Cleaning out closets? That can help Gift of Life

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If you’re looking for an effective way to get rid of old clothes, drapes, sheets, etc., in a more constructive way than simply tossing them in the trash, may we suggest one of the Gift of Life dropoff boxes?

The one closest to our SRC meeting venue at Quigley’s is behind the Mobil station just off Exit 10 of I-90 — near the Top Form facility. However, the childhood medical relief organization has numerous locations throughout District 7190 for its clothing donation bins. There are several in the immediate Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club area, but for those of you who live or work elsewhere — or want to encourage friends, relatives, and co-workers to drop off their unwanted items to help GOL, there are plenty of other options as well.

These bins are placed in conjunction with American Clothing Recycling Company, a Glens Falls business. (Note that other organizations use similar boxes, so please be sure the ones you use are specifically marked for Gift of Life.)

Here are the most convenient bin locations (the list may change from time to time):

In the immediate SRC area:

  • As noted above, behind the Mobil station on Miller Road, Schodack
  • Tractor Supply Store, Schodack Plaza, 1649 Columbia Turnpike, Castleton

Elsewhere in the region:

  • Hewitt’s, Clifton Park
  • Powers Irish Pub, Clifton Park
  • Kelley Farm & Garden, Cobleskill
  • Rustic Gourmet Restaurant, 785 Delaware Ave, Delmar
  • SE Kitchens & Baths, Gansevoort
  • Hewitts, 605 Feura bush Road, Glenmont
  • Faddegon’s Nursery, Latham
  • Grassland Equipment & Irrigation Corp., Latham
  • Mechanicville Area Community Services Center, Mechanicville
  • Watervliet Elementary School, Watervliet
  • State Line Flea Market, Whitehall

     

Never been to RLI? Here’s your chance

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Screen Shot 2019-10-01 at 11.29.18 PMThe Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club has a long and rich history of involvement in the annual Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI). And, we’d like to give even more members the opportunity to keep that participation going.

To that end, SRC will pay the registration fee for any members interested in signing up for any level of this year’s RLI, scheduled for Saturday, October 19, at the First Reformed Church in Schenectady.

RLI, a leadership development course that emphasizes team building, idea sharing, and discussion, provides discussion classes, often with some lighthearted projects involving team participants from Rotarians representing clubs across District 7190.

The registration fee covers participation, study-discussion materials, continental  breakfast, and lunch. All you have to do is let Bill Dowd know by email of your interest, and, as he does each year, he will take care of registering you.

RLI offers a Level 1 course for those Rotarians new to the program, Level 2 if you’ve completed Level 1, Level 3 if you’ve completed Levels 1 and 2, and Graduate if you’ve completed Levels 1 through 3.

The club with the most attendees registered by October 10 will receive 1,000 points for use as a Paul Harris Fellow as their club sees fit. The SRC deadline for informing Bill is no later than Tuesday, October 8.

 

 

Your program assignments are in the mail

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Screen Shot 2019-09-25 at 6.06.52 PMProgram coordinator Dick Drumm today e-mailed the updated assignment chart to all members, so be sure to check your e-mailbox. (The chart looks like that image at the right.)

We’re off to a strong program start so far and want to keep up the momentum.

Please line up your program details (date, topic, speaker, etc.) as soon as possible and notify Dick by e-mail at capitalvetslisa@aol.com and copy Bill Dowd at billdowd4troy@gmail.com so the online calendars can be kept updated on a regular basis.

As always, you can trade dates with another member, if mutually agreeable, but if you do please notify Dick and Bill immediately so we can keep the records straight.

 

Board meeting scheduled for 10/10

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The SRC Board of Directors is scheduled to meet immediately following the Thursday, October 10, dinner meeting at Quigley’s.

The agenda calls for consideration of an updated budget, a contract with the Columbia County Fairgrounds to host the Rotary running event next fall, and the club IRS return.

