Nite Owl

Our speaker this morning was Dawn Vavala, a charter member and past president of Twin Bridges Rotary (and a two-time Paul Harris fellow). She is president of Nite Owl Marketing, through which you can buy Rotary clothing and other promotional products.

New VP

Tom Disinger was elected this month as vice president, although he is also continuing as secretary. That will put him in line to become president-elect in July, and president next year. Among other things, Tom is our main contact with, and a volunteer for, Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, a regular platelet blood donor through the Red Cross, and co-organizer of our upcoming pancake breakfast. Bob Bonney announced at our meeting this morning that May 7 is the date for the next pancake breakfast, for which we will partner with our host, the Malta Ridge Volunteer Fire Company, which will share in the proceeds. Bob and Tom also should be contacted by those wishing to participate in the ongoing CLYNK fund-raiser through Hannaford. They can get you a bag for your returnable cans and bottles.

Among our guests this morning were Rotary District 7190 Assistant Governor Doug Ford, of the Ballston Spa club, and Sandy McAlonie  of Twin Bridges Rotary, who will succeed Doug as assistant governor in July.

State Budget Update

Malta Sunrise Rotarian and state Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner gave us an update on the ongoing state budget process at today's meeting. She said she supports Gov. Andrew Cuomo's push to make ride-sharing legal upstate, but has reservations about his shared services plan for municipalities, and the proposal to "raise the age" of criminal responsibility.

RYLA Dinner

Malta Sunrise Rotary is one of the annual sponsors of our district's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, and our president, Arlene Schmidt, has been a longtime volunteer with the program. Four members of our club attended the annual RYLA dinner on Saturday, held at Skidmore College, including, of course, Arlene, pictured above at the event.

We had a business meeting last week. This Thursday, our speaker is Carrie Woerner, a member of both Malta Sunrise Rotary and the New York State Assembly.