A REMINDER: We will be voting on a slate of officers for the 2016-17 Rotary Year at our Thursday, May 26, meeting. All members were emailed the slate, and it has been posted on our website but, in case you misplaced your copy, click here for the full details.
This week’s entree.
Think you know a lot about ticks? Maybe so, but our scheduled speaker for this Thursday’s dinner meeting at Quigley’s knows a lot more.
Dr. Linda Pessolesi of Hudson Valley Community College will present a very seasonally-appropriate talk on “The Wondrous World of Ticks.” And, if you want to get a head start on the topic, you can click here for a newspaper article on Lyme disease, which is spread by ticks.
Before her talk, we’ll be enjoying a dinner of baked salmon, salad, vegetables, bread, desserts, and beverages. And, as always, the cash bar is available for pre-meeting refreshment.
The deadline for RSVPs is Tuesday, via email to Debbie Brown. And, please, please, please be sure to let her know if you’re bringing a guest so she can get a correct headcount for seating and food ordering. Here is who has signed up to attend so far:
1. Annis, Monika
2. Annis, Ron
3. Bailey, Pat
4. Brewer, Terry
5. Brown, Debbie
6. Brown, Peter
7. Butterworth, Jim
8. Dowd, April
9. Dowd, Bill
10. Drumm, Dick
11. Foote, Charlie
12. Forth, Murray
13. Frankel, Julius
14. Hannan, Ray
15. Leyhane, Jim
16. Martinez, Roberto
17. Pessolesi, Linda (speaker)
18. Rodriguez, Debbie
19. Spencer, Carole
20. Taylor, David
This portion of an 1891 map of Rensselaer County shows the area that 125 years later is served by the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club.
Notice some differences? What happened to the hamlet of Greenbush and the neighboring village of Bath? They, along with a piece of western East Greenbush, constitute what began as a one-square-mile parcel of land that through annexation became today’s City of Rensselaer.
Note, too, the map serves as a sort of census, listing the locations of various homes and farms, and businesses.
Our friends at Circles of Mercy have a special fundraiser coming up.
“A Taste of Mercy,” which will benefit the family services organization and honor past trustee Beth Coco, will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, at the Shaker Ridge Country Club, 802 Albany Shaker Road in Loudonville.
A variety of foods and beverages will be available for sampling throughout the event. Live music will be provided by Audra and Danica Nowosielski. Tickets are priced at $60. There is a reservation deadline of June 3.
It is with great sadness that I must inform you of the passing of Past District Governor Charles Blair Hartman (Rotary Club of Cobleskill) early yesterday morning.
As we understand it, he became sick Tuesday and was taken to Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown Tuesday night and evaluations were made on Wednesday and exploratory surgery performed Wednesday evening. Blair passed away following surgery. His brother, Richard, from North Carolina, arrived in time to be with him.
Blair was District Governor in 2004-2005 and has been regularly active in the District ever since. Through his years of service he has touched the lives of so many of us especially through his activity with the Youth Exchange program. We will miss his dedication to Rotary and his can do attitude.
It is because of his years of service to our district and being so well known throughout the district that I send this email to you to ensure that all that knew him are aware of his passing. We have lost so many good Rotarians this year that it makes it even more necessary that we strive to continue to attract new members so that we can carry out the work our veteran Rotarians strove so hard to accomplish.
Both the visiting hours and the memorial service will be held at the Cobleskill United Methodist Church, 107 Chapel Street, Cobleskill.
Visiting hours are on Sunday, May 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. A memorial service will be held on Monday, May 23, at 10 a.m. Funeral arrangements have been made with Putnam’s Funeral Home in Cobleskill. A burial service will be performed in Pennsylvania later in the week.
Please keep Blair and his family in your thoughts and prayers. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Rotary Club of Cobleskill, care of Olive Scott, 116 Parkway Drive, Cobleskill, NY 12043, for the Student Exchange Program or Paul Harris Fellowship.
Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant 593 Columbia Turnpike East Greenbush, NY May 19, 2016
Member Attendance (23): Terry Brewer, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, April Dowd, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Dick Drumm, Ray Hannan, Roberto Martinez, Ron Annis, Monika Annis, Becky Raymond, Stewart Wagner, Charlie Foote, David Taylor, Julius Frankel. (Attending breakfast meeting only: Matt Smith, Bob Horan, Shannon Romanowski, Andy Leyhane, John Sawchuk.)
