The Schodack Town Park Outdoor Gym is now completed. The signage has been added along with the Peace Pole. This was a community project involving the Town Park, Kiwanis and Rotary. It now has a basketball court and a pickleball court.
We are looking for a Rotarian to coordinate the collection of school supplies for the Circles of Mercy with Phil who is currently employed at the agency. Roberto and Jim are suppling backpacks. The delivery date for the supplies is August 23rd. Items needed are listed on our website.
This week:
Thursday, 08/7/25: If you have a ticket, please remember that our annual Valleycats baseball game is Thursday at Joe Bruno stadium by the Hudson Valley College in Troy. Food will be served at 5:30. Game begins at 6:30. Thanks to Debbie Rodriquez for setting this up!
Friday, August 8, from 5-7pm yours truly will be hosting a Bingo night for residents of the Saint Paul Center for homeless residents, 55 and older. You will recall that our club has been a supporter of the new center and several members toured the facility recently. Feel free to join us.
Next week:
Thursday August 14th: if you have a theater ticket for “Annie” the play will be at 2 pm at the Mac-Haydn theater at 1925 NY 203 in Chatham. The date for us to attend is Thursday August 14. Thanks to Debbie Brown for helping to coordinate.
Sunday, August 16th: Celebrate the new Rotary year, which comes with an opportunity to thank our 2024-25 leaders and welcome new leaders, both for CNY and our clubs. The celebration will be at the Syracuse Zoo on Sunday August 16 from 12-2 pm. Yours truly will be attending.
Summer Casual: Thursday August 21, Dean and Doris Calamaras will be hosting a Greek night dinner at their house beginning at 5 pm. There is room for 17 so please contact Dean if you plan on attending. $30 for an individual, $40 for a family. This is a fund-raiser for Gift of Life.
A meeting was held in person and in attendance were Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Phil Kellerman, Jim Lehayne, Dick Drumm, Ray Hannan, Peter Brown, and Deb Brown. In attendance via Zoom were Dean Calamares and Andy Leyhane.
Roberto reported that Marlisa Mutari was to attend to provide an update from the district but was unable to come.
Roberto informed the group that our club just had its 65th birthday.
Phil provided a financial update and said that he had contacted the IRS for an update on submittal for reinstatement of our 501(c)4 tax status. The first representative Phil spoke to could not find our package which was causing frustration on the part of our group.
(Subsequent to the meeting, the second representative he spoke said that he had found our package and we would be hearing by March 24th. Phil was told that there is a usual 16 week waiting period).
Phil also reported that he was almost complete with the reconciling of club finances on Quicken and he would report to the club once completed on the club’s finances.
Roberto said that the board approved $500 to support an exchange student in April to attend a district meeting. Murray reminded the group that he wanted to hand the check in person to avoid the risk of fraudulent “check washing” by mailing the check.
Phil said that our annual bowl-a-thon is scheduled for Sunday April 6 from 1-3 pm at the East Greenbush Bowling Lanes. Several members pledged to become $50 sponsors. Phil also said that the local Planet Fitness wanted to pledge $100 and have a table next to ours at the event to pass out flyers. The members agreed. Furthermore, Phil said that the day after our meeting, he would bring informational flyers to the event to the Maple Hill School along with a sign up sheet. Phil also asked members for help at the event manning our table, and Peter, Deb and Pat agreed to help out.
Phil reported that he and Carole attended an RLI Leadership Conference in Johnson City. Subsequent to the conference, Carole developed a banner which we could use to display at events. It was going to be funded with a matching grant. The members liked the banner which outlines the projects and organizations supported by the club.
Phil also told the group that he learned at the training that to encourage young folks to join Rotary, that they be allowed to become “friends of Rotary.” They could participate in Rotary activities to give them time to decide whether to join. If they decide to join, a member of the club or the club itself would pay for their first year dues. Phil thought this was idea the club should pursue.
For the second week in a row, a donation jar was passed around to raise funds for the Global Eye Clinic in Haiti.
Concerning the Water Hole project in Kenya, Peter said that there had been a delay because the district in Kenya was informed that they may be paying too much for the drilling, and that a rebid of the project may have to occur.
A meeting at the East Greenbush school district will be held n March 18 to further the Backpack program. Several club members will attend.
