TU Reporter, Paul Harris Fellow

Times Union reporter Wendy Liberatore was today's speaker -- or rather at her request she was interviewed by Bob Conner. Her many insights about local issues and the news business prompted wide-ranging discussion among Rotarians and guests, including most of the current members of the Malta Town Board.


Today's meeting was also the last one under our current president, Tom Disinger, closing out a successful year. He presented a Paul Harris Fellow award, named after the founder of Rotary, to our fellow member Steve Ames for his service to the club. (No meeting next week, because of the July 4 holiday. There will be a board meeting on July 10, and then the next day, July 11, no morning meeting but a change-over gathering in the afternoon/evening at Larry Levine's house.)

The News From Uganda

Speakers on Thursday included John Gamble and our own Paul Phillips, who told of the mission to Uganda which they participated in recently with AIDS Orphans Education Trust (AOET) and the Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church of Saratoga Springs. Our club donated $500 to that mission earlier this year.
 AOET is an African charity whose scope has expanded to helping poor children who may not have been orphaned by AIDS. The main speaker Thursday was Teo Nakubulwa (pictured left), child social welfare officer at AOET-Uganda. 
" I have seen so many children's lives changed from hopelessness to hope," she said, but the need remains "overwhelming." Her work includes securing homes for children in Uganda, finding financial sponsors for them (including a good number from our area), and training women to be hairdressers or tailors.
More information about AOET, including how you can help through sponsoring a child's education or by making a donation to support clinics and outreach programs in Uganda, can be found at https://www.aoetusa.org/.

Rebuilding

Our speaker last Thursday was Michelle Larkin, founder and executive director of  Rebuilding Together Saratoga County. We handed her a $200 check (as agreed last week).

With some funding from the Town of Malta/GlobalFoundries Foundation, and some of our own money, and work by John Amo, we facilitated the repainting and cleanup of the gazebo on Dunning Street in the center of town. It is named after the former supervisor Paul Sausville, who is a member of our club.

This and That

At this week's board and business meetings, we agreed to contribute $200 to Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, and another $200 to Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region for its new project in Lake George.

We also elected a slate of officers for the new Rotary year starting July 1. They are: President, Mike Williams; president-elect, Larry Levine; vice president, Chris Luhn; treasurer, Cynthia Young; secretary, Bob Conner; Finance Committee chair, Steve Ames; Foundation chair, Estelle Genest; seargeant-at-arms, Bob Bonney. 

Photo above was taken at our June I fund-raiser, with Tom Disinger, Helen Endres, Larry Levine and Steve Ames selling food at the Spring Into Summer Malta Marketplace craft fair. Other participants included Miles Cornthwaite, Cynthia Young, Jim Hale and Bob Conner.