Life, Work and other Gifts

Shown is a Rotary Gift of Life donation box for used clothing, shoes and textiles. It is on Farm to Market Road (Route 109) just northeast of the intersection with Route 9 in Saratoga County, a little south of the Town of Malta. (You can also send donations of money to Gift of Life, or otherwise get involved, through our Rotary District 7190.) 

Our Zoom speaker last Thursday was Rob Raylman, chief executive officer of Gift of Life International,  himself an active Rotarian in New York state who noted the organization's Rotarian roots. Gift of Life provides essential help to children with congenital heart defects and other heart health problems in more than 80 countries. Discussion after the presentation included one member getting contact information for a Ugandan program which our club has helped.   

In other business, we are planning to meet in person this Thursday morning at 7:15 at Panera, east of Exit 12. A Zoom link also should be available for those who will not be attending in person.

This Saturday, at 8:30 a.m., we will meet at Forest Cleaners for our semiannual Dunning Street cleanup. And we are tentatively scheduled to again assist the Red Cross with a blood drive at the end of August.

Last Saturday, three of our members, Mike Williams, Cynthia Young and Barbara Conner (indirectly assisted by Tom Disinger), helped out at a work project for the Malta Veterans Appreciation Program. 

 

Still Vigilant on Virus

 

Even while we hope the coronavirus pandemic is winding down, our club remains committed to a Stop the Virus campaign.

The latest initiative, spearheaded by Rotarian Paul Sausville and funded by the GlobalFoundries-Town of Malta Foundation, has our members distributing high-quality reusable face masks. Most are going to retail businesses in Malta, along with some to town facilities.

In other business at this morning's meeting, we discussed getting back to actual not virtual gatherings on Thursday mornings. Next week, when the guest speaker will be a Gift of Life International leader, we are sticking to Zoom. But on April 1 we plan to try meeting at Panera restaurant, with a Zoom option for those who cannot attend. Future possibilities include a return to the Malta Diner, if and when it reopens, or to Shenantaha Park, where we went last summer.

Update on Seniors, Scholarships

 Malta Seniors President Kathy Eitzmann was our speaker at this morning's Zoom meeting. Most of her members have now been vaccinated against Covid, she said, and none so far appears to have died from it. The recent opening up of local pharmacies to give vaccinations has been a big plus. Several Rotarians offered help on tasks such as providing transportation.

In other business, our scholarship committee will be interviewing applicants on Saturday.

Food and other topics

 

Rotarians, left to right, Mike Williams, Cynthia Young, Miles Cornthwaite, Bob Bonney, Helen Endres and Barbara Conner, along with Jim Hale (below), were among those volunteering today at the David Meager Community Center's drive-through food pantry event.

At our Zoom meeting earlier, club member and New York Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner gave an update for more than an hour on matters including the state budget and Covid vaccinations.

QMC Update on Lesotho

The highlight of our Zoom meeting on Thursday was a report from Linda and Roger Gorham, board members of Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections (QMC), which we have been helping fund since 2014.

QMC operates in a poor and remote area of the southern African country of Lesotho. It provides scholarships to 63 students in high school, and eight at the National University of Lesotho. Two QMC-sponsored college students graduated last September with bachelor's degrees, one in accounting/economics and the other in social work.

QMC also funds supplies for the high school, and food support. 

Linda Gorham is a longtime QMC board member who has often spoken to our club. Roger joined the board more recently. They are both retired educators and former Peace Corps volunteers. Roger is a former Siena College professor and superintendent of the Ballston Spa School District.
 

More Seasonal Business

 At this morning's Zoom meeting we voted to give $200 to CAPTAIN to address local needs. This follows last week's donations of $2,000 split between three organizations.

It has not yet been decided exactly how $1,000 just received from the GlobalFoundries-Town of Malta Foundation will be used on our Stop the Virus campaign.

Season's Business

     At Thursday's meeting, we voted to donate a total of $1,800 to two African projects which we have been helping support in recent years. While $1,100 of that total comes from individual members' targeted donations, $700 comes from general club funds.

     We voted an additional $200 to help address local people's needs as identified by Malta Seniors.

    A $1,000 donation is going for projects in Uganda undertaken by members of the Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church of Saratoga Springs in collaboration with Aids Orphan Education Trust. Two of our members have made trips to Uganda to work on education, medical and infrastructure projects, while another has contributed $1,000 to the program through Malta Sunrise Rotary over the past year. PNECC and AOET facilitate sponsorships and provide services in Uganda mostly to children, not excluding anyone on the basis of religion.

    The other $800 goes to Qholaqhoe Mountain Connections, which sponsors scholarship and feeding programs in a remote area of Lesotho. We have been helping fund QMC since 2014.

    The club has often hosted speakers with news about how our support helps people in Uganda and Lesotho.