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“Is the Pharmaceutical Industry Ignoring Alzheimer’s Disease?”

SRC President-elect Andy Leyhane, PhD, who works in that very industry, will tackle the topic head-on at this Thursday’s 6:15 p.m. dinner meeting at Quigley’s.

It might be a perfect time to invite a non-Rotarian to take in the program, as well as a perfect time for those SRC members we seldom see to join us for what promises to be an informative program.

The process hasn’t changed. Simply let dinner coordinator Debbie Brown (mdbrown@nycap.rr.com) know no later than this Tuesday evening if you plan to attend, and she’ll be sure we have enough seating and a bountiful buffet. The menu calls for a roast turkey entree plus all the trimmings such as an antipasto salad, chef’s choice of side dishes, bread, dessert, and beverages. And, course, the cash bar at Quigley’s is always available.

Here’s who already has signed up to attend:

Pat Bailey
Debbie Brown
Peter Brown
April Dowd
Bill Dowd
Dick Drumm
Murray Forth
Ray Hannan
Phil Kellerman
Andy Leyhane
Jim Leyhane
Roberto Martinez
Debbie Rodriguez

While they may not be household names or be celebrated by the news media, they are among the superstars of Rotary International.

Rotarians Dr. Geetha Jayaram of Maryland, Marie-Irène Richmond-Ahoua of the Ivory Coast, and Danielle De La Fuente of California were honored at the recent World Bank conclave in Washington, DC, for their commitment to improving lives through innovative humanitarian projects.

Click here to read about what these remarkable women are doing through Rotary to do good in the world by helping poor women in India gain access to mental health care, vaccinating hundreds of thousands against polio in West Africa, and empowering refugee children around the world.

Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
March 29, 2018

Members Attending (14): Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Terry Brewer, Geoff Brewer, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Jim Leyhane, Debbie Rodriguez, Bill Dowd, April Dowd, Dick Drumm, Ray Hannan, Becky Raymond.

Guests (2): Lou and Pat Rubenstein.

Announcements/Business

OPENING — President Roberto welcomed members and two repeat guests: Lou Rubenstein of the Albany Rotary Club and his wife, Pat.

BYLAWS VOTE — Copies of proposed changes to the Club Bylaws, which had been emailed to all members on March 13, were distributed to attendees. They dealt with modifications to language pertaining to standing committees (Article 6) and to the dues structure (Article 9). Terry Brewer moved adoption of the Article 6 changes, and Bill Dowd seconded his motion. It was passed unanimously. Murray Forth moved adoption of the Article 9 changes, and Jim Leyhane seconded. It, too, was unanimously adopted. (Click here to go to the updated Bylaws page on our website.)

ROTARACT INTERNATIONAL DINNER — We received a thank-you note for our participation in an “International Dinner” fundraiser at the UAlbany School of Public Health, created by the school’s Graduate Student Organization and our Danes Rotaract club there. About $600 was raised for the Save the Children international aid organization. (Click here to see a report on the event.)

RECYCLING DAY CHANGE — Murray Forth reported that the planned May 5 date for “Recycling Day III” will have to be changed because the shredding equipment will not be available on that date. Please do not circulate the flyer for the event any further until a new date has been guaranteed and the flyer has been modified.

ROTARY HOME COOKING — The most recent event in the series, “A Brewer Social, and More,” raised $225 which will go to our Danes Rotaract club to help underwrite their startup activities. Thanks to Terry, Betty, and Geoff Brewer for hosting the event. The next “Rotary Home Cooking” date is Saturday, April 14, when Murray and Maggie Forth will host a “Surf & Turf Night” at their East Greenbush residence. The deadline for making reservations is April 10, so please contact the Forths ASAP if you plan to attend.

RONALD McDONALD HOUSE EVENTS — An SRC team will be preparing breakfast at Ronald McDonald House in Albany on Sunday, April 29. And, on Sunday, May 6, another team will be preparing dinner there. For the dinner event, Bill Dowd will be preparing the menu and heading the kitchen crew, assisted by April Dowd. We have asked the Danes Rotaract group if they want to assist by volunteering two people. Depending on their response, we will need several more SRC volunteers, but we do not want a team of more than six because of the size of the kitchen.

EXCHANGE STUDENTS — The infrastructure currently is not in place for this year, so we will skip the next academic year. However, we will begin laying the groundwork for the following school year.

GRANTS SEMINAR — Terry Brewer and Debbie Rodriguez will represent the club at the District’s annual Grants Training Seminar at Skidmore College. A minimum of two attendees is required for a club to qualify. We may be seeking a grant next year to underwrite creation of another Viking Gym, this one in East Greenbush. The original, part of an Eagle Scout project, in Schodack Town Park has proven very popular.

COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT — The committee is working on ways to participate in a global tree-planting initiative. Possibilities include planting at the Shining Star of Hope memorial on the grounds of the East Greenbush Public Library, and participation in a district-wide work effort.

FOUNDATION & INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE REPORT –– The committee has two events in the planning stages. The first is “An International Wine & Cheese Tasting” set for Saturday, May 19, co-hosted by Jim Leyhane, Bill Dowd, and Roberto Martinez at the Martinez residence in East Greenbush. The second is a long-range initiative — a 10K run at Schodack Island State Park for September of 2019. Initial thoughts on the run would be to create a festival-like atmosphere with food trucks, beer and soft drink vendors, and live or DJ music. The committee already has met with park officials and with experienced distance runners from the local community to begin mapping out the possibilities.