Guests (6): Bill Jordan, Kathleen McLean, Phil Kellerman, Willie Widby, Maggie Forth, Jeremy Forth.
PROGRAM: “Let’s Share the Sun Foundation”
Speaker Kathleen McLean makes a point as Bill Jordan and members look on.
Murray Forth introduced Bill Jordan and Kathleen McLean of the Let’s Share the Sun Foundation. The organization’s goal is to help make solar energy devices available for people in need in poor regions of the world.
Bill points out child with a solar lantern purchased with SRC funds.
Because solar energy is perhaps the simplest and most-abundant power source on the planet, the Foundation is helping install and maintain solar collectors in several spots. In Haiti, for example, they are supplying solar-powered lanterns that allow children to safely make their way home from school and to do their homework by solar light in homes that have no other power.
Kathleen spoke about their trip to Haiti in 2015 and the 26 solar panels donated by GE for a new school and the community center. Several universities were also represented on their recent trip, including Syracuse, Stanford, St. Lawrence, and Notre Dame.
Another goal is to help a local Haitian hospital, Hospital St. Croix, cut into its current prohibitively-high electric bill of $140,000.
Bill said 1 in 7 people in the world do not have electricity. The Foundation has partnerships with a large number of organizations, including groups from Siena College and St. Gabriel School, and have been getting interns from those schools to travel to Haiti on work programs. Kathleen noted that because the Foundation is a small organization, it is careful not to overextend its reach.
The Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club already has donated funds to purchase solar lanterns in Haiti, and has plans to expand its effort to help underwrite the program.
BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
BREAKFAST MEETING — President Terry Brewer reported that nine members attended the “Third Thursday Breakfast Meeting” today at the Greenbush YMCA. Member Bob Horan, superintendent of the Schodack Central School District, gave a talk on how his district was able to use innovative nethods to create a revenue stream and make use of building spaces not needed for students.
SUMMER SCHEDULE — A signup sheet was introduced for anyone wishing to host a cookout or arrange a field trip during our July-August “summer casual” period when we do not hold formal meetings. Anyone who wishes to add their names to the list should contact Debbie Rodriguez ASAP.
RYLA REPORT — The five-student contingent from Maple Hill High School that our club sponsored in the annual Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program has been honored for being the most active group in this year’s field.
YMCA BREAKFAST FOR KIDS — Member Shannon Romanowski, director of the Greenbush YMCA, is developing a kids’ breakfast event for needy children, probably in July. She has asked if the club would be willing to participate. Terry said we’ll discuss it further as information is presented.
SHELTERBOX EXPANSION — Although the club already has donated $5,000 to purchase five ShelterBoxes, the growing number of natural disasters around the world makes the organization’s needs even greater. Terry said he is pledging $500 toward the purchase of two more boxes (at $1,000 per box) in this Rotary Year. He said anyone who wishes to do so can donate any amount.
DRIVER TRAINING — Jim Leyhane, who is coordinating a defensive driving class that will allow graduates to apply for an auto insurance reduction, said we may have enough people interested to hold two sessions. He emphasized that he needs to have anyone who has not yet done so either call or email him ASAP so he can get an accurate count for the Sunday, June 5, course to be held at Community Care Physicians, 81 Miller Road, Schodack.
WEBSITE/SOCIAL MEDIA — A reminder was issued that the relaunched, redesigned club website is accessible only via http://SRCrotaryblog.wordpress.com, that the club Twitter account is available @SRCrotaryNY, and that our Facebook page continues to be widely used.
SPECIAL EVENTS — Three June meeting dates have been given special designations. June 16 will be scholar recognition night when we meet the winners of our annual scholarships. June 23 will be our second new-member induction night of the year, with both District Governor Milan Jackson and incoming DG-Elect Fred Daniels scheduled to attend. June 30 will be the annual Presidential Changeover event, to be hosted by the Forths.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE — The full slate of officer candidates has been sent to every member via email, and will be voted on at the Thursday, May 26 meeting, as required by our bylaws. Terry noted that we are reinstituting the office of vice president, and expanding the number of at-large board seats, as allowed by the bylaws. The idea is to have a stronger presidential succession plan in place. The Nominating Committee consists of Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, and Murray Forth.
HOSPITAL STAY BROCHURE — Roberto Martinez reported that the group behind the brochure, which the club is sponsoring, has applied for a $400,000 state grant to support their efforts. He noted that even if we do not make the cutoff in the first round, we will at least have greater exposure for the effort.
