDBCH, the Quality Assurance Committee, the Juvenile Justice Committee, and the Eastern Dutchess Rural Health Network Coalition, and is an instructor for the Dutchess County Crisis Intervention Training Committee.

In 2016, she was appointed to the Statewide Multicultural Advisory Committee (SMAC) with the Office of Mental Health and is a member of New York State’s Suicide Prevention Advisory Task Force.

She is a certified NAMI State Trainer for “Ending the Silence” and “Parents and Teachers As Allies,” two mental health literacy programs for high school students and educators. She recently became certified to present “Suicide Safety for Teachers,” a suicide prevention program for educators through the Suicide Prevention Center of New York State. And, she is NARCAN trained, ASSIST- and Safetalk-certified, and, since 2013,  a certified instructor in Youth Mental Health First Aid through the Council for Behavioral Health.

Please give strong consideration to attending this event, as always at 6:15 p.m. at Quigley’s, with socializing beginning at 5:45 p.m.

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NOTE: Those of you who regularly access the meeting minutes on this website will notice a change in the format as of this posting. Because our club secretary no longer is keeping minutes of the proceedings, we’ve switched to this shorter format, written primarily in note form so we still will have a record for the club archive.

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Members Attending (14, quorum achieved): Andy Leyhane, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Bill Dowd, A.J. Amato, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Melissa Bill, Dick Drumm, Kevin Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Charlie Foote, Ray Hannan, Phil Kellerman.

Guests: None

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President Andy Leyhane presided over this meeting that marked the formal start of the 2018-19 Rotary Year after our traditional July-August casual event calendar that carried us through the heavy vacation period. He noted the international motto of this Rotary Year is “Be the Inspiration.” He gave an overview of his vision for the year, touching on such points as: Sustainability & Collaboration — Matching our human and financial resources to perceived community needs  via more pairings with other organizations for fundraisers and hands-on efforts. Engaging Our Members — Personally contacting members who have not engaged in our projects/meetings/etc. in a while to invite and encourage them to be involved in specific initiatives. Celebrate Our Work — Let the public know what we do, thereby making our image stronger in the community; don’t forget to give our own people a thank-you or a pat on the back for their ongoing efforts that may too often be taken for granted. …

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Our latest Gift of Life child underwent heart surgery today at Albany Medical Center, and reportedly is doing well. The girl is from Mongolia, as was our last GOL child, who was treated at AMC last September. …

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Roberto Martinez explained The Lantern Project, which will engage club members in selling and/or purchasing rechargeable solar lanterns — they come in two sizes — as a fundraiser for ShelterBox. We will look into having our club logo on the lanterns rather that ShelterBox’s, and will use them as gifts for guest speakers. The lanterns can be charged by sunlight or by plug-in; the larger version also can recharge a cellphone. …

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Cafe Capricio private dinner raffle tickets were distributed for members to sell at $20 each as a special fundraiser to support our many youth projects. Full details are on the event flyer seen here:

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… Program assignments have been posted on the bottom of the website’s CALENDAR page. Please check to see when you’re due to come up with one. … So far, we have turned in more than 3,000 deposit bottles and cans via the Clynk program as an ongoing fundraiser for ShelterBox. Bill Dowd noted that the official collection bags — the only ones eligible for this effort — and bar code stickers will be available in the club equipment cabinet at each meeting. He also reminded attendees they can see a brief  informative video about the Clynk program on the website (click here to access it). … Next Thursday, a representative of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New York State will be our guest speaker.

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Technically, it still is summer (autumn does not begin until September 22), but for the SRC Rotary Club we’re entering fall mode as we resume our weekly dinner meetings this Thursday at 6:15.

And, as always, we need to know who plans to attend, and whether they are bringing guests. Please inform dinner coordinator Debbie Brown (mdbrown@nycap.rr.com) of your plans no later then Tuesday evening so she can inform the folks at Quigley’s for the meeting room setup and the dinner.

We’ll be having beef tips with mushroom gravy, chef’s choice of side dishes, tossed salad, bread, dessert, and beverages. And, the cash bar will be available before, during, and after dinner. (A reminder: if you make a reservation but don’t show up, you still need to pay since Quigley’s will be charging us.)

President Andy Leyhane’s meeting agenda will focus on what the club will be doing for the 2018-19 Rotary Year (its motto: “Be the Inspiration”), and how you can get involved in our public service initiatives — the difference between truly being a Rotarian or just a club member.

And, we’ll have plenty of raffle tickets available for you to pick up to buy or sell for our special offer of a dinner for 12 at Cafe Capriccio, hosted and prepared by chef-owner-author Jim Rua in the private upstairs dining room of the iconic Albany restaurant. Here’s a copy of the event flyer that has all the details.

SRC members and families have stepped up the donations of deposit bottles and cans this summer. According to our partners in the CLYNK recycling program, we now have dropped off nearly 3,000 containers for redemption.

With the final summer weekend nearly upon us, we anticipate a lot more beverages being consumed and a lot more empties being created.

Here’s a look at the impact in the few months we’ve been involved:

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If you haven’t yet become involved in the CLYNK recycling program through SRC, it never is too late. Here’s how it works:

(1.) Get the official CLYNK plastic bags (no others will be accepted) and bar code stickers from Bill Dowd.