Pat reminded the group that the AAA defensive driving course would be held in Nassau on May 17th. Five club members have signed up.
A membership meeting will be held May 1st. Roberto asked members to invite a person that they believe might be interested in joining.
A PETS training will be held in Syracuse on March 15-16. Roberto, Jim and Phil will be attending.
A Foundation grants management seminar will be held via Zoom on Sunday March 23rd. We need at least two members to attend to apply for district grants. Jim and Roberto are registered.
A district conference Learning Assembly will be held starting Friday April 4th in Albany. Roberto recommended that members at least attend on Saturday as Peter Brown will be on a panel to discuss global grants. Admission is free.
Upon going around the room at the end of the meeting, Dean thanked the club for their contribution to Gift of Life. He said that Gift of Life had received 8,400 pledges of financial support.
Minutes Southern Rennselaer County Rotary Meeting December 5, 2024
Attended by: Roberto Martinez, Phil Kellerman, Jim Lehayne, Kevin Lehayne, Dick Drumm, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Deb Brown, Ray Hannan, Andy Lehayne and Murray Forth. Dean and Doris Calamares attended by Zoom.
Roberto welcomed everyone. The pledge was conducted.
Nest week on the 12th the annual holiday party will be held at the home of Peter and Deb Brown.
Phil Kellerman introduced the guest speaker, Gretchen Zegger, co-president of Whiskers.
Whiskers, based in Albany, rescues cats and finds suitable homes for adoption. The agency currently houses 122 cats and depends on 230 volunteers.
A new state law will limit the number of cats to 12 for occupancy in any one room. Thus, Whiskers is embarking on a fund-raising campaign for a new building with larger space.
Whiskers has been around for about 40 years. Many of the cats rescued have been abandoned. Medical treatment is provided to cats when needed.
In 2024 Whiskers served 655 cats.
In regular business, Roberto thanked everyone for taking Rotary items that were brought out of storage. Pat asked everyone who took items to get her a list of what was taken for record-keeping.
Roberto announced that the global grant for funding to provide access to safe water by establishing a borehole at the Enabelibel Full Gospel Church in Narok County, Kenya had been approved. Roberto thanked Peter and everyone loudly applauded Peter’s efforts. Peter said that the next step is to arrange the hydro-geological survey to see if there is potable water.
Concerning membership, two members (Jennifer Felts and AJ Amato) have ended their participation, but the club is picking up two new members.
Pat said that she is working to schedule a defensive driving class in the spring.
The holiday party is scheduled for December 12 at the Browns. Kevin reviewed a chart with holiday gifts requested by the club’s “adopted” family to bring to the party for collection.
On December 19 our meeting will be held at Spinney and hosted by Ray and Phil. They are making arrangements for catered food and Phil will conduct a trivia contest.
There will be no meetings on December 25 and January 2nd. The next meeting will be January 9th.
Ron has a potential member, Laurie Pferr, who will be speaking in either January or February.
John Justino has agreed to speak on the transition of the SUNY Albany School of Public Health in February.
Carole Heaney will be conducting a Holiday Grief Conversation December 8th from 1-3pm at the Lyons Funeral Home.
Roberto mentioned several Rotary international conferences coming up.
Peter and Kevin addressed the intention for our club to hold a Cornhole Tournament to raise funds. While the casino in Schenectady would draw lots of competitors, Kevin thought that holding it at an East Greenbush school would be more family friendly. Discussions are ongoing with the East Greenbush school board.
Phil said that he wanted to communicate with representatives at the East Greenbush Methodist Church about holding a benefit charity concert in the spring with a band from Florida and the Albany-based band “Enjoyous.”
Minutes Southern Rennselaer County Rotary Meeting November 7, 2024
Attended by: Roberto Martinez, Phil Kellerman, Carole Heaney, Jim Leyhane, Kevin Leyhane, Dick Drumm, Pat Bailey, Peter Brown, Deb Brown, Ray Hannan, Chris Bystroff, and Andy Leyhane. Ruth Russell joined in via Zoom.
Next week’s speaker will be Lisa Jackson from the Rotary Club in Schenectady.
Roberto welcomed everyone. The pledge was conducted.
