Happy Holidays and New Year

We began this year with an appearance from Justice Williams, reporting on his volunteer work in South Africa, and as the year now approaches its end, Justice (see photo above) stopped by our meeting last Thursday to report on his studies and internships in the field of industrial engineering. He's a senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and a former recipient of our scholarship award. We are currently taking applications for the 2017 scholarship.

We also got a report from Bob Bonney on our new fund-raiser via CLYNK and Hannaford, recycling bottles and cans. If you need information and collection bags and stickers, let Bob know.

Qholaqhoe and other business

The December newsletter from Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections, which our club has been helping out for the past three years, has a mix of good news and bad. The drought continues there, in the southern African country of Lesotho, which has caused great hardship, but progress is being made on the educational front, as in the school pictured above.

We held a business meeting Thursday, at which upcoming events were discussed (see updated list to right). Anyone interested in the Jan. 1 Bowl Over Polio or Polio Plunge fund-raisers should contact Doug Ford from the Ballston Spa club (who was visiting our meeting) or Sandy McAlonie at smrotary1213@gmail.com

Before that, we have our holiday party on Wednesday evening Dec. 14 at Andy's Adirondack Grille, and there will be no regular breakfast meeting the next morning, Dec. 15. We will, however, hold our regular meetings on Dec. 22 and 29, and into the New Year.

Scholarship and other business

     We discussed housekeeping matters at Thursday's meeting, including a possible bottle-and-can redemption fund-raiser through Hannaford, and a thank-you letter from ShelterBox for our recent $1,000 donation.

     And Bob Bonney did one of his member "interviews," this one with Tom Disinger, who talked about his career in the Air Force and in the television business, and giving away a baseball that had been signed by Ted Williams to a Red Sox fan who was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan.

     In other news, our scholarship program is open for business. Applications should be in by Feb. 15 next year. Barb Conner says:

      Will you help us spread the word? There is a scholarship available for a deserving Town of Malta/ Round Lake high school student. Read more below.

The Malta Sunrise Rotary Club expects to award one scholarship to a graduating senior in the Class of 2017. The selected student will be awarded a one-time scholarship of $1,000.
Applicants should:
(a.) Demonstrate excellence in their core curriculum ... education as well as strong involvement in community service. Consideration will be given to those students who participate in Rotary organizations for young people, i.e. Interact Club, RYLA or Rotaract, but any qualified student may apply. Consideration may also be given to financial need.
(b). Be a graduating high school senior who resides in the Town of Malta, including the Village of Round Lake. This may include students enrolled at Ballston Spa High School, Shenendehowa Central Schools, any accredited private or parochial schools, and students participating in an accredited home-school program, as long as their legal residence is within the Town of Malta or Round Lake.
Applications are now available in local high school guidance offices or from: Scholarship Committee, Malta Sunrise Rotary, P.O. Box 671, 49 Burlington Avenue, Round Lake, NY 12151.

Counting Kudos

Malta Sunrise member Miles Cornthwaite, proprietor of Spa Cleaners in Ballston Spa, was our expert speaker Thursday. Miles, who has a dry sense of humor, spoke about cleaning both dry and wet.

That evening, at the Rotary Foundation dinner in Saratoga National Golf Club, Malta Sunrise was one of 11 local clubs honored by District 7190 for getting

"Every Rotarian, Every Year" to participate in funding the Foundation (which gets high ratings from Charity Navigator). Good work by our Foundation chairman, Al Schmidt, who was in attendance with his wife, President Arlene Schmidt.

In other news, it was announced that this fall's Saratoga Showcase of Homes, in which several club members participated as volunteers, raised $46,500 for Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, and $23,500 for Habitat for Humanity.

No meeting this coming Thursday, which is Thanksgiving. We resume the next week. And don't forget that members and friends are welcome to attend our holiday party at 6 p.m. Dec. 14 at Andy's Adirondack Grille, on the west side of Route 9, south of Northway Exit 13.

Busy, busy

Barbara Conner, above, took over the organization of our sponsorship of the Red Cross blood drive this year. It was held on Tuesday at the Malta Community Center. Several other Rotarians helped out, and at least three, including Barbara, Steve Ames and Miles Cornthwaite, donated blood themselves.