MISCELLANY — The Third Thursday breakfast meeting on April 19 will be held as usual at 7 a,m. at the Greenbush YMCA. There had been discussion about having a joint breakfast with the Danes Rotaract club, but they start their sessions too late for our members. … The club has been invited to participate in the Town of East Greenbush’s annual Memorial Day Parade. That topic was referred to the Community Services Committee. … Club members have been invited to attend the opening day ceremonies of the Miracle League at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 19. … Next Thursday’s (April 5) dinner meeting will feature President-elect Andy Leyhane speaking on the topic “Is the Pharmaceutical Industry Ignoring Alzheimer’s Disease?”

The combined efforts of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club and its frequent partners at the Greenbush YMCA helped make Circles of Mercy’s annual Easter basket drive a success again.

We were able to provide baskets for 35 underprivileged kids in the community. Thanks to Len Leonidas’s Cub Scouts for assembling many of the baskets from items donated by SRC members.

While the overall number of baskets was less than in previous years, last year we overachieved to such a degree that Circles of Mercy received many more than it could handle and wound up sharing them with other family aid agencies.

Thanks to all who participated in any way to another in a long line of successful public service endeavors.

√ Ziti and sauce!

√ Meatballs!

√ Antipasto salad!

√ Voting!

Which of these things is not like the others? Well, in the broadest sense they all are part of the same thing: Our 6:15 p.m. Thursday dinner meeting this week at Quigley’s.

The menu is self-explanatory. The vote will be on several proposed changes to Club Bylaws, copies of which were emailed to all SRC Rotarians several weeks ago. (As noted in the email, you can read all the current Bylaws on our club website. Click here to go to that page.)

Considering that we prefer as many members as possible to vote on any Bylaws changes that affect all of us, please make every effort to attend even if you usually skip dinner meetings. Especially since we also will be working on several other projects and initiatives at this Club Assembly.

As always, dinner coordinator Debbie Brown needs to know no later than Tuesday evening if you plan to join us. (Email her at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com.)

If you participated in Saturday’s “A Brewer Social, Plus” event, you know a good time was had by all. If you were not among the crowd, you were missed, and you missed out — big time.

The event, hosted by Terry, Betty and Geoff Brewer, encompassed good eats, a wine/beer/root beer tasting component, and a rousing round of “Jeopardy”-style team trivia put together and officiated by Mike Smith and Giuliana Cianfarani.

The social, part of our ongoing “Rotary Home Cooking” series of member-hosted events, raised about $225 for our new Danes Rotaract club at the UAlbany School of Public Health in East Greenbush.

Thanks to the Brewers and others who contributed in one way or another to yet another successful event. Next up on the “Rotary Home Cooking” calendar is “A Surf & Turf Evening,” to be hosted by Murray and Maggie Forth on Saturday, April 14. If you’d like to participate, contact the Forths ASAP.

Meanwhile, here are a few scenes from Saturday’s event.

An SRC contingent helped bring attendance to near capacity for an “International Night” fundraiser at the UAlbany School of Public Health on Thursday evening. The event was put together by the school’s Rotaract club that SRC sponsors and other grad students there.

After a tasty buffet dinner — think Thai noodle salad, empanadas, Jamaican meat pies, Swedish meatballs, plantains, mixed salad and more — attendees created teams for a trivia competition before moving to the school auditorium for a step dancing exhibition from a trio of youngsters studying at the local Boland School of Irish Dance, and, as the event keynote, a report from Save the Children, the international aid organization that was the recipient of the event’s proceeds.

Gary Shaye, an international aid specialist who just returned from Puerto Rico on Wednesday night and is headed back for several more weeks, spoke in general about Save the Children, a 99-year-old organization founded during the aftermath of World War I to assist children in peril in what then was Austria-Hungary before growing into a global force working in more than 120 countries.

Shaye described the logistical nightmare in Puerto Rico after a series of hurricanes pummeled the island, nothing that recovery efforts have been more difficult than in Haiti several years earlier, particularly because the entire communications grid was destroyed, and in Florida where the infrastructure and local organization were stronger.`

He explained that his organization’s relief approach is multi-pronged, ranging from resumption of basic education, teaching coping mechanisms, nutrition for infants and children, training teachers and social workers, and partnering with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to maximize resources.

Here are a few scenes from the evening:

Among SRC members in attendance were Roberto Martinez, April Dowd, Bill Dowd, Debbie Rodriguez, Becky Raymond, Terry Brewer, Dick Drumm, John Justino, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Murray Forth, and Ray Hannan. John is the faculty adviser to the Rotaract club, and Becky and Debbie R. are our club liaisons with the young group.

Terry Brewer has put out a last-minute call for reservations for this Saturday’s Rotary Home Cooking event — “A Brewer Social, Plus” — at his residence beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The evening, open to Rotarians, Rotaractors, friends and family, including kids, is planned to appeal to “oldtimers” and “newbies” alike in Rotary, and will encompass hors d’oeuvres, trivia, socializing, plus wine, beer and root beer tastings. We’re asking just $10 per person, with an extra $5 to participate in the tastings. Proceeds will benefit the new Rotaract club’s activities.

Please let Terry know immediately if you plan to attend.

A DATE CHANGE — The “Surf & Turf” dinner planned by Murray and Maggie Forth at their East Greenbush residence has been rescheduled for  Saturday, April 14, from the original April 7 date. If you’d like to attend, please contact Murray.