The first dropoff date for this year’s “School Supplies Drive” is our Thursday pool party cookout at Jim Leyhane’s residence in East Greenbush.
You’ve been given all the details of the effort multiple times, plus details are on the club website if you somehow inexplicably missed them.
This is a simple, low-key way to make Rotary’s presence known in the community. We ask your help in making it work. The fate of the effort is up to you.
On July 4 in …
1776 — The United States Declaration of Independence from Great Britain is adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. Delegates from 12 of the 13 Colonies were present when the Congress convened. Georgia had not participated in the First Continental Congress and did not initially send delegates to the Second Continental Congress.
1802 — The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, NY, in Orange County opens.
1826 –- Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, second president of the United States. It is the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
1827 -– Slavery is abolished in New York State. The state had passed a law in 1799 calling for gradual abolition. After that date, children born to slave mothers were free, but were required to work for the mother’s master for an extended period as indentured servants into their late 20s. Existing slaves kept their status. All remaining slaves are freed on this date.
1918 -– Bolshevik revolutionaries kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
We hope everyone had a wonderful and inspiring celebration of our nation’s 240th birthday today.
And now, on to our SRC “Summer Casual Schedule” of family-oriented events.
As we all know, first up is a pool party at 6 p.m. this Thursday, co-hosted by Jim and Andy Leyhane at Jim’s East Greenbush residence. (If you need his address, check the “Member Contact Page” on the club website. Everyone was given the page password some time ago.)
Chef Jim will be cooking barbecued boneless chicken breasts and providing the usual beverages. Beer connoisseur Andy will be holding a tasting of craft beers you may not have experienced. And, the pool is open for kids and adults alike.
Each member is asked to bring a dish to serve six — those with surnames A-K an appetizer, those with surnames L-Z a dessert.
We have heard from some members whether they will be joining us, but there still are 25 Rotarians who have not yet responded at all. We need to know your intentions no later than Tuesday evening, including whether you are bringing guests. PLEASE DO SO ONLY BY RESPONDING TO THIS EMAIL.
Here’s what we have so far:
WILL ATTEND
Jim Leyhane
Andy Leyhane and 3 guests
Pat Bailey
Melissa Bill and one guest
April Dowd
Bill Dowd
Geoff Brewer
Terry Brewer and guest
Dick Drumm and guest
Roberto Martinez
Ray Hannan and guest
Debbie Rodriguez
David Taylor
REGRETS
Carole Spencer
Becky Raymond
Monika Annis
Ron Annis
RESPONSES STILL NEEDED
Debbie Brown
Peter Brown
Murray Forth
Marko Koshykar
Rommel Tolentino
Len Leonidas
Stewart Wagner
Jim Butterworth
Mike Dewey
Michael Bennett
John Sawchuk
Josh Wainman
Phil Kellerman
Julius Frankel
Charlie Foote
Dean Calamaras
Doris Calamaras
Bob Horan
A.J. Amato
Carol Orvis
Jim McHugh
Jim Mendrysa
Rob Mangold
Shannon Romanowski
Matt Smith
Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to seeing many of you and family members and friends on Thursday.
As you know, our 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” began Friday. Please bring whatever you have purchased or otherwise acquired so far to this Thursday’s cookout at Jim Leyhane’s residence, the first drop-off opportunity.
(If by some crazy fluke you’re not aware of any of the emails, Facebook postings, Tweets, verbal announcements at meetings, or website postings about the project, please go to the club website and scroll down to see the details of the effort and the shopping lists.)
We’re hoping to do even better than we did last year, which should be assured, considering our membership has grown by 50% since then. The recipients will be pre-school and high school students in the Rensselaer City School District, where more than one-third of the students live at or below the federal poverty level. (Other grades will be served by other programs.)
If you won’t be attending and/or contributing at Thursday’s event, you have another few weeks after that. If for some reason you don’t plan to join us for any of our activities before August 21, the contribution deadline, please let Bill Dowd know and he’ll personally come to your home or place of work to pick up your contributions.
Please don’t miss this opportunity to help fulfill one of Rotary’s six stated areas of concentration: “Improving basic education and literacy.”
Thank you as always for your generosity.
HERE’S WHAT WE’LL BE DOING THIS SUMMER:
THE BAD NEWS:
Our summer signup sheet has gone astray. That means anyone who filled out their week-by-week preferences at last Thursday’s cookout or earlier is not recorded.
THE GOOD NEWS:
Our summer events don’t begin until this coming Thursday, July 7, so we have time to get back on track.
Please, do not RSVP in any fashion except via response to our weekly email request. We must have an accurate headcount in one place for each event this summer to make the way smoother for hosts and event coordinators. Having a confusing mix of phone calls, verbal reservations, and emails to various people leads to a mess. And, as we know, life is messy enough.
THE PROCESS:
First and foremost, please respond to this email no later than Tuesday whether you will or will not attend the cookout at Jim Leyhane’s residence at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 7.
If you are planning to come, be sure to indicate how many guests (including kids) you plan to bring with you. The event will be a multi-level one:
• Jim will be serving barbecued boneless chicken breasts and fixin’s.