At Thursday's business meeting, we voted to donate $1,000 to ShelterBox, a Rotary-connected charity, in response to the recent hurricane in Haiti. We also voted to donate $200 to the food pantry at the Malta Community Center (which happens to be named after one of our members, David Meager).

Tomorrow, Saturday, we are having a breakfast and lunch fund-raiser at that same community center (located on Bayberry Drive west of Route 9), providing food service for the Town of Malta Arts, Crafts and Gift Fair. Admission is free, so stop by, say hello, and pay a modest price for a good cause to get something to eat.

Catching Up

Thursday's speaker was Rotarian Larry Levine, talking about teaching origami to cancer patients.

The previous week, see photo above, we had  Lynn Minderman of Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections. a program established to help people in a rural area of Lesotho, in southern Africa. Lynn, left, is shown receiving an $800 check from Malta Sunrise Rotary President Arlene Schmidt and Finance Chair Cynthia Young. This marks the third year in a row we have donated $800 to QMC.

Tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 1, from 1 to 6 p.m., we'll be helping out a Red Cross blood drive at Malta Community Center. Follow link in preceding sentence if you want to donate blood, or call 1 800 RED CROSS for more information.

Ready to Roll

Malta Sunrise Rotary President Arlene Schmidt and her husband and fellow Rotarian Al show off the newly installed plaque on one of the three benches on the Zim Smith Trail that we put in this spring.

At our meeting Thursday, the speaker was Norm Morey, an 86-year-old fitness instructor at the Malta YMCA. Apart from urging people to take his class, he had some other advice for successful aging, including: "Never act your age," "Have children in your life," and Live long, die short."

Moving Ahead

At Thursday's business meeting, we discussed our upcoming pancake breakfast to be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, and co-sponsored by the Malta Ridge Volunteer Fire Company, which will share in the proceeds.

Hours are 8 to 11:30 a.m., and prices are $6 for adults, $3 for children aged 6 to 12, and free for those aged 5 and under. The breakfast will be at the Malta Ridge Fire House on the east side of Route 9 south of Northway Exit 13, and the menu includes sausages, scrambled eggs, orange juice and coffee, as well as pancakes.

On Tuesday, Nov. 1, we will sponsor a blood drive at the Malta Community Center from 1 to 6 p.m. Prospective donors can call 1-800-RED CROSS or go to redcrossblood.org to schedule an appointment.

We will be raising funds by selling food and drink at the Malta Community Center Arts, Crafts & Gifts Fair on Saturday, Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The club has begun a weekly commitment to the food insecurity BackPack Program at Chango Elementary School.

The club also voted on Thursday to contribute $800 to Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections. 2016 is the third year in a row that the Malta club has contributed $800 to this organization, which assists a poor rural community in Lesotho, southern Africa. Malta Sunrise Rotary also contributes regularly to Rotary International's ongoing program to eliminate polio.

Cleanup Crew

Left to right, we've got Mike Williams, Bob and Barb Conner, Miles Cornthwaite, Helen Endres, Al Schmidt and Doug Martin in the Dunning Street cleanup crew this morning. Also along were Jim Hale and Jackie Williams (who took the picture). We pick up trash there a couple of times a year.

On Thursday, our speaker was  Lauren Carpenter of Home Connection Companions, a division of Baptist Health System. They provide nonmedical care to older adults.

It was also announced that starting next week, we'll be helping out with the BackPack food program at Chango Elementary School. And we are continuing to help raise funds for Rebuilding Together Saratoga County at the Showcase of Homes.

History Here

Malta Town Historian Paul Perreault was our speaker Thursday, telling us about this history of our own Malta Sunrise Rotary Club, which was founded in 1990. (Paul, though, is a member of the Ballston Spa Rotary Club.)

Paradise island

Local Rotary member and former Malta Supervisor Paul Sausville told us about his new book Thursday, and generously contributed proceeds of sales at the meeting to the club. Paul and his wife Nancy (also in attendance) have gotten to know the Caribbean island of Marie-Galante, and Paul has now written the first English-language guide to its beaches. He'll be glad to sell you a copy!

This coming Thursday, Ballston Spa Rotarian Paul Perreault will tell us about the history of our Malta club.

Thanks to Al, Doug and Cynthia for several days of work on the sausage and peppers fund-raiser at Malta Days, and to those from our club helping Rebuilding Saratoga County raise money at the ongoing Showcase of Homes.

