Budget Update, Scholarship Deadline

Club member Carrie Woerner was our speaker Thursday, giving an update on the state budget process in her capacity as a member of the NYS Assembly. Carrie expressed some skepticism about the proposals from Gov. Andrew Cuomo that are designed to get around the new federal restrictions on tax deductions. She also discussed local issues, staying to talk with her fellow members well after the formal end of the meeting.

In other business, we are only a little over a couple of weeks away from an education deadline. Our scholarship chair, Barbara Conner, asks:

Do you know a deserving high school senior from the Town of Malta, including Round Lake?

The Malta Sunrise Rotary Club offers a $1,000 scholarship for a 2018 graduating high school senior residing in the Town of Malta. Our scholarship committee may also offer up to five $100 textbook awards to commended scholarship finalists.

Information and applications are available at the Ballston Spa, Shenendehowa, and Spa Catholic high schools, or by contacting: Scholarship Committee Chair, Malta Sunrise Rotary Club, P.O. Box 671, Round Lake, NY 12151.

The deadline to apply for our Malta Sunrise Rotary Scholarship is February 15, 2018. ****Please share this information with eligible Malta high school seniors.*** Thank you!

Still Supporting Students in Lesotho

Linda Gorham, left, of Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections (QMC), accepts an $800 check from Malta Sunrise Rotary Treasurer Cynthia Young and President Bob Conner at this morning's meeting. 

Linda gave us an update on QMC, which is now focused on educating students -- mostly in high school and a few in college -- from a rural, mountainous area of northern Lesotho, which is a small, poor, landlocked country in southern Africa. Our Rotary club has now donated a total of $3,200 to QMC since 2014.

Surrender Site Info

Our speakers Thursday were Amy Bracewell, left, superintendent of Saratoga National Historical Park, and Larry Arnold, right, Surrender Site Project Coordinator, Friends of the Saratoga Battlefield. They were guests of Carrie Woerner, center, a member of our club and the NYS Assembly.

Amy and Larry gave us an overview of the park, its historical importance, and the current efforts to add a visitors' area to the Saratoga Surrender Site, just south of Schuylerville. For more information, see this web site: http://friendsofsaratogabattlefield.org/saratoga-surrender-site/

Jan. 4 Meeting Cancelled

At 8:50 p.m. this evening we got a call from the Malta Diner saying they will not be able to open tomorrow, and

apologizing. As most members will have seen from prior emails and Facebook posts, the Diner has been closed for several days due to a burst sprinkler, and they had informed us a couple of days ago that they would be reopening Thursday morning. But it's taking longer than expected to dry the place out, and at this time it is too late for us to make other arrangements, so we are cancelling tomorrow's meeting. This information has also been communicated on Facebook and by email to members (along with a couple of phone calls).

We did hold a board meeting this morning at Panera, and among other items of business appointed a Nominating Committee composed of Estelle Genest and Miles Cornthwaite, whose first order of business will be to recommend a new secretary. We also got an application and dues payment from Kathy Eitzmann, and the board recommended that she be accepted as a member. We OK'd a $100 donation to The Prevention Council, and another potential donation to a local group. Other business matters may be briefly discussed at next week's meeting, when the speaker will be a guest of Carrie Woerner.

Malta's Most Famous Hero

At Thursday's meeting, Malta Town Historian Paul Perreault talked to us about the young man who was Abraham Lincoln's friend and one of the first casualties of the Civil War, Elmer Ellsworth. The future colonel was born on the site of what is now the Malta Diner, where we hold our weekly meetings.

No meeting this Thursday, though, Dec. 28, as we take a break for the holidays, resuming our usual schedule in the first week of January. Happy New Year!

Business to Party

At this week's board and business meetings, we inducted new member Mark Braaten, and agreed to make an $800 charity donation which will be announced next month. We also OK'd $200 donations to ShelterBox and the Malta Food Pantry.
Members should contact by tomorrow (Sunday) evening either Estelle Genest or Miles Cornthwaite to sign up for our annual holiday party, to be held Thursday Dec. 14 at the National Bottle Museum in Ballston Spa, from 6 p.m.  to around 8. No morning meeting that day.

History Man

Roy Arnold (shown here with Malta Sunrise Rotary's Arlene Schmidt) was our speaker Thursday, talking about local history. He is a leader of the Malta Memories Historical Group, which meets at the Malta Ridge United Methodist Church.