• Beer connoisseur Andy Leyhane will be hosting a mini beer-tasting of brews you may not be familiar with.
• Each member-attendee is asked to bring a dish — appetizers from surnames A-K, desserts from surnames L-Z, each to serve about six. (Please note, we’re asking one dish from each member, not each household.)
• Plus, the pool is open for adults and for kids.
BY THE WAY:
You’ll see above that all eight weeks of our hiatus from formal meetings is filled with activities of all sorts. If you would like to RSVP in advance for any of the events, please feel free to do so when you send your response for the July 7 cookout/pool party/beer tasting event.
On July 3 in ...
987 — Hugh Capet, a seventh-generation descendant of Charlemagne, is crowned King of France, succeeding the last Carolingian king, Louis V. Capet is the first of the Capetian Dynasty that goes on to rule France for 1,468 years, until the French Revolution in 1792.
1608 — The Canadian city of Quebec and the region called New France is founded by Samuel de Champlain, French navigator, cartographer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler.
1775 — General George Washington officially takes command of the new Continental Army at Cambridge, MA.
1890 — Idaho, nicknamed the “Gem State,” is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state. At one time, it had been part of the Wyoming Territory.
1913 -– Confederate veterans attending “The Great Reunion of 1913” in Gettysburg, PA, reenact Pickett’s Charge. Upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors of the Civil War.
Are you a Twitter user? If so, following @SRCRotaryNY will give you a shot at a quick link for stories, announcements, etc., posted on the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s website.
The accompanying illustration shows you just part of the many items previewed on our Twitter page. Of course, you also can get to the website via the club’s Facebook page, or the “old fashioned” way of going to it at http://SRCrotary.org if you prefer.
You also can get another service that will keep you continually updated on what we’ve posted. That’s by going to the website and registering to follow the site, which will send you a quick email each time something new is posted.
The whole idea of utilizing all these avenues of communication is to keep all of us in the loop and, thereby, able to participate in our many public service and social activities.
Not many holidays have multiple names. True, if you say them in different languages they do, but not when they’re all in English.
We speak here of the upcoming July 4th. Or, the Fourth of July. Or, Independence Day. Internationally, it also is known as the National Day of the United States. That’s four.
School children are taught that July 4, 1776, is when we declared our independence from England. Technically, perhaps, but that actually was done two days earlier when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution that had been proposed the month before by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, declaring the United States independent from the rule of Great Britain.
Congress then turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, the written statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. It debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it on Thursday, July 4, the day that became one of celebration and commemoration.
That isn’t exactly what all the Founding Fathers had in mind at the time. On July 3, John Adams had written to his wife, Abigail (underlining for emphasis):
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”
While we enjoy our picnics, fireworks, parades, and games, let’s take a moment to reflect on the tremendous achievement that was wrought 240 years ago this weekend.
On July 2 in ...
1698 — English inventor and engineer Thomas Savery is granted the first patent for a steam engine. However, he will not develop a commercially viable engine until the early 1700s.
1776 — The Second Continental Congress, representing Great Britain’s 13 American colonies, votes to approve a resolution of independence from Britain that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
1823 — Brazil, the largest country in South Anerica, emerges as an independent nation after the final defeat of the Portugese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
1881 — Lawyer/preacher Charles Julius Guiteau, a disgruntled federal job seeker, shoots President James Garfield at the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, DC. Garfield will linger until dying on September 19 from an infection caused by the bullet wound.
1964 — President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.
Today is the start of our 2nd annual “School Supplies Drive” that we told you about last week.
We’d appreciate it if everyone throughout the club would at least in some small way take part in purchasing and donating school supplies for needy kids in the Rensselaer City School District where more than one-third of the students live at or below the national poverty line.
Donations may be brought to any of our next six (6) events, and given to project coordinator Bill Dowd for delivery. A checklist of preferred items (for high school and pre-school students only) is provided below.
If for some reason you don’t plan to attend any of the next six club events, please let Bill know and he will make arrangements to personally pick up your donations. We don’t want anyone to miss the opportunity to participate in the project.
Such a drive is in keeping with one of Rotary’s six stated areas of concentration: Improving basic education and literacy.
Here is the checklist:
• pencils (regular lead #2 and color)
• pencil sharpener
• erasers (for pencils)
• pens (black or blue)
• markers (dry erase and color)
• pocket folders (assorted colors)
• 3-ring binders (in 2” and 3” sizes)
• loose leaf paper (college ruled)
• graph pape
• spiral subject notebooks (1, 3 and 5 subject in college ruled)
• subject dividers
• plastic zipper pencil cases/boxes
• 3”x5” index cards
• highlighters (yellow)
• rulers (regular with metric)
• Kleenex or other brand) tissues
• hand sanitizer (small bottles)
• Post-It notes
• backpacks (no rollers/wheels)
• Spanish-English dictionaries
• flash drives (1 to 4gb sizes)
• scientific calculators
Thanks, as always, for your generosity to others less fortunate than us.