Speaker Bob Connor was introduced by Phil Kellerman. Bob spoke about the history of Juneteenth. Bob specifically talked about General Gordon Granger as the man behind Juneteenth and James Montgomery, abolitionist warrior, as major contributors to advocating for the recognition that blacks solders made to the Union effort and the freeing of slaves, resulting in the Juneteenth holiday.
Bob was kind of enough to offer the sale of three of his books and proceeds were donated to our water project. $152 was raised via the sales.
In regular business, Roberto mentioned that Murray was moving Rotary memorabilia and other items out of storage. These items were previously on display at Quigley’s restaurant where we used to meet.
Concerning our Rotary water project, Peter reported the good news that a bank account had been established in Kenya. The next step is payment for the hydro geological survey.
Phil provided a tax status update by saying he had submitted to the IRS the application for reinstatement of 501c4 status and the financial filings for the past 4 years. He credited Terry for doing the bulk of the work.
A speaker has been selected for December 5th. Phil said that he is seeking a speaker for December 19. However, a live meeting will not be able to be held at Moscatiellos since they will be booked during the holidays. A decision will be made as to how to meet that day.
Roberto said that a CNY Rotary member orientation was held October 22nd. Carole said that she learned a tremendous amount as she attended the P1 part as she is a relatively new member. Jim took P2 and Roberto took the graduate part.
It was announced that the Scotia Rotary Club was making available washable menstrual kits to be distributed to girls all over the world who do not have access to menstrual products.
Club members decided to once again adopt a family for the holidays via Circles of Mercy. Roberto said that we needed a leader to spearhead our efforts to collect holiday gifts for the adopted family.
The Shelter Box annual event is to be held November 14 at 8 pm EST at ShelterBoxUSA.org/virtual.
Roberto said that the Rotary Foundation is embarking on a large fundraising campaign to build the endowment to over 2 billion dollars to enable the Foundation to issue district grants.
CYN is sponsoring a youth exchange at the CYN Rotary Conference in Albany, April 4-6, 2025. They are looking for a donation of $500 from each club in the district, and want a response by the end of November.
The Legacy Brunch will be held on Sunday, November 17th at the Doubletree in Binghamton, New York.
The Rotary Presidential Peace Conference will be held February 20-22, 2025 in Istanbul.
The Rotary International Convention will be held in Calgary June 21-25, 2005. It will be in Minneapolis in 2028 and in Chicago in 2030.
In other business, Deb Brown said the she and Peter will host the holiday party on December 12 at their house. Arrangements are being made to order food from La Bella in Valatie. A sign up sheet will be handed out at next week’s meeting.
Pat said she is interested in helping to organize a defensive driving course at the Nassau free library.
Jim announced that he still has soap to sell to raise funds for the club.
Roberto mentioned that Hoffman’s Car Wash may have tickets for car washes that we can sell to raise money. He will talk to Murray about this.
Members in Attendance (14): Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Ray Hannan, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Andy Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Carol Heaney, Debbie Rodriguez, Dick Drumm, Charlie Foote and Kevin Leyhane.
By Zoom(2): Ruth Russell, Becky Raymond
Guests (1): Dr. Chris Bystroff
President Roberto Martinez called the meeting to order.
Theme for the year: Grow membership, do good in the world, leverage social capital, & have fun!
Meeting Notes:
Website Updates: Notify Kevin Leyhane if there are any changes for the website.
Grant Update: Edith Kanara of the Rotary Club of Enkare Naroch, Kenya put together the financial and demographic packages. Jennifer Grymm of the Rotary Club in Kenya will get back to Peter Brown tomorrow.
East Greenbush and Social Capital: The Club is proposing a cornhole tournament to raise funds for a school project. Peter Brown, Roberto Martinez, Terry Brewer, Jim Leyhane and Ron Annis met with Jeff Simon, Superintendent for the East Greenbush School District regarding a potential project. Mr. Simon proposed funding a community center for integration in the School District. Lisa Jackson will come to speak to the Club about holding a tournament. Mr. Simon also proposed moving the Star of Hope to Columbia High. The memorial for families of students who died prior to graduation is currently located between the WMCA and the East Greenbush Library.
Tax Status: Per Phil Kellerman, the accountant is finalizing the numbers and hopes to have it done next week.
Member Dues: According to Murray Forth, there are 2 outstanding.
