How is Nigeria Rotary reacting to polio flareup?

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Nigerian Rotarians pose with local victims of polio and wheelchairs donated by a Maryland Rotary Club.

• From AllAfrica.com

A group of Rotary Clubs in the area of Lagos and its suburbs in northern Nigeria just carried out a polio walk across several communities to mark World Polio Week. Despite the belief that the African nation was polio free, several cases recently were reported in the area that had been in the hands of Boko Harum terrorists who forbade immunization.

Eboigbe Olaiye, assistant governor of District 9110 which covers Lagos and nearby cities,  said the purpose of the walk was to create awareness of polio. He called on parents to take their children to the nearest primary health center for polio immunization, while urging the national government to create more awareness and emphasize to people living in rural areas that the vaccine is free.

Santoch Kakade, chairman of Rotary’s Polio Service and Blood Donation, said the sudden outbreak of polio requires renewed sensitization in Nigeria.

District 9110 last Saturday brought together students from various schools with a target of 4,500 to break the Guinness Book of World Records’ human mosaic record of 4,200  people. Dr. Tunki Funsho, chairman of Nigeria’s National Polio Plus Committee and a past district governor, said the effort was to create more awareness towards eradication of polio in Nigeria.

In a related development, the Rotary Club of Amuwo also staged an awareness campaign through the media on plans to eradicate the disease. It called on members of the public to donate funds to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

Club President Aniekan Essienette said, “Our call to action is to enlighten the public to report any new case of limb weakness among children up to age 15 to the local council authorities or World Health Organization (WHO) close to them.”

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The Rotary Leadership Institute Class of 2016 flashes the “This Close” Rotary sign in its fight against polio. SRC members in the photo are Bill Dowd (3rd from left) and Debbie Rodriguez (3rd from right) in the top row. The photo was shot during the recent RLI graduation ceremony at Siena College.

ShelterBox CEO talks about need to adapt

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• This Q&A interview is excerpted from an interview with ShelterBox CEO Chris Warham, an English Rotarian, conducted by Rotary Magazine managing editor Allan Berry. Among other topics, Warham explains the rise in the use of ShelterKits when standard ShelterBox aid is not suitable.

Rotary Magazine: ShelterBox income is based around disasters or tragedies of some sort or other, correct?

Chris Warham: A disaster at some point in the world creates a response from Rotarians to do something to help, and they react in any way possible to raise funds for ShelterBoxes to aid people who have been displaced from their homes. [But] If you give me £10 today for the disaster that happened this morning it’s very hard for me to spend that specific £10. I actually needed that £10 six weeks prior to it because we have lead times on equipment and we can’t hold 30,000 tents.

RM: How do you then overcome the peaks and troughs in funding?

CW: It’s the key strategic challenge we have and why we need consistent regular support. We know that on that worst day that Rotarians up and down Britain [and the world] will shake tins and they will do extraordinary work and for everything they do we thank them. Our income will increase rapidly and we have to organize ourselves so we can get that money spent and we can move on very quickly to respond to that disaster. Then, after a few weeks, that income comes down again and we have to find ways to increase the base level of the funding we are getting so we can absolutely rely on it. Read More »

Tuesday RSVP deadline for Thursday dinner

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chicken-parmAfter the rough-and-tumble of a bitter election season, it will be over tomorrow. So, at our Thursday meeting we can enjoy a round of “comfort food” that should be enjoyable no matter how your candidates made out at the polls.

The menu calls for Quigley’s popular Chicken Parm, plus an Italian salad, chef’s choice of sides, bread, dessert and beverages.

Our after-dinner speaker will be our own Mike Dewey, presenting from his perspective as a financial consultant. This is a very good opportunity to invite a friend or colleague who might have an interest in the topic.

As always, if you haven’t RSVP’d to dinner coordinator Debbie Brown, please do so no later than Tuesday (mdbrown@nycap.rr.com) — and, please be sure to let her know if you will be bringing a guest — so we can give the Quigley’s kitchen a proper headcount.

Here’s who has signed up so far:

• Pat Bailey
• Terry Brewer
• Mike Dewey
• April Dowd
• Bill Dowd
• Murray Forth
• Ray Hannan
• Jim Leyhane
• Roberto Martinez
• Debbie Rodriguez
• David Taylor

We look forward to seeing all of you this Thursday.

‘Bowling for Vets’ fun(draiser) for all ages

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src-bowling-logoOur club’s 2nd annual “Bowling for Vets” event drew an extremely disparate group of participants to the East Greenbush Bowling Center on Sunday afternoon.

Rotarians and their families, friends of Rotary, students, toddlers … all showed up for the two all-you-can-bowl sessions that — with the help of numerous lane sponsorships from individuals and local businesses — raised money we will use to support the Blue Star Mothers military family support organization and local adaptive sports programs working with Wounded Warriors.

