Drones Club

Chris Spangler, center, of Down to Earth Aerial Productions, with Adam Ford, Gabi Giannini and drones at this week's Rotary Club meeting.
Chris was guest speaker at our temporary meeting site of Shenantaha Park. An FAA licensed pilot, he flew a drone briefly and talked about their various uses in everything from wedding photography (much better photos than this one) to mapping, archaeology and insurance claims.

Parkside

We've been meeting since late June at Shenantaha Creek Park. The regular meeting time is the same as the old one, 7:15 on Thursday mornings. If you'd like to join us, please stop by. We're talking about how to raise money and be useful, and there are speakers coming up on drones and bees for the next two meetings.
We'll be helping out a Red Cross blood drive scheduled for September 22 at the Community Center, and will be doing a trash pickup on Dunning Street on October 17.

Scholarship Winners

              Samantha DeVito, winner of this year's Malta Sunrise Rotary $1,000 scholarship, joined us for the Zoom meeting on Thursday. Samantha, from Ballston Spa High School, will be attending Princeton University this fall (coronavirus permitting), where she hopes to major in economics and play lacrosse. Her brother Jake, our scholarship winner from a few years ago, also chimed in briefly during the meeting. "Be humble and kind" was the message Samantha says she got from her parents.

              Runner-up, and recipient of a $500 award, was Lauren Vandenburgh of Shenendehowa High School. She plans to major in elementary education at the College of Saint Rose in Albany.

             In other business, we won't be Zooming next Thursday but plan to meet for the first time in person post-pandemic -- outside, for an early dinner, at a location yet to be announced. This changeover event will include installation of new officers elected last week, namely: Larry Levine, president; Chris Luhn, president-elect; Mike Williams, membership chair and immediate past president; Cynthia Young, treasurer; Bob Conner, secretary; Steve Ames, finance chair; Estelle Genest, Foundation chair -- plus non-board members Bob Bonney, sergeant-at-arms, and Barbara Conner, publicity chair.

State Government Update

NYS Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, a member of our club, was the speaker at this morning's Zoom meeting.
While the coronavirus health crisis has now passed, she said, and the Capital Region is starting to reopen, large fiscal problems have yet to be addressed.
Uncertainty remains about whether there will be a second wave of infections, but there is also hope for effective treatments and vaccine. On the fiscal front, federal aid may alleviate the state's plight. One of the issues she is working on is strengthening the local elements of the food supply chain.
Carrie hopes the state Legislature will come back into session to provide more vetting of government decisions.
 "I am hopeful, but I don't minimize the challenges in front of us," she said.

Masks and Meetings

The town will distribute masks tomorrow (Friday) morning from 10 to 12 at Malta Town Hall, said Councilwoman (and Malta Rotarian) Cynthia Young at this morning's Zoom meeting. You won't have to get out of your car. Next week, she added, the Zoom speaker will be another elected official and member of our club, state Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner.
        This week's speaker was Adam Horowitz, an investment officer for Glens Falls and Saratoga National Bank(s), and a former Malta resident and volunteer firefighter. He said about a third of the world economy is currently shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. He expects stocks of big technology companies to continue to do relatively well, whereas companies such as Boeing will need government bailouts.

Schools and other biz

We've been meeting by Zoom at the usual time and day, helping the town distribute face masks, and, on Thursday this week, voted to OK a $200 contribution to a Ballston Spa Rotary program to recognize student athletes with banners. Most Malta residents are in the Ballston Spa School District, but we have also been active in supporting the Chango Elementary School, which is located in Malta but in the Shenendehowa district, and our scholarship program, on which work proceeds, is open to any student of high school senior age who lives in town.

News from Lesotho, in southern Africa

Our Rotary club has for the past six years helped support the work of  Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections (QMC) in a rural area of Lesotho, a small country in southern Africa. Through QMC, we sponsor students and help fund a feeding program.
A March 21 letter from QMC brought news about improvements in conditions there, including the apparent end of a long drought which has made possible the renewal of agriculture, and ongoing work on a road project which employs local people and will improve transport connections.
The package included two letters from sponsored students, with whom two of our members have been corresponding.
According to the QMC letter (from Linda and Roger Gorham, who visited in March):
 "Everyone in the Qholaqhoe Mountain area (about 50 square miles) uses the same post office box located in Butha-Buthe 50 km away. The principal, Me Mosaase, uses the school truck to pick up the mail every weekend and delivers it to a cardboard box on the school porch. The box is checked by anyone who might be expecting a letter, which is rare, except for the QMC scholarship students who are excited and hopeful that there will be a letter from you.
"Our annual parent meeting was attended by mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbors, and extended family. There were speeches made by parents, administrators, and students. Parents were served cookies and juice, and school uniforms and shoes were distributed. It was a wonderful occasion with great gratitude expressed for your help in making it possible for a child to attend school.
"... Many of the students talked about Cultural Day in their letters. This event held at the high school every 2 years celebrates Basotho culture. The students were very excited about the event and were preparing songs and dances when we were there. We hoped to attend the celebration, but we were forced to leave a couple of days early due to increasing bad news about the coronavirus."