5K Coming

Paul Loomis from the Malta Business and Professional Association spoke to our meeting Thursday about the Malta 5K fund-raiser, which is coming up on Saturday Sept. 10 in Luther Forest Tech Park.

District Visit

District 7190 Governor John Mucha, left, a member of the Gens Falls Rotary Club, was our speaker Thursday. He was visiting with Doug Ford from the Ballston Spa club. "Have Rotary in your heart," Mucha said, and noted that anyone "of good character" is now eligible to join us.

Chango Principal

Chango Elementary School Principal Karin Skarka gave us food for thought at Thursday's meeting.

Chamber View

Pete Bardunias, president of The Chamber of Southern Saratoga County, spoke at our meeting Thursday.

Dunking and Zoning

Town Supervisor Vince DeLucia was among those getting dunked Wednesday at out booth for Malta Family Night, where we raised $200 for charitable work. Other dunkees included his fellow Town Board members Tim Dunn and Craig Warner, along with Rotarian Miles Cornthwaite. In the other pic, Morgan Zegers watches a star pitcher getting ready to dunk. Rotarians assisting at the event included Paul Sausville, Doug Martin, Helen Endres and Steve Ames.

The next morning, it was back to business with a presentation from Councilman John Hartzell, along with town planner Tony Tozzi, about the proposed rezoning of Route 67 west to permit commercial uses.

New Ways for Old Farm

Our speaker Thursday was Chip Ellm, of the Ellms Family Farm on Charlton Road in Ballston. He told us how his family bought an abandoned dairy farm and has turned it into an agri-toursim enterprise, full of activities for kids, which is open for several weeks every fall (Sept. 17-Oct. 30 this year). The land would probably have become a housing development had the Ellms not gone in this direction, he said.

Rotarian Paul Sausville praised the Ellms Farm as a way to preserve agricultural land and open space. Paul also noted that we're looking for volunteers this coming Wednesday at Shenantaha Creek Park, where Family Night will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. We'll have the dunking booth up, and politicians are expected to be among the dunkees. So if club members can help during that time or before or after, please contact Paul. And everyone else can come down, too, and dunk a Town Board member for a good cause.

Welcome Aboard

Morgan Zegers, second from left, was inducted at Thursday's meeting into the Malta Sunrise Rotary Club. She's a student at American University and has been active this summer in town government. Before that, she was interning in Washington at the office of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose district includes much of Saratoga County.

Changing of the Guard

Arlene Schmidt, left, chaired her first club meeting as this year's president on Thursday, taking over from Mike Williams, right, who becomes membership chairman.

Hail Fellow, and Bikes for Africa

Doug Martin, center, between President Mike Williams and President-elect Arlene Schmidt, at last weekend's changeover event. Doug was being named a Paul Harris Fellow, an award named after the founder of Rotary, in honor and appreciation of his tireless and selfless efforts on behalf of our club.

At today's meeting, Tony Mariotti, a travel planner,  talked about Bicycles for Humanity, with which he's worked to send shipping-crates of bikes to Uganda and South Africa, for use by medical workers, teachers, students and others. He aims to send another, but has lost his storage space. So if anyone in the Saratoga area has room to store a 40-foot shipping crate for up to a year, please let Tony know at BucketlistVacationPlanners@twc.com.

Ch-ch-changes

Members planning to carpool to Schroon Lake should assemble at 9:30 tomorrow (Saturday) morning at the park-and-ride lot near the YMCA. Thursday's meeting featured a Bob Bonney interview of our incoming president, Arlene Schmidt, who will be taking over from Mike Williams. Check Arlene's emails or contact Paul Sausville if you need directions to the changeover picnic.

Honor Flight

Malta Sunrise Rotarian Cynthia Young was our speaker Thursday, telling of her moving trip to Washington as a volunteer with Leatherstocking Honor Flight.

Update From Qholaqhoe

Linda Gorham of Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections stopped by Thursday to give us an update on the drought in Lesotho, southern Africa, and the progress and problems of the rural community which her organization helps there. We've been helping out Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections for the past couple of years. Linda won't be making her usual trip there next year because she'll be on a Peace Corps mission with her husband in Micronesia, but she promised to keep us in touch.