Here are some images from the event, courtesy of Roberto Martinez:

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Rotary tour of Burden Iron Works Museum scheduled

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screen-shot-2016-11-06-at-5-56-49-pmIf you’re unfamiliar with the former Burden Ironworks in Troy, you’ve missed a major part of America’s industrial history. But, you can remedy the oversight.

The Hudson Shores Rotary Club is iniviting Rotarians from throughout District 7190 members to attend a special tour on Tuesday, November 15, of the Burden Ironworks Museum, beginning at 12:45 p.m. The guide is Michael Barrett, executive director of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway (HMIG) organization.

Please email Ken Rose at rosek@rpi.edu if you plan to attend. Family members and friends are welcome to participate. There is no required fee to attend, but a $10 donation that would go toward support of HMIG is suggested.

Among many items the local iron industry contributed to the growth of the United States: the hull armor for the Union ironclad ship Monitor in the Civil War; the modern Read More »

‘Project Lego’ is under way

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Debbie and Chuck Rodriguez’s daughter, Becky Schmitt, shared this photo of her son  Xavier intently working with the first installation of “Project Lego” items.

Xavier, who is undergoing chemotherapy in the Hartford, CT, area for treatment of leukemia, received the gift from the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club last weekend and was very excited by the unexpected gift.

Jim Leyhane, who created the concept of ongoing gifts of different Lego sets for Xavier and his brother during Xavier’s treatment and recuperation, is the man to check with if you would like to help underwrite the effort.

 

 

 

Meeting of 11/3/16: ‘No-Sew Blanket Project’

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screen-shot-2016-10-16-at-7-10-54-pmMeeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
November 3, 2016

Members Attending (17): Debbie Rodriguez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Terry Brewer, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Ron Annis, Dick Drum, David Taylor, Roberto Martinez, Julius Frankel, Stewart Wagner, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras.

Guests: None.

PROGRAM: ‘Uncle Shawn’s Hugs Blanket Project’

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This year’s blanket workshop resulted in a dozen new pieces. And the scenes below show you how it came together.

Attendees worked diligently on making no-sew blankets for the “Uncle Shawn’s Hugs” project created by the Blue Star Mothers military family support group.

This was the second year we have undertaken the work, and we completed about a dozen blankets. They will go on the Toys for Tots holiday train sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps and distributed to children in need.

The “Uncle Shawn’s Hugs” initiative honors Sgt. Shawn Martin of Delmar, a Marine killed in Iraq.

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Announcements/Business

WELCOME — President Debbie Rodriguez welcomed members. She then thanked the club for the Lego sets sent to her grandchildren, including Xavier who is undergoing treatment for leukemia. The first set was received in time for his birthday party on Saturday and Debbie said he was very excited. She also reported that he is doing well and the family will know in two weeks if he is in remission, and then next phase of treatment will begin. Jim Leyhane devised the ongoing Legos project. Anyone who wishes to assist can provide him with a onetime $60 cash payment.

NORDIC ALLIANCE — Phil Kellerman proposed a fundraiser for Capital Region Nordic Alliance (CRNA), the two-year-old nonprofit that creates and runs a variety of adaptive Read More »

Eastwyck flag installation well attended

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SRC members Ray Hannan (center) and David Taylor (right) participate in flag folding ceremony.

The dedication of a flagpole installation at the Eastwyck Village residential complex on Wednesday drew a solid contingent of residents, politicians and members and friends of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club.

Rotarians Ray Hannan and David Taylor, residents of Eastwyck, participated in the flag ceremony along with a veterans color guard. Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko were among the speakers.

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SRC  & Friends delegation: (from left) Jim Leyhane, Effie and Julius Frankel, Roberto Martinez, Lois and Ray Hannan, David Taylor.
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U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko and County Executive Kathy Jimino deliver remarks.
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Part of the crowd in attendance.

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Healing our first little heart in Romania

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A mother and son share a joyous moment.

Many Rotarians tend to think of Gift of Life as working exclusively to bring children to the U.S. for lifesaving surgery that is difficult or impossible to find in their own countries.

However, there is another side to GOL: medical missions abroad.

Currently, a District 7190 GOL effort is under way in tandem with partners Save A Child’s Heart, ICHF, the pediatric cardiac team from Albany Medical Center, Rotarians from Romania and elsewhere, and the Romanian Pediatric Cardiac Team at Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital in the capital city of Bucharest.

It is the first-ever pediatric cardiac surgery at the center. The patient, Mihai, and his mom quietly celebrate his successful surgery in the photo above. Below, the Capital Region team and GOL officials pose on the steps of Albany Med before the team departed for Romania.

The District 7190 team.

Here are some other on-site images of medical care given by the team, courtesy of team member Deb Edberg Boel, a registered nurse and daughter of SRC honorary member Russ Edberg.

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