Viking Gym: The Grand Opening was Saturday 9/14/24 at 1 pm at the Schodack Town Park. Kiwanis and Top Form, Rotary and Charles Peter, Schodack Town Supervisor, along with other Town employees were present. Murray Forth will deliver the sign to the Town next week.
Rotary Leadership Institute ( rlinea.org ): The next training is in Verona, NY on 9/28.24. Per Roberto Martinez, the Club will pay the $75 fee for any member who wants to attend.
Membership: Membership is ongoing. An application was sent to a potential new member. Jim Leyhane will look into Rotary shirts for new members.
Speakers: Needed for this year. Contact Phil Kellerman with any speakers.
World Polio Day: It is on October 24th. Roberto Martinez will check with John Justino at the School of Public Health. John is not available until Monday. Per Jim Leyhane, Rotary will focus on clean water availability for all in the future.
Benefit Concert: Phil Kellerman has a local and a band from Florida. He is looking for a venue. Roberto Martinez with check with a local church regarding availability.
Cafe Capriccio: Andy Leyhane and Jim Leyhane are contacting the Cafe regarding a fundraiser.
Rotary Presidential Peace Conference: To be held February 20-22, 2025 at the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel and Conference Center in Istanbul, Turkey. Register at rotery.org/istanbul25.
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 3rd at 6:00 pm at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant, Route 4, North Greenbush. Also, you can join by Zoom using the link on the websites calendar page.
Entry Choices will be Chicken Caesar Salid, Chicken Marsala and Penne Vodka.
A New Task Force for Post Election Audits
Dr. Chris Bystroff
Dr. Bystroff is a Professor of Biology at RPI. He has been looking at election polls and noted recent “weird” election results. Post election polls are accurate within one percent but that has not been the case in recent elections. Estimates can be made on how accurate polls are using a random sample distribution looking at the margin of error between the State tally and the election polls. Exit polls are done by phone. They usually get 700 to 800 responses out of thousands of contacts.
When you vote, your ballot is scanned into the voting machine from which a poll tape is printed out at the end of the night and submitted to the Board of Elections. The ballots go into a ballot bag and are sealed.
Can an election be stolen? Ballot stuffing uses pre-marked ballots that are added to the ballot bag. However, this is unlikely because there are watchers at the polling place. Voting machine software manipulation can occur at the factory or by hacking into machines at a later time. Voting machine manufactures, citing intellectual property, keep the software secret. This issue can be solved by auditing the votes by comparing the ballots to the poll tapes. He has looked at election results and found that these numbers do not agree. The results were certified even though there were discrepancies probably because it was felt that the discrepancy did not affect the election outcome and to minimize work.
The League of Women Voters has conducted research into audits and has come up with a set of recommendations. However, New York certifies elections immediately. Only three percent of voting machines are audited by the same people who conducted the election fifteen days after the election using machines. There is no statute in New York for making audit results public. Dr. Bystroff recommends public audits by a post-election task force to be done manually.
Last night the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club held its annual Presidential Changeover Meeting. The event hosted by Peter and Debbie Brown featured perfect weather, fine food and drinks, and all while surrounded by the Browns’ beautiful gardens. Before Peter Brown handed the gavel off to new incoming president Roberto Martinez, Peter recognized several members of the club including Pat Bailey, Roberto Martinez, Jim Leyhane, Phil Kellerman, Murray Forth, and Debbie Brown for their support during his presidency. Out going President Peter Brown was presented with a jacket as a gift from the club marking his 4th term as club president in is 40 years of service. Some of this past years accomplishments include enlisting social capital, working with RI on a Global Grant that aligns with water initiatives, local scholarships, our annual bowlathon, and support for Girls Inc, Boy Scout Troop 41, the Epilepsy Foundation, Circles of Mercy and assisted the YMCA with projects throughout the year.
Members present: Charlie Foote, Dick and Mary Drumm, Maggie, Murray, and Jeremy Forth, Phil Kellerman, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Peter and Debbie Brown, Andy Leyhane and family, and Kevin Leyhane and family.
There is no meeting scheduled for the upcoming week due to the 4th of July Holiday. The club is looking into making a reservation at the Boathouse Grill in New Baltimore for the July 11th meeting. More details will follow.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 