New Magazine

 

Melissa Drummond, publisher of Malta Neighbors magazine, was our speaker on Thursday. She is pictured holding the February issue, with Malta Ridge Fire Chief Pete Shaw on the cover. (Pete happened to be one of our speakers in January.) That issue also contains an article by our member Paul Phillips about local efforts to assist AIDS Orphans Education Trust-Uganda. Paul also may be featured in an upcoming edition of Malta Neighbors.

The magazine started up last August, and is aligned with Best Version Media. Melissa also works as an educator and is the mother of two sons, one serving in the Air Force and the other set to graduate this year from Ballston Spa High School.

At last week's meeting, the speaker was Alice Benfey from Community Hospice. And President Miles Cornthwaite presented Estelle Genest with a Paul Harris fellowship award.

 

Race Course Workers and Horses

 

Kim Weir, director of major gifts and planned giving for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, was our speaker on Thursday. She discussed the much improved current treatment of retired racehorses, and her involvement with the families of backstretch workers. She invited our club to volunteer to clean one of the cabins that will house a family from April to October.

Capitol Report

Malta Supervisor Mark Hammond (standing), state Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and Times Union reporter Kathleen Moore (left to right) were among those at Thursday's meeting. (Pete Bardunias photo)

Carrie (a club member) gave her usual thorough report on the legislative session so far, starting with an update on "my eighth budget" -- she is in the middle of her fourth two-year term.

She engaged in-depth with questions about problems and opportunities in areas including criminal justice legislation, employment, welfare, transportation and housing.

Firefighting Report

 

Malta Ridge Fire Chief Pete Shaw was our speaker on Thursday, and said his volunteer department responded to 527 calls in 2021. Shaw, who retired from his professional career in 2020 as assistant chief of the Saratoga Springs Fire Department, pointed out some drawbacks to modern modes of construction. Open plans, two-by-four framing, and furniture amounting to "wood covered in gasoline" can help fire spread dangerously fast, he said. He stressed the importance of working smoke detectors, and supports passage of a local law requiring sprinklers in new buildings.

In other business, Treasurer Cynthia Young confirmed she is sending $1,330 for AOET in Uganda and $830 for QMC in Lesotho. The funds include $1,000 approved at the Dec. 23 meeting, supplemented by additional contributions from members to be funneled through the club.

Next week's speaker (Jan. 27) will be club member Carrie Woerner, who is also a member of the New York State Assembly.

African Focus

 

Local pediatrician Dr. Emanuel "Manny" Cirenza is shown on a medical mission to Uganda, where he has gone several times with AOET, which our club helps support.

Cirenza was the speaker at this morning's meeting. He talked about the challenges of tackling HIV, TB, malaria, diarrhea and other serious conditions in a country where per-capita income is only $1,800 per year. The challenges include decreasing US goverment aid, and the poverty of the students in the AOET schools -- who nonetheless perform very well in tests.

In discussion, our member Mike Williams and his son Justice talked about their experiences in Africa, and our club's current fund-raising for AOET and QMC in Lesotho. Estelle Genest said she has noticed distinct improvement in the English writing of a QMC student with whom she has been corresponding.

Joints, Africa, Santa

 

Last week's speaker was Dr. David Quinn from The Bone & Joint Center, who told us about their new facility on the Saratoga Hospital campus off Route 67, west of Northway Exit 12 in Malta. 

At this morning's meeting, we took care of some business regarding the two African projects which we have helped support in recent years. We voted a baseline amount of support, which will be supplemented by some members' individual contributions. The total amount will be reported soon on this blog.

In other business, Santa Claus stopped by to lead a holiday singalong.

Gift of Life Via Malta Sunrise Rotary to Ugandan Boy

 

A story in today's Albany Times Union is headlined "Toddler in Uganda gets life-saving surgery with help from Malta man". (It is published online today, December 3, and will probably appear in print over the weekend.) The story concerns this boy, Mark Kasajja, who is now recovering well after operations on November 25 at the Uganda Heart Institute. The treatments were paid for by Gift of Life International, which has long been associated with Rotary and to which our club has made modest donations over the years. We have also helped support through AOET a school in Uganda where Mark's father works.

At a meeting of Malta Sunrise Rotary last March, the Zoom speaker was Rob Raylman, CEO of Gift of Life. In attendance was our member Paul Phillips (the aforementioned "Malta man"), who for 18 years has led local efforts to support AOET in Uganda. Paul brought up with Rob the plight of Mark Kasajja, then aged two-and-a-half. They followed up later to good effect.

Coincidentally, the Times Union reporter, Wendy Liberatore, spoke to our club in 2019.