We send money, he sends himself (both are good)

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Derek Locke
Derek Locke, left, doing a needs assessment for ShelterBox in Kogi State, Nigeria.

There can be few greater life achievements than being honored as “a gift to the world” in a personal letter by the president of a major international service organization.

That is what has happened to Derek Locke, a native of Plymouth, England, who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. He was described by outgoing Rotary International President K.R. Ravindran as “an extraordinary example of how each Rotarian can make a difference.”

Derek recently was presented with the Rotary International “Service Above Self Award” by then-District Governor Wayne Brown Titus III in a ceremony in Kalamazoo, MI.

What has he done to deserve the honor? Quite a lot.

Derek has been a ShelterBox Ambassador since July 2010, a team coordinator for the Southeast Michigan Ambassador team, and a member of the ShelterBox USA Ambassador Council.

In addition, he recently returned from witkong on ShelterBox’s deployment to the area of Sri Lanka devastated by landslides, an effort that was not unusual for him.

During his years of unpaid volunteer work, Derek has compiled an astounding 38 weeks of service as a ShelterBox response volunteer in Peru, Nigeria, Lebanon, Paraguay, Mexico, Malawi, Chile, Nepal, California, and Fiji, as well as three separate deployments to the Philippines.

Rotary’s highest honor, granted to very few Rotarians worldwide, recognizes those who live up to the organization’s motto, “Service Above Self,” by volunteering their time and talents to help others.

In addition to this latest plaudit, Derek also holds five separate Volunteer Service Awards awarded by U.S. Rotary presidents.

Derek describes his introduction to the ShelterBox program in 2010.

“When I visited my parents in Plymouth, England, being so close to the headquarters, my family decided to visit ShelterBox. I learned much about the operation and was so impressed with what ShelterBox did and the way that they operate, I decided that I needed to do what I could.”

Alex Youlten, ShelterBox’s Community Development Coordinator who worked with Derek in Sri Lanka, says, “Derek’s actions really highlight the strength and potential of the Project Partnership between RI and ShelterBox. His commitment, passion, compassion and meticulous attention to detail are evident in all his work for communities around the world — helping to ensure the right response is delivered in the right way to those who need it the most.”

 

TU is first to cover our new District Governor

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News releases and photos this week were sent to 15 daily and periodic publications in District 7190 to introduce the public to new District Governor John Mucha, and to Rotary in general.

The first to publish any of the information was the Times Union, which posted some of it it in both its print edition and on its website today. Here’s what the coverage looked like:

Mucha in TU printMucha on TU website

Today in history

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On July 22 in …

1686 — Albany, NY, is formally chartered by Governor Thomas Dongan as a municipality. That document becomes known as the Dongan Charter. Originally a Dutch settlement called Fort Orange, after being taken over by the English it was renamed for the Scottish Duke of Albany, whose title came from the Gaelic name for Scotland, Alba.

1706 — The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each country’s parliament, will lead to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1796 — Surveyors working for the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio “Cleveland” after Gen. Moses Cleaveland (note the spelling difference), who is the superintendent of the surveying party.

1933 — Aviator Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY, completing the first solo flight around the world. His journey took 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes.

1937 — The U.S. Senate rejects President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposal to add more seats to the nine-member Supreme Court.

If you’ve ever wondered if Rotary is growing …

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The new club’s charter members.

• From The Point for Freedom & Democracy

A new Rotary club has been formed in The Gambia, called the Brusubi Rotary Club, the third Rotary club in the African nation.

The Gambia now has the Banjul Rotary Club, Fajara Rotary Club and the Brusubi Rotary Club.

The Rotary Club of Brusubi executive members are Rotarian Kareem Martins as the Chartered President, Michael Barrai as the Chartered Secretary and Elizabeth Samba as the Chartered Treasurer.

The Rotary Club of Brusubi was admitted to membership into Rotary International (RI) on 24 June 2016. The Gambia and nine other countries constitute the District 9101 of Rotary International.

Go here for the rest of the story.

 

Today in history

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On July 21 in …

365 –- A tsunami caused by an earthquake on the Mediterranean island of Crete more than 400 miles away devastates the northern Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria. It later will be estimated to have been magnitude 8.5 or higher. More than 50,000 people in the city and immediate environs will die.