DISTRICT CONFERENCE — Terry reported on the annual District Conference, held this year in Lake Placid. Our club received an award for having the greatest number of new members, although the award was given without SRC being notified when it would happen and, thus, we were not present. At the event, Terry also presented Murray with a presidential award for his continuing efforts on behalf of the club.
SPECIAL THANK-YOU — Roberto expressed appreciation for Bill and April Dowd’s efforts to manage the club breakfast effort at Ronald McDonald House last week, and Bill’s work on creating the menu and directing the volunteers. (Scroll down for a photo report on the effort.)
NEXT MEETING: 6:15 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at Quigley’s. Dr. Linda Pessolesi of Hudson Valley Community College will make a presentation on tick-borne diseases.
Our SRC Twitter account offers you more than simply reminders of what’s on our website. The screengrabs above are just two examples of the reTweets and links to stories and information being posted there on a regular basis.
If you’re a Twitter user, be sure to begin following SRCrotaryNY today!
The Street.com, an online financial site, has just released a list of what it calls “The 50 Most Influential Non-Profits.”
As it explains, “This snapshot pulls in a lot of the nonprofits you’d recognize, some you might have forgotten about, and a few that you never knew were nonprofits in the first place.
At No. 6 on the list is Rotary International’s Rotary Foundation. Click here to see the entire list.
… you may want to follow and keep in touch with the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s Twitter feed. Here’s our ID:
SRCrotaryNY @SRCrotaryNY
Hope you use it. We’ll be tweeting schedulings, reminders, news items, etc., on a regular basis. Feel free to re-Tweet them to colleagues, friends. and family members who may find them of interest.
Rotary Fellowships are more than 60 independent groups within RI that allow people to connect with like-minded Rotarians and Rotary spouses nationally and globally to enjoy their vocations, hobbies and leisure pursuits.
This side benefit to Rotary membership offers a very wide range of topics — and, if you want to start a group on a topic not currently represented, there’s a mechanism for that, too.
This month’s issue of The Rotarian is being delivered to your mailboxes this week. We’re confident you’ll find it a real treat, especially if you’re a fan of photography and photographic techniques.
In addition to an array of stunning photographs submitted by Rotarians from around the world to the magazine’s annual photo contest (the winning photo by a California Rotarian is on the cover), a Q&A with Keith Jenkins gives plenty of insights.
Jenkins is a professional photographer and digital strategist who works at the highest levels of the multimedia world.
Hint: If you like to capture the world around you in photographs, start shooting now for next year’s magazine contest. Entry guidelines will be announced this fall in The Rotarian.
Go here to access an archive of past issues of the magazine, starting with its debut as The National Rotarian in 1911.
A REMINDER: We will be voting on a slate of officers for the 2016-17 Rotary Year at our Thursday, May 26, meeting. All members were emailed the slate, and it has been posted on our website but, in case you misplaced your copy, click here for the full details.
Our friends at 
Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
BREAKFAST MEETING — President Terry Brewer reported that nine members attended the “Third Thursday Breakfast Meeting” today at the Greenbush YMCA. Member Bob Horan, superintendent of the Schodack Central School District, gave a talk on how his district was able to use innovative nethods to create a revenue stream and make use of building spaces not needed for students.
SHELTERBOX EXPANSION — Although the club already has donated $5,000 to purchase five ShelterBoxes, the growing number of natural disasters around the world makes the organization’s needs even greater. Terry said he is pledging $500 toward the purchase of two more boxes (at $1,000 per box) in this Rotary Year. He said anyone who wishes to do so can donate any amount.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE — The full slate of officer candidates has been sent to every member via email, and will be voted on at the Thursday, May 26 meeting, as required by our bylaws. Terry noted that we are reinstituting the office of vice president, and expanding the number of at-large board seats, as allowed by the bylaws. The idea is to have a stronger presidential succession plan in place. The Nominating Committee consists of Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, and Murray Forth.
Our SRC Twitter account offers you more than simply reminders of what’s on our website. The screengrabs above are just two examples of the reTweets and links to stories and information being posted there on a regular basis.
The Street.com, an online financial site, has just released a list of what it calls “The 50 Most Influential Non-Profits.”
… you may want to follow and keep in touch with the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club’s Twitter feed. Here’s our ID:
Rotary Fellowships are 
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 