100 Acre Wood, Runners, Community Day, Blood Drive

Topics covered by Paul Loomis, the speaker at our meeting yesterday, included the 100 Acre Wood, a forested trail system open to the public in Malta's Luther Forest Technology Campus, which his Roundabout Runners Club maintains. They welcome volunteers.

He also spoke about the Malta 5K (and 10K) coming up this Saturday morning, September 10, in the tech park. The races start and finish at the Hudson Valley Community College campus. Money raised from the annual event provides assistance to the Malta Ridge and Round Lake fire departments, Malta-Stillwater EMS, and homeless veterans. It's not too late to register.

Saturday also is Malta Community Day, to be held in Shenantaha Creek Park. Our club will operate a cornhole booth.

On September 19, we are sponsoring from 1 to 6 p.m. a Red Cross blood drive at the Malta Community Center. Blood donors can make an appointment here, using sponsor code MALTAROTARY or ZIP code 12020.

Catching Up

 Our speakers in August included Pete Bardunias, senior vice president at the Capital Region Chamber, seen here at left with club President Larry Levine.

Others were Paul Phillips, who spoke about a recent visit to Uganda with AOET, which our club has helped support; and Malta Town Clerk Jennifer Holmes.

At last Thursday's business meeting, a thank-you card from the First Baptist Church summer feeding program for children in the Ballston Spa School District was passed around, recognizing our $200 contribution of Price Chopper gift cards. (Some of our members also did volunteer work for the program.) We also discussed whether Rotary could help distribute food next summer for needy children in Malta.

We voted to contribute $100 each to two institutions in Vermont, the Monkton Volunteer Fire Department and the Addison County Hospice, in recognition of losses in the family of our former member Estelle Genest.

We discussed plans for Malta Community Day on Sept. 10 at Shenantaha Park, where we will operate a cornhole booth; and plans for the Sept. 19 Red Cross blood drive at Malta Community Center which we are co-sponsoring. 

Local Scholars

 

Yu Jie Loh, left, from Shenendehowa High School, and Madysen Thomas from Ballston Spa High School joined Scholarship Chairman Paul Phillips and fellow Rotarians this morning at The Ugly Rooster. Thomas was our $1,000 scholarship winner, while Loh and Elijah Ramos (also from Shenendehowa) were the runners-up receiving $500 each. 

Thomas is headed to the University of Delaware at Newark to study nursing, while Loh will go to Cornell to study applied economics and management. Both had records of academic excellence in high school along with extracurricular activity and community service. 

Local Programs

 

Deborah Dugan, liaison for families in temporary housing at the Ballston Spa School District, was our speaker this morning. Her position is funded by the federal government through the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

Dugan said she works with about 64 students classified as homeless and 79 others at-risk. Homelessness is increasing, she said.

A Rotary member gave her $200 in gift cards for use in the program. 

Later Thursday, five Rotarians helped out at the free summer lunch program operated by the First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa for children in the school district. 

A New Rotary Year

 

Mike Williams, left, hands over a $2,000 check to new Malta Sunrise Rotary President Larry Levine at last week's meeting. Mike was closing out his campaign fund (he ran for town supervisor last year) with charitable contributions. His Rotary donation is for specific causes we have supported: $750 for AOET Uganda, $750 for QMC in Lesotho, and $500 for our local scholarship fund. 

Larry took over from Miles Cornthwaite on July 1, the start of the Rotary year. He, Miles and Mike are also among the club members who have served previous presidential terms.

At the business meeting, we discussed the successful wrap-up of our project to assist the New York Race Track Chaplaincy in cleaning up cabins and brush at Pine Grove camp on the west side of Saratoga Springs, where the families of track workers will be spending the summer.

And we discussed plans to help with a free summer lunch program for children in the Ballston Spa School District (which includes most of Malta) operated by the First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa.

Williams' Book

 

Retired Daily/Sunday Gazette reporter (and Ballston Spa Rotarian) Steve Williams was our speaker on Thursday; and his topic was a soon-to-be released book published by the Saratoga County History Center at Brookside Museum. You can attend the free launch event at Brookside at 7 p.m. June 28 by signing up here, and there will be a follow-up presentation July 14 at the Malta Community Center.

The $20 book is a selection of his 21st-century journalism, mostly Off the Northway columns, many with new introductions by Steve to update and put them into context. The first part is primarily about the coming of a computer chip factory to the Luther Forest Technology Campus, and there are also sections on politics, the environment, county history, and Saratoga Springs.

In other business we got updates on recent activity, including last Sunday's successful pancake breakfast at the Round Lake Fire House; and ongoing cleanup and prep work at Pine Grove Camp, where families of track backstretch workers will soon be arriving.

Sunday Breakfast

 

Our upcoming pancake breakfast was on the agenda at this morning's meeting. It will be Sunday morning June 5 at the Round Lake Fire House from 8 to 11:30, and that department's support group will share proceeds. Prices are $7 for adults, $3 for children and free for kids 5 and under. (Anyone who purchased a ticket for our Covid-cancelled breakfast last fall and who did not get a refund is invited free of charge.) 

A new slate of officers was elected for the Rotary year starting July 1. They are: President Larry Levine; Vice President Paul Phillips; Immediate past president Miles Cornthwaite; Treasurer Cynthia Young; Secretary Kristen Stanley; Membership Chair Mike Williams; Budget and Finance Chair Steve Ames; Foundation Chair Barbara Conner.