(2.) Toss your empty deposit bottles and cans in the bag. No need to sort them!

(3.) Go to any Hannaford supermarket’s container redemption section, scan the bar code sticker, and drop the bag in the marked receiving area.

That’s it. Your empties will be collected from the store, trucked to the CLYNK recycling facility in Maine, and SRC will be credited within 48 hours for the amount of the deposit redemption. It couldn’t get much easier.

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William Lee Kneissl, 82, died at his Slingerlands home on Wednesday, August 22, after having a full and love-filled life.

Born to William S. and Alice T. (Coghlan) Kneissl, Bill grew up in northern New Jersey. His career in the banking business started while in college and lasted 42 years. He moved to Albany in 1966, retiring in 1998 as senior vice president and treasurer of the Troy Savings Bank.

Active in Rotary for 41 years with the Southern Rensselaer County club until recent years, and a member of many professional organizations over his business career, Bill enjoyed teaching accounting for the AIB and his work with Concerns U and Catholic Charities was most rewarding. Overseeing the complete restoration of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall ranked high on his list as did the many wonderful people he met while living in Port Charlotte, Florida, and being a member of St. Max’s Church family.

Bill is survived by his wife and soulmate Julia (Cole) Kneissl who brought happiness into his life as did his children, Eileen (Douglas) Smith, Elizabeth (Katerina) Kneissl and Eric (Michelle) Kneissl. He is also survived by Adrienne (Simon) Rudolph, James Hancock and Deirdre (Raymond) Rudolph; and his grandchildren, Heidi, Tristan, Julia, Brandon, Clare, Sophia and Ronan.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday, August 27, at 10 a.m. in St. Vincent de Paul Church, 900 Madison Avenue, Albany, with burial in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands. Relatives and friends are invited and may also attend a reception at The Beverwyck, 40 Autumn Drive, Slingerlands, immediately following the burial.

In lieu of flowers, the most appreciated remembrance would be a donation to St. Vincent de Paul’s Church food pantry, 900 Madison Avenue, Albany 12208, or to your local food pantry.

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“Cookout By the Pool II” wrapped up our lineup of “SRC Summer Casual” social events for the summer, when Murray and Maggie Forth hosted Rotarians, spouses, and kids at their East Greenbush home on Thursday evening.

We’re now on hiatus until we resume our weekly Thursday dinner meetings at Quigley’s on September 6.  Meanwhile, a hearty round of applause for all who helped host or coordinate summer events this year, from cookouts to picnics to group dinners to a pro baseball game to theater in the round — Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Terry Brewer, Ray and Lois Hannan, Debbie Rodriguez, Pat Bailey, Debbie Brown, Dean and Doris Calamaras, and, of course, the Forths.

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At Thursday’s event, President Andy Leyhane announced the official start of ticket sales for a special raffle that will provide the winner with a dinner for 12 (!) prepared by chef-owner Jim Rua and his staff at the iconic Cafe Capriccio in Albany, in the private upstairs Chef’s Table room on October 20. Tickets are just $20 each, and all SRC members are asked to sell at least several. They are available from Andy, Jim Leyhane, or Roberto Martinez. The drawing will made at our Thursday, October 4, meeting. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit SRC’s various youth programs.

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Here are a few more scenes from the final summer get-together:

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PLEASE SHARE THIS FLYER ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA OR EMAIL ACCOUNTS.

(Please note we have added a phone number to the bottom.)

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An impressive cache of donations to the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s annual “School Supplies Drive” was delivered today to Circles of Mercy, our Rensselaer-based partner in the effort.

SRC has been involved in this initiative to aid needy students in the Rensselaer City School District for the past five years. “Circles volunteers told me when I delivered the supplies that overall donations had been ‘a little light’ this year,'” said project coordinator Bill Dowd, “but that our generous carload of items put them over the top and they now have ample supplies to help all the kids.”

This year, for the first time, we also partnered with the Greenbush YMCA which collected donations from Rotarians, YMCA members, and the general public at the facility. Those items will be divided among needy students in the East Greenbush and Schodack school districts.

Service to youth and education are among the ongoing avenues of service for Rotarians everywhere, so we thank all who participated in this effort.

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The final event of our “SRC Summer Casual” schedule is set for 6 p.m. this Thursday at the home of Murray and Maggie Forth in East Greenbush.

“Cookout By the Pool II” is designed as a family-friendly event, and there’s plenty of room in the swimming hole. The Forths need your reservations no later than Tuesday evening (email them at mmforth51@gmail.com), so please let them know how many will be in your party.

Guests should plan on contributing $15 per person or just $30 per family. Those with surnames A through M are asked to bring a small appetizer, and those N through Z a small dessert.

This promises to be a fitting blowout to celebrate the end of our summer, and a last chance to socialize before we resume our weekly dinner meetings next month at Quigley’s.

We hope to see you there.

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(SRC members are asked to pick up raffle tickets to sell from Andy Leyhane or Jim Leyhane. This initiative is expected to be a major fundraiser for the club, but we are working on a tight turnaround time period. Please share this poster on social media to all your local contacts.)

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