Up the Creek

Margaret "Mogie" Kinosian, from Friends of the Kayaderosseras, was our speaker Thursday, pictured above with club President Mike Williams, left, and member Paul Sausville, whose guest she was. The Kayaderosseras Creek, she told us, has a watershed that takes in about a quarter of Saratoga County. It is the main source of Saratoga Lake, and supports Brook Trout in its upper reaches. The Friends undertake many activities to support the creek environment, including two annual cleanup days.

Power Line-Up

Thursday's speaker was Vince DeLucia, Malta town supervisor since January, who spoke mainly about battling floods and storms his winter and spring. Malta Sunrise Rotary President Mike Williams is at left in the photo, next to Vince, with former Supervisor Paul Sausville and his wife Nancy, both members of our club, on the right.

Pancakes: Be There or Be Square

Our pancake breakfast is coming up this Saturday, May 14, at the Malta Ridge Fire House on Route 9, south of Northway Exit 13.

Breakfast including scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, orange juice and coffee will be served from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Prices are $6 for adults, $3 for children aged 6 to 12, and free for children 5 and under. Malta Sunrise Rotary will partner with Leatherstocking Honor Flight, which will share in the proceeds.

Tickets will be available at the door, or may be purchased in advance from Malta Sunrise Rotary members.

That's one of our members in the photo above, taken after our meeting this morning at the Malta Diner: Bob Bonney, club sergeant-at-arms, pancake supremo and breakfast organizer extraordinaire.

Catching Up on the News

Here's John (Jake) DeVito, of Ballston Spa High School, Class of 2016, being awarded Malta Sunrise Rotary's $1,000 scholarship by club President Mike Williams. The award is for a graduating senior residing in the Town of Malta (which includes the Village of Round Lake).

Jake is president of the Class of 2016, served as captain of both the varsity golf and baseball teams this year, and taught in St. Mary's Church religious education program. The son of John and Amy DeVito of Malta, he plans to attend St. Lawrence University in the fall, majoring in business and political science.

In other news, we got the benches up on the Zim Smith Trail, as you can see from this Ballston Journal story.

Cement Heads

Business meeting today at which we discussed ongoing projects, including the installation of three benches on the Zim Smith Trail. The photo shows, left to right, Rotarians Paul Sausville, Doug Martin, Al Schmidt, Chris Luhn, Mike Williams, Jim Hale, Marcus Batson and Bob Conner, who prepared the concrete bases last Saturday. This Saturday morning (check your email for precise info) we'll put in the actual benches. Thanks also to behind-the-scenes facilitators Arlene Schmidt, Tom Disinger and Barb Conner, and to the GlobalFoundries-Town of Malta Foundation.

We also discussed at today's meeting the drought in Lesotho and its effect on Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections, an organization which we've helped in recent years and hope to again soon. Al Schmidt announced that club members have donated $2,559 to the Rotary Foundation this fiscal year. Al also repaired our signs for the upcoming pancake breakfast on May 14 at Malta Ridge Fire House, and Miles Cornthwaite and Doug Martin put them up around town.

We're donating $150 to a Haiti aid project through an upcoming Rotary district conference, and will start collecting food again (especially canned protein products such as beef stew and tuna) for the Malta Community Center food pantry.

Veterans Moving Forward

Our speaker Thursday was Joe Miranda, who served many years as an employee of Saratoga County, and as an elected official in the Town of Milton and Village of Ballston Spa. But he was talking to us about his son Joey, who served in the Marine Corps and then suffered a traumatic brain injury in a construction accident. Joe had praise for the organization Veterans Moving Forward, which provided Joey with a service dog. You can see the result in this video.

Club members also discussed the upcoming installation of three benches on the Zim Smith Trail. The first part of that project, pouring the concrete, will be done tomorrow.

Also, thanks to Al Schmidt, Doug Martin, Craig Warner and Mike Williams, who worked with a Chazen Companies crew last weekend on the Rebuilding Together Saratoga County project.

Catching up

Thursday's meeting featured our own Bob Holbrook speaking about variable annuities, and a discussion of upcoming events including today's Rebuilding Saratoga project.
The previous week we skipped over, because the speaker was our scholarship recipient, but we jumped the gun on that. We weren't supposed to tell him until the school district awards ceremony in early May, so more will be posted here about all that after the district event.

Taking care of business

At our business meeting today, Pete Champagne from the Ballston Spa Rotary Club gave tips for our upcoming project to install three benches on the Zim Smith Trail. Pete's club has been installing benches in the village of Ballston Spa.


