Pinch Hitters

Bob Bonney "interviewing" Helen Endres, at last week's meeting.

Here and There

Two of our members, Paul Phillips and Barbara Conner, are on a church medical mission to Uganda with the charity AOET.

So last week they missed our meeting, but attended the Jinja Rotary Club (above) instead.

Back in Malta, we held board and business meetings, allocating $200 for the food pantry at the David Meager Community Center, plus some money to fix our dunking booth.

Al Schmidt reported good progress on fund-raising for the Rotary Foundation, and announced that we'll need a volunteer to take over as Foundation chair when he steps down from that role this summer.

This Thursday, our speaker will be Brandt Greiner, the emergency preparedness coordinator for Saratoga County Public Health. He previously worked for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) as an environmental compliance review specialist, and has helped out at numerous  disaster sites in New York State since 2004.

Don't forget we'll need help on our scheduled cleanup projects April 21, and at the pancake breakfast April 29 at Malta Ridge Fire House.

For Veterans

Renee Farley of the Malta Veterans Appreciation Program was our speaker last week. Check out their web site for contact information, to get help or volunteer.

We presented her with a $100 check, which comes in addition to the $100 we donated a few months ago for the planned veterans memorial walkway near Town Hall.

On Wednesday, there will be a board meeting at Panera, followed the next day by our regular monthly business meeting at the Malta Diner. Both start at 7:15 a.m.

Meanwhile, two of our members, Paul Phillips and Barbara Conner (below), left Thursday for a church/charity medical mission trip to Uganda.

Brookside

Anne Clothier (in photo) and Cherie Grey, from Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa, were our speakers today. They showed us interesting things and told us about upcoming events, and pitched for volunteers and donations. Cherie also mentioned the unrelated nonprofit Team Billy, which has its research ride coming up on May 20.

RYLA and other business

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards dinner, celebrating a program which our club helps sponsor, was held earlier this month at Skidmore College, with some of the participants shown here.

And at last week's meeting, we inducted three new members and took care of routine business.

This week's meetings cancelled/postponed

We are, due to weather concerns, postponing this week's business meeting until next week, and also tomorrow's board meeting (members have been notified, mostly by email). So no meetings this week, board meeting next week (Wednesday 7:15) at Panera, and business meeting next week as usual at Malta Diner (which is being contacted).

The only speaker displaced next week will be President Bob Conner, whom everyone has heard yakking too much by now anyway. But if you want you can still buy at that meeting next week copies of his books (the new historical novel, The Last Circle of Ulysses Grant, and/or the 2013 biography, General Gordon Granger), which he is donating to benefit The Rotary Foundation. 

At last week's meeting, the speaker was Kiere Neulander, a wealth consultant at Pioneer Bank, serving the Malta branch on Kendall Way. 

Malta Seniors Prez

Malta Seniors President (and Malta Sunrise Rotary Secretary) Kathy Eitzmann was our speaker Thursday, telling us about this growing organization (check out their web site and newsletter here). Kathy mentioned how she succeeded Josie Birbiglia as president. Josie, RIP, was also a member of our club, and a wonderful person and Rotarian.