Last night several Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club members, family, friends, and guests enjoyed dinner at La Bella’s in Valatie followed by the show “Jersey Boys” at the MacHayden Theater. Everyone enjoyed dining on fine Italian food, followed by the enjoyable music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. A special thank you to Debbie and Peter Brown for arranging the evening.

Circles of Mercy School Supply Drive is winding down, if you haven’t donated supplies to Roberto, Jim, or Kevin please make arrangements to do so this weekend. All supplies will be dropped off on Monday, August 21, 2023.

Our next Summer Social Event is scheduled for Thursday, August 24, 2023 at 6:00pm at Pat Bailey’s house. Club hosts Pat and Mary Alice will be providing pizza and salad for all of those attending. Appetizers are optional, and as always we ask for a donation of $20 per member or $25 per family. Please RSVP to Pat no later than Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at pbailey7@nycapp.rr.com or (518)755-5324.

On Thursday, August 10, 2023 several members of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club met at Moscatiello’s Restaurant as a summer social event.

Meeting Business:

• The Materials for the Viking Gym are in NJ awaiting transport to Schodack
• Circles of Mercy School Supply Collection is still taking place. Supplies are due by August 21, 2023. Supplies may be brought to any summer social event of dropped off with Kevin, Jim or Roberto
• The club received a check for $1500 from the District foe the 2022-2023 grant.
• Two possible new members have been identified by members of the club.
• Thank you to Dick and Mary Drumm for hosting last week’s social event which made the club $200 for projects.

Looking ahead:

Next week’s summer social event is a trip to the MacHayden Theater to see a presentation of Jersey Boys. Details regarding dinner before will be sent out next week.

August 24, 2023 – Pizza Party at Pat Bailey’s

August 29, 2023 – Dinner at Roosevelt Room has been canceled due to it is the staff’s day off.

Movie Night in the Park:

August 11, 2023 : Nothing this Friday

August 18, 2023: Looking for takers

Thank you to Filli’s Deli for brokering more fillets for the club.

This week’s tour of the USS Slater has been canceled this week due to several conflicts. Instead the club will be meeting at our regular scheduled time of 6:00 at Moscatiello’s. Michael has agreed to give us our normal room at the normal price. The menu for this week is: Chicken Ceasar Salad, Spaghetti with meatballs, and chicken marsala. School supplies can be brought to this event for donation for Circles of Mercy. Please see the list below.

Last evening, several members of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club along with family and friends gathered at the Drumm Farm to enjoy friendship and fellowship. Members enjoyed a delicious catered dinner hosted by Mary and Dick Drumm.

We are continuing to collect school supplies for the Circles of Mercy Back to School program and donations may be brought to any of the upcoming Summer Social Events. If you are unable to attend one of the events contact Kevin, Roberto, of Jim to arrange a separate drop off. The last day for collections is August 21, 2023.

We continue our summer casual events this week with dinner on the Drumm Farm hosted by Mary and Dick Drumm this Thursday at 6:00 pm. As usual we are asking for a fee of $20 per member and $25 per family with donations being accepted.

Looking ahead, next week’s summer social event features a tour of the USS Slater with dinner at Moscatiello’s to follow for those interested. The tour is scheduled for Thursday, August 10th at 5:30 pm at 141 Broadway, Albany, NY 12202. The tour is about an hour in length with price of admission is $5 per child and $7 for an adult. Anyone interested in the tour and dinner to follow, please let Roberto and/or Jim know by this Friday at noon so they can make the appropriate reservations.

Once again we are choosing to support Circles of Mercy’s Back to School Program. With the economy being what it is today, the need to support the children of our community is greater than ever. Below you will find a list of school supplies that we will be collecting throughout the summer at our summer casual events. If you are unable to attend an event, and would like to arrange a separate pick-up or drop-off, contact Kevin Leyhane at KRL1873@aol.com. Donated supplies will be collected until August 21, 2023. The requested supplies are as follows:

• Pencils (regular lead #2, colored, and mechanical
• Pencil sharpener
• Erasers for pencila
• Pens (blue and black)
• Markers (dry erase, sharpies, and assorted colors)
• Pocket folders (assorted colors)
• Glue Sticks
• Scissors
• Protractor and compass
• 3 ring binders (1 1/2″, 2″, and 3″ sizes)
• loose leaf paper (college ruled)
• graph paper
• subject dividers
• highlighters (yellow)
• rulers (regular with metric)
• tissues
• hand sanitizer (small bottles)
• post-it notes
• backpacks (no rollers/wheels)
• hole reinforcement labels
• combination lock
• scientific calculators (TI-84 +graphing)
• spiral subject notebooks (1,2,and 5 subject, college ruled)
• plastic zipper pencil cases
• 3″ x 5″ index cards

On Friday July 28, 2023 member of the Danes Rotaract Club joined with members of the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club joined for a happy hour at Wolff’s Biergarten as a fund raiser. A good time was had by all and the event raised over $125 for school supplies.

On Thursday, July 27, 2023 the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club met at the Joe Bruno Arena to watch the Tri-City ValleyCats take on the Joliet Slammers. Despite the threat of inclement weather the game went off on time and the club watched the ValleyCats defeat the Slammers by a score of 8-3. The club enjoyed a picnic dinner before the game featuring pulled pork, BBQ chicken, and hot dogs with a fireworks show after the game. A special thank you to Deb Rodriguez for planning the event for over two years(last year we were rained out). Pictures from the night can be seen below. Our Next Summer Casual Event scheduled for Thursday, August 3, 2023 when the Drumm’s will host the club for a picnic on their farm.

Another reminder, The Danes Rotaract will be hosting a Summer Social Event tonight Friday, July 28th at 5:30 at Wolff’s Biergarten located at 895 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207. All SRC members family and friends are invited to attend.

This week’s Summer Social Event hosted by Deb Rodriguez, features a picnic before the game and seats to watch the ValleyCats play this Thursday. The picnic pavilion opens at 5:30 and will feature a menu of BBQ Chicken, Pulled Pork, Hot Dogs, Pasta Salad, Potato Salad, Chips, and soda or water. The game starts shortly after the picnic at 6:30. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time.

Looking ahead the next Summer Casual Event scheduled for August 3, 2023 hosted by the Drumm’s will be dinner on their farm. Please RSVP with Mary Drumm if you haven’t yet and are planning on attending so they can get an accurate count for food planning. Mary may be contacted at (518)339-7459, and please notify her by noon this Thursday July 27, 2023.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again this week.