We also discussed our May 14 pancake breakfast coming up at the Malta Ridge Fire House, with Leatherstocking Honor Flight as our partner again.


And our Scholarship Committee will soon be announcing a $1,000 award for a senior from Malta.

RYLA dinner, and Malta Veterans

Here are Arlene Schmidt and Ben Balet at the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards dinner Saturday at Skidmore College. Five members of our club attended, but Arlene is the key player who helps run the monthly RYLA meetings at Skidmore for high school-age students. One of those students this year was Ben, a Malta resident and a junior at Ballston Spa High School, who attended with his family (below): father John, sister Liza, and mother Sandi.

The students organized this well-run event, from the good food to games to excellent music by a string quartet of Shaker High School students, whose selections included Mozart's "A Little Night Music."

Meanwhile, our speakers at Thursday's meeting were Renee Farley and Sandra King, from the Malta Veteran Appreciation Program. They have been reaching out to help veterans in need, so check out their Web site for more information.

Keeping civilization alive

Here's Emily Hale, a music educator and performer who was our speaker on Thursday. Emily is also the daughter of Malta Sunrise Rotarian the Rev. Jim Hale. She often performs on a reconstructed baroque-era violin, which (among other differences) has strings made from animal gut instead of metal. Emily concluded by playing a lovely gavotte written by the French baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau.

One of our own

Our speaker last Thursday was Malta Sunrise Rotarian Carrie Woerner, who talked about her still fairly new job as a member of the New York State Assembly. Although a Democrat, Carrie expressed reservations about potential "unintended consequences" of the proposed increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Check for CAPTAIN; and a warning about crooks

Here's Sue Malinowski-Catroppa, executive Director of CAPTAIN Youth and Family Services, getting a $500 check at our meeting today from Malta Sunrise Rotary President Mike Williams. Sue was one of our speakers in January, and that post has more info about CAPTAIN and how anyone can help this worthy cause.

Our speaker today, pictured below, was Dennis Keefrider, an associate with LegalShield, who gave us warnings and tips about identity theft.  

Scholarship Updated

It was a business meeting on Thursday, with some upcoming events discussed (and listed on the right of this page).
Also, the club has approved Barb Conner's update of our scholarship program, about which she wrote on our Facebook page as follows:
Do you know a high school senior living in the Town of Malta or the Village of Round Lake? The Sunrise Rotary Club of Malta, NY, offers a scholarship to assist and encourage a graduating high school senior residing in the Town of Malta, NY. The selected student will be awarded a one-time scholarship of $1,000.
Applicants should demonstrate excellence in their core curriculum education as well as strong involvement in community service projects. Preference will be given to those students who participate in Rotary organizations for young people, i.e. Interact Club, RYLA or Rotaract, but ANY qualified student may apply.
Students enrolled at Ballston Spa High School, Shenendehowa High School, any accredited private or parochial school, and students participating in an accredited home-school program, are eligible, as long as their legal residence is within the Town of Malta or Round Lake. Information is available in area high school guidance offices. Deadline to apply is March 30. Please help spread the word by liking or re-posting. Thank you!

On the Heroin Epidemic, and related issues

Theresa Knorr, our speaker on Thursday, is shown after the meeting with club member Paul Sausville (the former Malta supervisor). A "recovery advocate," she is former director of Hedgerow House, a chemical dependence community residence in the town of Ballston.
Knorr currently teaches tai chi for recovery, and is associated with the new grassroots group Recovery Advocacy in Saratoga, which is hoping to open a community center.
 The last sentence in her talk was: "Love is what cures."
Update: Here is TK's contact information:
Theresa Knorr, CADAC

BALANCE Recovery Consultation l Tai Chi for Recovery

28 Division Street

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

(518) 222-4870

tknorr12@gmail.com

https://tknorr12.wix.com/wellnesseducator

https://www.facebook.com/BALANCE-Recovery-Consultation-1471119409770226/?ref=hl

RYLA dinner coming up

We didn't have a scheduled outside speaker at Thursday's meeting, so one of our members (Miles Cornthwaite) interviewed two others (Al Schmidt and Jim Hale). We also had a guest, Jessie Riley, publisher of Clifton Park Neighbors, who spoke briefly about a new Malta Neighbors magazine she plans on publishing this summer.
Mention also was made of the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards dinner coming up on April 2. Arlene Schmidt from our club is much involved with the local RYLA program, which is held at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. The April 2 dinner will be at Skidmore at 5 p.m. in the Murray-Aikins Dining Hall, upstairs. Anyone planning to attend should send $25 by March 10 to D. Rossiter, 1482 Castleridge Road, Castleton, NY 12033.

