Memorializing Saratoga Battlefield

 

Paul Perreault, left, speaks at Thursday's meeting about how local Rotary clubs, notably in Ballston Spa and Mechanicville, a century ago helped establish what has now become the Saratoga National Historical Park.

Perreault is a member of the Ballston Spa Rotary Club and a frequent guest of ours in Malta, where he serves as town historian.

In 1927, on the 150th anniversary of the battle (and well before our club in Malta was founded), 100,000 people attended a ceremony at the site. There was a 150-cannon salute, Perreault said, and speeches by three state governors including New York's Al Smith. His successor Franklin Roosevelt, who went on to become president, also helped memorialize the battle.

The Battle of Saratoga in 1777 (or battles -- there were two clashes three weeks apart) was a complete American victory over the British, whose army surrendered shortly afterward. It was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. That makes it one of the most significant events in American -- and arguably world -- history.

Working at it

 

Dwight Havens, Cynthia Young, Barbara Conner and Helen Endres were four of our members who worked on site prep for a Sunday ceremony at the Malta veterans memorial near Town Hall.

Dwight also was formally elected club president-elect at last week's meeting. He will take office as president on July 1 for the 2023-24 Rotary year.

In other news, following the presentation in April by Dr. Harm Velvis, club members and friends have raised $800 for Gift of Life International.

And we donated $200 to the Malta food pantry at the David Meager Community Center for hygiene products.

Thanks for Participating (updated)

Cynthia Young picks the raffle winner for the quilt held by Chris Havens, which was made and donated by Susan Kipp (longarm quilting by Nancy Blaisdell), at the end of our pancake breakfast on Sunday at the Malta Ridge Fire House. To the right are Kristin Shaw, from the Malta Ridge Auxiliary, and Helen Endres. The quilt raffle raised $228, in addition to funds raised from breakfast ticket sales, of which the Auxiliary will get $250. (These numbers were reported at this morning's Malta Sunrise Rotary business meeting.)

Thanks to Malta Ridge Volunteer Fire Company for hosting us for the first time since the Covid pandemic. Thanks also to Stewart's for donations. Unopened leftovers were donated to Wellspring.

(The raffle winner turned out to be Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen).

Next week's speaker, on May 11, will be Mike Saccocio, executive director of the Schenectady City Mission.

School Budget Preview

 

Ballston Spa School District Superintendent Dr. Gianleo Duca, at right between Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and Board of Education President Jason Fernau, speaks at Thursday's meeting.

The school board adopted a budget on April 19, and district voters will decide its fate on May 16. A budget presentation will be held at 6:30 p.m. on May 9 at Malta Community Center.

In other business, we briefly discussed our pancake breakfast coming up this Sunday, April 30, at the Malta Ridge Fire House, 8-11:30 am, $7 for adults, $3 for kids. Be there or be square.

A Visitor from Uganda

 

Margaret Kakaire was our speaker on Thursday. A leader and guest manager of AOET Uganda, she is visiting the area for the third time. On Friday evening, she was scheduled to do a cooking demonstration as part of preparing a fund-raising dinner at the Presbyterian Church of Christ (formerly PNECC) in Saratoga Springs. The Saratoga area has been a stalwart source of support for AOET Uganda for over 20 years, with Paul Phillips, a member of that church and our Rotary club, a key leader in the effort. (He is seen behind Margaret in the photo.)

Margaret, who is 63, discussed the very difficult times when she was growing up in Uganda, especially under the "very, very bad regime" of Idi Amin in the 1970s. She recalled hiding in ditches and in the bush from murderous soldiers. She had equally harsh words for the regime of Milton Obote in the early to mid 1980s. Since then, she said, there has been more freedom and security.   

In other news, we are scheduled to do our regular semi-annual cleanup of Dunning Street tomorrow (Saturday) morning, meeting near Forest Cleaners at 8 a.m.

 And we have a pancake breakfast scheduled at the Malta Ridge Fire House on April 30.

  

Harm Does Good

Dr. Harm Velvis, a retired pediatric cardiologist and a volunteer director of Gift of Life International, was our speaker on Thursday.

Gift of Life treats children who have congenital heart defects. It mostly works in poorer countries around the world, both treating the children and striving to build local programs to continue doing so.

Its mission statement says "Our goal is to develop sustainable pediatric cardiac programs by implementing screening, surgical and training visits which are supported by autonomous Gift of Life programs, Rotary global grants and generous donors from around the world."

Velvis said that sustainable model has been achieved in El Salvador, Romania and Uganda.

The Rotary connection extends to our own club, which in 2021 helped facilitate a successful Gift of Life operation in Uganda.

Since its founding in 1975, Velvis said, Gift of Life has helped 46,000 children, a number expected to rise to 50,000 by the end of this year. But it still only reaches a fraction of the children who need its treatment.

Dwight Havens and other News

 

Dwight Havens will be our president for the 2023-24 Rotary year. He is a Luther Forest resident who is vice president of the Fire Companies of Malta and a member of the town Planning Board, and is married to retired librarian Chris Havens, a fellow member of our club.

In other business, we have purchased a $100 brick at the town veterans monument to memorialize our longtime member Paul Sausville, who died last month.

We will be doing our regular litter pickup on Dunning Street on Saturday April 22 (Earth Day), meeting at 8 a.m. near Forest Cleaners.

Planning continues for our April 30 pancake breakfast at the Malta Ridge Fire House.

This Thursday's speaker (on April 13) will be pediatric cardiologist Dr. Harm Velvis, a director of Gift of Life International, which has had a long and close association with Rotary.