If you have any additional items you would like brought to the attention of the board, please contact any board member. They are:

President: Phil Kellerman
President-elect: Dick Drumm
Vice President: Terry Brewer
Treasurer: Murray Forth
Secretary: Pat Bailey
Directors-at-large: Jim Leyhane, Bill Dowd, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Rodriguez, Dean Calamaras
Immediate Past President: Andy Leyhane

 

Menu the same, but there’s a Thursday change

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parmThe scheduled speaker has cancelled, but we’re still going to sit down to a hearty dinner this Thursday at Quigley’s.

East Greenbush Town Supervisor Jack Conway just informed us he has a scheduling conflict for this week. He hopes to visit at a later date. Dick Drumm is working to secure a replacement program for Thursday.

Meanwhile, if you have not yet emailed Debbie Brown at mdbrown@nycap.rr.com with your dinner reservation, tonight (Tuesday) is the deadline for doing so.

We hope to see you at Quigley’s at 6:15 for Chicken Parmesan with an antipasto salad, chef’s choice of side dishes, bread, dessert, and beverages. And, as always, the cash bar is open all evening.

 

Meeting Clipboard: 9/19/19

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SRC ClipboardHeld at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (12): Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Dean Calamaras, Bill Dowd, Dick Drumm, Charlie Foote, Ray Hannan, Phil Kellerman, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Rodriguez, Andy Leyhane.

Guests (4): David Harris, Mary Drumm, Kevin Drumm, Paige Johnson.

MEETING NOTES — President Phil Kellerman welcomed members and guests. … Jim Leyhane and Roberto Martinez updated members on Murray Forth’s status. He has been rehospitalized with different a different problem, but expects to go home in a day or two. … Roberto reported that he won a raffle basket at the Gift of Life Golf Tournament awards dinner on Monday and is giving it to Murray and Maggie on behalf of the club as a get-well gift. Apropos the GOL event, Dean and Doris Calamaras were recognized as Friends of Gift of Life, and SRC had two foursomes participate. …

Phil shared a flyer from a friend in Georgia who teaches English as a second language to students who speaks other languages and are financially limited. She was asking for a $150 grant to purchase specific workbooks that have proven successful in helping such students. Phil said he would personally match anything up to $75 toward such a grant. Several other members quickly chipped in $75, thus reaching the $150 grant level. … Bill Dowd said he has resumed stocking up on Clynk container recycling bags and bar-code stickers for use by club members to raise funds for ShelterBox. They will be available at all meetings at Quigley’s. Last week, Bill presented a $400 check for the first proceeds from our efforts via the program Clynk runs in partnership with Hannaford supermarkets. Bill noted that participation in the program costs the club nothing because he has been paying for the bags and will continue to do so. …

Bill also reported that, for the first time in 19 years, a case of polio has been reported in the Philippines. The polio virus also has been found in the sewage systems of Manila, the principal city, and other locations, A mass vaccine program will be resumed within  the next few weeks. He asked that members continue remembering Rotary’s PolioPlus program when it comes to donations. … Debbie Rodriguez is succeeding April Dowd as the Sunshine Committee lead. Members are asked to remember to keep Debbie in the loop when they have word of illness or bereavement among our Rotary family. … Next week’s speaker will be East Greenbush Town Supervisor Jack Conway.

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David B. Harris

GUEST SPEAKER — David B. Harris, supervisor of the Town of Schodack, paid a return visit (he spoke to the club last March) to update us on what’s happening in the town. Among the major points:

• Work is proceeding on the Route 9 site that is being prepared for construction of a million-square-foot Amazon distribution center. He said he is confident a lawsuit by a neighborhood group near the site seeking to halt work will be overcome. He also noted that drilling is being done to remove a huge rock — “It’s about the size of this meeting room,” he said — because of a county regulation against blasting there.

• The town continues to concentrate on attracting new businesses, especially for the Routes 9 & 20 corridor, Columbia Turnpike. As he noted, sales taxes are the largest income stream for the town, so retail stores are particularly important. A new Stewart’s is being constructed; Cumberland Farms is looking into adding a store; strips of unused land owned by the town are being offered for sale to enable them to be returned to the tax rolls; a Georgia company is studying the possibility of reviving the former Fort Orange paper mill into a facility to produce cardboard (perhaps to sell to Amazon?).