Farmer/President/Councilman

Our speaker on Thursday was Chuck Curtiss, president of the Saratoga County Agricultural Society, aka the Saratoga County Fair, which will celebrate its 175th anniversary this summer in Ballston Spa. He's also a farmer in our neighboring town of Ballston, where he has been active in agricultural conservation and, last November, got himself elected to the Town Board. Thanks, Chuck.

Business Meeting

We have a regular business meeting on the first Thursday of the month (a day after our regular board meeting on the first Wednesday).
This week we decided to give $500 to CAPTAIN Youth and Family Services, $100 to Malta Ridge Fire Co., and $100 to a regional Rotary food drive. We're also revamping our scholarship program, so that it will now give an annual $1,000 award to a town resident who is a graduating high school senior.
Foundation Committee Chairman Al Schmidt reported that members have contributed $2,105 so far this fiscal year (which ends June 30) to the Rotary Foundation.

Captain, Our Captain

Here's Sue Catroppa, executive director of CAPTAIN Youth and Family Services, speaking at our meeting on Thursday. As Barb Conner says on our Facebook page: "Much of their work is done by volunteers, and they could always use YOUR help."
Update: Sue's talk was sobering, helping us realize the urgent needs and problems affecting many young people in Saratoga County. While this is often thought of as a prosperous area, there is a lot of poverty here.

More information can be found at  https://captaincares.org/. CAPTAIN's volunteer needs include: Homework helpers
Pantry van drivers
Pantry assistants
Groundskeeping and meal preparation at youth shelter (which is in Malta)
Family development mentors
Office assistants
Floor workers and cashiers at CAPTAIN’s Treasures thrift store
Fund-raising
CAPTAIN also posts a wish list of needed items on their website. See: https://captaincares.org/index.php/get-involved/captain-wish-list
Barb says: "Please consider what YOU might be able to do to help children and families in need in Saratoga County. Thank you!"

At the YMCA

Well actually, we were at the Malta Diner as usual on Thursday, and the YMCA folks came there. That's Saratoga Regional YMCA CEO Sean Andrews at top, who was our speaker, and below are Paul Loomis, one of their board members and a Malta resident, and Amanda Brandeburg, a member of our Rotary club and director of the Y's Malta branch.
Andrews said the Malta branch, one of five in the regional organization, has been "a tremendous success." He said the Y doesn't turn away anyone due to inability to pay (they have "scholarships" to assist), and mentioned worthy programs such as Livestrong for cancer survivors.

Here Comes the Sun

Our speaker at Thursday's meeting was Kimberly Brown, community events manager for the PosiGen solar energy company. She is from Louisiana, where PosiGen is based, and is spending her first winter in upstate New York. PosiGen, she said, makes a special effort to provide solar panels to low- and moderate-income homeowners in a grid-based system, and works with the state agency NYSERDA. It also does energy audits for customers, she said, helping them save money. Eventually, the company wants to make its own solar panels.


In other business, club members discussed scheduling and organizing events for the spring, and possible changes to the scholarship program we offer to local high school graduates.

First Meeting of the Year

Here's Justice Williams, a junior majoring in industrial engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, speaking at our meeting on Thursday about the seven weeks he spent on a school project in an informal settlement near Cape Town, South Africa. Our club helped fund his trip.

Member Bob Holbrook reported that $273 (I think) was raised in the New Year's Day bowling tourney to aid Rotary International's anti-polio campaign. Al Schmidt said club members have contributed $2001 to Rotary International so far during this fiscal year (July 1 - June 30). And Barbara Conner pointed out that RI gets high marks from Charity Navigator.

Closer to home, it was established that we'll be working on a Rebuild Saratoga project on April 23. And Tom Disinger reported on items needed for Code Blue Saratoga, to help the homeless.

A new year, a new Web site -- though still a work in progress

Our board meeting (which all club members are welcome to attend) will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, at 7:15 a.m. in the Malta Diner. The regular club business meeting will be Thursday at 7:15.