Scholarship Winner

Our speaker this morning was Paul Ruger (right, with club President Bob Conner). He was the 2017 winner of Malta Sunrise Rotary's $1,000 scholarship for a graduating high school senior living in town. Four runners-up received $100 book awards.

Paul is the son of Joan and Karl Ruger. In June, he graduated from Saratoga Central Catholic School and was the salutatorian of his class. In September, he will attend Siena College with a planned major in business.
Paul is already involved in the business world, as he works with his dad in their family maple business on Atkins Road in Malta, Sugar Oaks Farms http://www.sugaroakfarms.com/. Paul is also very active in 4H, and has worked for two years for Staples in Wilton.

The Year Without a Summer

No, not this year, though it has been a little cool and rainy in these parts, with a partial eclipse of the sun under way today.
Rather, "the year without a summer" refers to 1816, and was the subject of our speaker last week, Malta Town Historian (and Ballston Spa Rotarian) Paul Perreault.
Caused by the eruption of a volcano the year before, in what is now Indonesia, the ill omens locally began with a crop-damaging "dry fog" in the fall of 1815. (That volcano in the photo, Mount Tambora, blasted off a third of its height.) The next year, 1816, the snows and frosts never went away, and weather troubles around the world continued for the next few years, with disastrous results for the farm-based local economy.
In the absence of federal and state aid, Paul told us, the burden of assisting the destitute fell to local people, including the Town of Malta government, which massively increased the budget for the "overseer of the poor."

Physician Recruiter, Food Drive

Our speaker last Thursday was Denise Romand, physician recruiter for Saratoga Hospital, and guest of our member Dave Kruczlnicki.

President Bob Conner also updated members about our summer food drive to benefit the Malta Community Center food pantry. Members have been donating at meetings, and we also have a collection box at Hannaford on Round Lake Road, where Bob picked up donations last week.