Rising scholars and a departure

 

18-year-old Sean Flaherty, our $1,000 scholarship winner, was the speaker at Thursday's meeting. He graduated this year from Shenendehowa High School with a 98 GPA, was involved in several voluntary activities there, and pitched for the baseball team. Sean will be leaving in about a month to study nursing at the University of Connecticut. (Ava Durfee of Ballston Spa High School won our $500 scholarship this year.)

On Thursday afternoon about a dozen Rotarians (including Doug Ford from the Ballston Spa club) attended the funeral of Thomas Disinger at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery. Tom was a good friend to most of our club, a husband and father who was retired from the television industry, an Air Force veteran, and a committed volunteer to numerous causes including Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, Toys for Tots, the Helping Hands Food Pantry at Jonesville Methodist Church, and the American Red Cross (to which he gave blood). He was president of Malta Sunrise Rotary in 2018-19. May he rest in peace.

Blood Work

Anne Santino, seen right with Rotarian Paul Sausville, was our speaker last Thursday. She is senior account manager for blood collection in Saratoga and Washington counties for the American Red Cross.

Our club will be helping the Red Cross on its August 30 blood drive, from 1 to 6 pm at the Malta Community Center. You can make an appointment online to donate blood there through the American Red Cross website.  

Malta Sunrise Rotary has worked on these blood drives for many years, and Anne paid tribute to Paul's wife, former nurse and fellow Rotarian Nancy Sausville (below), who has been actively involved throughout.

In other business, we discussed potential use of our dunking booth at Malta Community Day on September 11, and a potential pancake breakfast at a fire house in the fall.

There will be no regular meeting this Thursday, July 1. Instead, we will meet for a changeover pot-luck at Larry Levine's house between 4:30 and 7 pm.

Rebuilding

 

Michelle Larkin, executive director of Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, was our speaker at last Thursday's meeting.

She spoke about how the nonprofit has grown since its founding in 2003. For the past four years it has been located at 132 Milton Ave. in Ballston Spa, where it operates a thrift store, ReShop for the Good. It has an upcoming project in Malta Gardens.

Our club has often worked with Rebuilding. Michelle mentioned that our former president, Tom Disinger (now seriously ill with cancer), is also a former volunteer of the year for her organization. 

The Graduate

Peris Tushabe, our speaker on Thursday, had planned to be in Uganda by now, but her summer project has been postponed for at least six weeks because of new restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic there -- where only a small proportion of the population has been vaccinated. She has lived in the United States since she was 13, and recently graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.

She hopes to start a theater project in northern Uganda to encourage girls to stay in school. The area was badly affected by civil warfare, and Peris hopes to address trauma and conflict resolution, along with period poverty and other issues.

New Slate

 Our board members for the year starting July 1 were elected at Thursday's meeting. The line-up is: President Miles Cornthwaite; President-elect Travis Fealy; Vice President Larry Levine; Treasurer Cynthia Young; Secretary Kristen Stanley; Finance Chair Steve Ames; Membership Chair Mike Williams; Foundation Chair Barbara Conner.

Back to the Park

Our May 6 meeting with Congressman Tonko went well. The larger-than-usual crowd, at Panera or on Zoom, included Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and four out of the five current members of the Malta Town Board.

This week, on Thursday May 20, our temporary location will move back to Shenantaha Creek Park, where you can find us at 7:15 a.m. -- or on Zoom.

Tonko to Talk

US Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, will be our speaker via Zoom on Thursday, May 6. Members and guests -- the public is invited -- will gather at Panera at 7:15 a.m., or can participate from anywhere with the Zoom link.

Tonko has represented Malta (part of his much larger district) in Congress since 2009. Before that, he headed the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which had a large presence in Malta and still owns facilities here. 

From 1983 to 2007, Tonko was a member of the New York State Assembly, and before that was on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. He has a degree from Clarkson University in mechanical and industrial engineering. 

The congressman is expected to discuss mostly local issues.