• He said the town is in need of more staffing in the police, planning, and other departments. But, with the 2% tax increase cap instituted by the governor, that is difficult to accomplish. He has assigned one police officer to be a fulltime detective.

• On the social level, the town increased the number of dates this summer for its weekly concerts in the park program. And, a playground was added to the town park, at no cost to taxpayers.

Harris also complained about two state-mandated items. One is a requirement to have police officers follow a very complicated paperwork process when issuing a traffic ticket. He said it would take an average of 30 minutes of officers’ time per ticket which, he says, obviously would diminish their time to actually carry out their basic duties. The other is that rather than have school districts pay for required installation of cameras on buses to track motorists who violate the law by passing stopped buses the local governments would have to do so. He said at $2,000 to $3,000 per bus, such a requirement would be impossible to pay for.

 

 

Polio outbreak in Philippines first in 19 years

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Screen Shot 2019-09-19 at 3.21.37 PM• From the World Health Organization

An outbreak of polio was declared today in the Philippines, the first such occurrence since the Pacific Ocean nation was declared polio free 19 years ago.

People in the Philippines, primarily children, now are at risk of death or lifelong paralysis because of this outbreak.

The Philippine Department of Health and partners are working together on a comprehensive outbreak response, including mass polio immunization rounds beginning in October. All children, regardless of whether they are covered by the mass immunization campaign or not, should be vaccinated according to the routine immunization schedule.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is supporting the Philippine government’s response. The GPEI is a public-private partnership led by national governments with five partners — the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. GPEI’s goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.

 

SRC strong for Gift of Life Golf Tournament

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Grace Agwaru, from Uganda, was the keynote speaker at the after-tournament dinner. In 1975, Grace was the first recipient of a District 7190 Gift of Life surgery.
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Gentlemen of leisure at Pinehaven CC before Monday’s GOL Golf Tournament dinner. From left: Roberto Martinez, Terry Brewer, Jim Leyhane, A.J. Amato.
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 Robbie Donno, who founded the GOL in 1960.

Southern Rensselaer County had a strong presence at this year’s Gift of Life Golf Tournament, held Monday at Pinehaven Country Club in Guilderland.

Dean and Doris Calamaras, who were recognized as “Friends of GOL,” sponsored the post-tournament happy hour leading up to the awards dinner. Terry Brewer and A.J. Amato led foursomes, and Roberto Martinez and Jim Leyhane joined them for the dinner.

In addition, several SRC members were sign sponsors for the event, a major fundraiser each year for the District 7190 GOL.

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A listing in  the dinner program.

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Rotary Foundation gets 4-star rating, again

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Screen Shot 2019-09-17 at 3.35.45 PMFor the 12th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating possible —  four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the United States.

The Foundation earned the recognition for demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. Only one percent of the organizations Charity Navigator evaluates have received 12 consecutive four-star evaluations.

“Attaining a four-star rating verifies that The Rotary Foundation exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in your area of work”, says Michael Thatcher, president and chief executive officer of Charity Navigator. “This exceptional designation sets the Foundation apart from its peers and demonstrates to the public its trustworthiness.”

The rating reflects Charity Navigator’s assessment of how the Foundation uses donations, sustains its programs and services, and practices good governance and openness.

‘Pints for Polio’ beer social at Wolf Hollow

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Screen Shot 2019-09-17 at 3.04.00 PMVarious clubs in District 7190 raise funds in a variety of ways for Rotary International’s anti-polio efforts worldwide. SRC, for example, directs portions of several events toward that effort.

Here’s another club’s idea, “Pints for Polio.” It’s an event created by the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Rotary.

The social event will run from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, September 26, at the Wolf Hollow Brewing Company, 6882 Amsterdam Road, Glenville. It is open to all.