1861 — The first major battle of the Civil War begins, the Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, VA. The Confederate forces will emerge victorious.

1865 –- In the market square of Springfield, MO, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt, a gambler and former Confederate soldier, in what is regarded by many historians as the first western “showdown” gunfight.

1931 — CBS broadcasts the first regularly-scheduled program to be simulcast on radio and television. The show features singer Kate Smith, composer George Gershwin, and New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker.

1983 –- The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica, of −128.6° Farenheit.

Early reservation dates for all August events

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SRC Locations
OUR VENUES (top to bottom) — Boathouse Grille, Goold Orchards, Bruno Stadium, Mac-Haydn Theatre.

All four of our club’s August events are in the planning stages, and there is quite a variety. One thing they have in common, however, is that earlier-than-usual reservation deadlines are a “must.”

In each instance, we’re dealing with companies that need to know seating and service arrangements, so we don’t have the luxury of Tuesday night deadlines we have for most of our dinner events.

The RSVP deadlines are shown below. In every instance, please send reservations or regrets only via the club’s email  rather than using any verbal, third-person, or other methods. That will lessen the potential for confusion or someone’s reservation being overlooked.

Here’s the current rundown:

Dinner at Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina (August 4)

We’ll be ordering drinks and food off the menu, so your prices will vary, but the folks at the marina’s Boathouse Grille need to know how many of us will be descending on the New Baltimore venue for dinner. Click here to get a look at the menu.

RSVP DEADLINE: JULY 29

Wine Tasting Dinner at Goold Orchards (August 11)

This will be our second annual visit to the Castleton facility, where we’ll begin with a tasting of wines from Goold’s own Brookview Station Winery before a wine-inspired dinner. Price: just $20 per person.

RSVP DEADLINE: AUGUST 6

Baseball & Picnic at Bruno Stadium (August 18)

This is one of our biggest family outings each summer. It begins with a picnic dinner in the covered pavilion on the stadium’s first-base side, followed by reserved seats for a New York-Penn League pro baseball game between the homestanding Tri-City ValleyCats and the visiting Aberdeen (MD) Ironbirds. Tickets are $25 each, and cover the meal and the game.

RSVP DEADLINE: AUGUST 4

“The Addams Family” at the Mac-Haydn Theatre (August 25)

It’s opening night for this professional presentation of the iconic family of oddballs that will be “visiting” this Chatham summer theater-in-the-round. Tickets are $30 each, which is cheaper than even the senior discount price.

RSVP DEADLINE: August 9

Please begin emailing your reservations (including guests) or regrets today to  SRCrotary so you don’t miss out on the fun.

Date near for GOL golf/bocce tourney

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Screen shot 2016-07-20 at 3.09.20 PMNOTE: This post was made on July 20, but since we’re getting close to the event we’re repeating it for the benefit of all who like to participate.

Save the date: The annual Gift of Life Golf & Bocce Tournament has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 21. And, this year it’s closer to Southern Rensselaer County than ever.

The venue for the 17th annual fundraiser is the Mohawk River Country Club in Halfmoon, Saratoga County, as opposed to its usual venue in Montgomery County.

Our club always has a foursome in the event — and two years ago won top honors — but with the increased size of our membership perhaps we’ll be able to add a golfing foursome as well as a bocce entry.

Not sure how to play bocce? Click here for a perfect “how-to” presentation.

The tournament is the year’s top fundraiser to help District 7190 Gift of Life in its ongoing efforts to provide lifesaving cardiac surgery for children from countries where such help is not available. So far, GOL has saved 200 such lives.

Jennifer Degenhart, tournament chairperson, has several suggestions on how to help the effort even if you’re not golfing or playing bocce. Among them:

• Acting as our host club or dinner sponsor (an awards dinner follows the events)

• Providing raffle items, gift certificates, items for our goody bags (Have any wine or liquor you’re not planning to consume, golf balls/tees/accessories you’ll never use? Pass it on and we can use it in a gift basket.)

• We’ve found that many places you frequent will provide gift certificates to charity organizations if you just ask.

