Blood Work

Anne Santino, seen right with Rotarian Paul Sausville, was our speaker last Thursday. She is senior account manager for blood collection in Saratoga and Washington counties for the American Red Cross.

Our club will be helping the Red Cross on its August 30 blood drive, from 1 to 6 pm at the Malta Community Center. You can make an appointment online to donate blood there through the American Red Cross website.  

Malta Sunrise Rotary has worked on these blood drives for many years, and Anne paid tribute to Paul's wife, former nurse and fellow Rotarian Nancy Sausville (below), who has been actively involved throughout.

In other business, we discussed potential use of our dunking booth at Malta Community Day on September 11, and a potential pancake breakfast at a fire house in the fall.

There will be no regular meeting this Thursday, July 1. Instead, we will meet for a changeover pot-luck at Larry Levine's house between 4:30 and 7 pm.

Rebuilding

 

Michelle Larkin, executive director of Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, was our speaker at last Thursday's meeting.

She spoke about how the nonprofit has grown since its founding in 2003. For the past four years it has been located at 132 Milton Ave. in Ballston Spa, where it operates a thrift store, ReShop for the Good. It has an upcoming project in Malta Gardens.

Our club has often worked with Rebuilding. Michelle mentioned that our former president, Tom Disinger (now seriously ill with cancer), is also a former volunteer of the year for her organization. 

The Graduate

Peris Tushabe, our speaker on Thursday, had planned to be in Uganda by now, but her summer project has been postponed for at least six weeks because of new restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic there -- where only a small proportion of the population has been vaccinated. She has lived in the United States since she was 13, and recently graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.

She hopes to start a theater project in northern Uganda to encourage girls to stay in school. The area was badly affected by civil warfare, and Peris hopes to address trauma and conflict resolution, along with period poverty and other issues.

New Slate

 Our board members for the year starting July 1 were elected at Thursday's meeting. The line-up is: President Miles Cornthwaite; President-elect Travis Fealy; Vice President Larry Levine; Treasurer Cynthia Young; Secretary Kristen Stanley; Finance Chair Steve Ames; Membership Chair Mike Williams; Foundation Chair Barbara Conner.