Here are all the details. You can print out the entry form for your convenience of registering.

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Today in history

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On July 20 in …

1799 — Tekle Guyorgis I begins the first of his six separate reigns as emperor of Ethiopia.

1807 — Nicephone Nuepce is awarded a patent by Napolean for what he calls the “Pyreolophore.” It is the first internal combustion engine and was used to power a boat upstream on the river Saone in France.

1903 — The Ford Motor Company ships its first car.

1917 — The modern Kingdom of Yugoslavia is created by the Corfu Declaration, a document codifying an agreement between the Yugoslav Committee and the Kingdom of Serbia.

1968 — The first International Special Olympics Summer Games begin at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes participating.

Introducing our new District Governor

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Members of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club got to meet incoming District Governor John Mucha (pronounced moo-haw) several months ago when he and his wife visited during one of our blanket-making evenings for Blue Star Mothers.

Now, John has returned from the Rotary International Convention in South Korea and taken office. Here’s the news release sent out this week by the District Public Relations Committee (Bill Dowd is a member) to media throughout the district’s nine-county area introducing John and explaining Rotary to those unfamiliar with it.

John Mucha with Korean Rotarians
John Mucha visits a local club in South Korea.

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL, DISTRICT 7190
Covering the New York State counties of Albany, Saratoga, Warren, Rensselaer, Washington, Schenectady, Montgomery, Fulton, and Schoharie

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Additional information: Melissa Ward, 518-369-0407)

John Mucha, a Queensbury resident who has been a Rotarian for 29 years, has become the district governor of the service organization’s District 7190. That area covers 41 local clubs, comprised of more than 1,200 men and women. He will serve through June 2017.

Rotary, founded in 1905 by Chicago businessman Paul Harris, has grown to become a global organization of 1.23 million members in more than 34,500 clubs in 213 countries that takes on the needs of communities and nations large and small.

Among its international efforts are a program to eradicate polio, a disease once endemic worldwide but now limited to just two nations, Afghanistan and Pakistan; ShelterBox, a disaster relief program that provides first-response shelter and survival equipment for victims of earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters; and, programs providing many other things such as clean water, basic education, conflict resolution, health care, and leadership training.

In District 7190, individual clubs support those global efforts but also create local initiatives such as academic scholarships, food pantry drives, clothing and cleanup assistance for disaster victims, family services, literacy, youth leadership training, CPR, school supplies drives, adopting families and children for holidays, and literally dozens of other efforts, each decided at the club level.

As district governor, Mucha will oversee coordination and support of such efforts in a region covering Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Montgomery, Fulton, and Schoharie counties, as well as an e-club.

Mucha began his Rotary service in 1987 with the Binghamton Rotary Club, transferred to the Glens Falls club in 1994, and became president of that club in the 2007-08 Rotary Year. He went on to serve in various district-wide roles such as treasurer and assistant governor.

Mucha, speaking about his new role, said, “It is a great honor and privilege to be selected as District Governor for our nine-county region. In 2017, we will mark the 100th anniversary of the Rotary Foundation that funds many of our efforts, and it may well be the year the scourge of polio is eradicated from the planet, an effort Rotary has been making since 1985. The 2016-17 Rotary Year will be a very special one, and I thank my fellow Rotarians for selecting me for this critical leadership role.”

(Information on Rotary clubs in District 7190 is available online at http://www.rotary7190.org)

‘burgh club’s 60th Brooks BBQ event

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Screen shot 2016-07-19 at 3.37.52 PMWinner, winner, chicken dinner. Or ribs dinner. Your choice during the Lansingburgh Rotary Club’s 60th annual Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q takeout-only event.

The fundraiser in support of the club’s local youth programs is set for 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, August 14, at the Lansingburgh Boys & Girls Club, 501 4th Avenue.

Chicken dinners are $13, ribs dinners $14. If you pre-pay, you’re guaranteed the  dinner choice you enter in the check memo line. Checks should be made payable to Rotary Club of Lansingburgh/Troy, and mailed to the Boys & Girls Club.

Need any more details? Call the club at 235-6116 or the Boys & Girls Club at 235-4143.