UPDATE, Oct. 31 fire house breakfast cancelled/postponed

 

Jere Blackwelder, president of the board of Saratoga History Center at Brookside Museum, was today's speaker.

Brookside, which anchors Front Street at the west end of downtown Ballston Spa, is a 1792 structure originally built as a hotel. It ran into financial difficulties and almost closed a few years ago, and just when it was digging itself out ran into the coronavirus pandemic.

Brookside has dug itself out again, Blackwelder said, hosting over 2,000 visitors since it reopened at the end of June with expanded exhibit space and gardens. He urged everyone to drop by and join up. One of the books for sale in the museum store is a new one, "Saratoga County Stories," by various local historians (including Malta's Paul Perreault), proceeds of which benefit Brookside. 

UPDATE OCT. 30: Unfortunately, a Covid exposure has caused the cancellation/postponement of our Halloween breakfast that was scheduled for Sunday Oct. 31 at the Round Lake Fire House. Tickets already purchased may be reused for the rescheduled event at a date to be determined, or refunds will be available tomorrow morning (Oct. 31) at the fire house.

Ambulance Vote

Scott Skinner from Malta-Stillwater Emergency Medical Services was our speaker on Thursday. He advocated passage of and provided information about the proposition to create an ambulance district in Malta. 

The issue will be decided by town voters in the upcoming election. Early voting has started already at various locations in Saratoga County, and Election Day is November 2. (Check out the back of the ballot on the bottom right.)

We also discussed plans for our Halloween all-you-can-eat scrambled egg, sausage and pancake breakfast on October 31 at the Round Lake Fire House.

We made plans to help out Toys for Tots on November 7 at their Clifton Park warehouse.

 And we got a report on last weekend's Dunning Street cleanup.

 

The Guv

 

Rotary District 7190 Governor Bruce McConnelee spoke to the club on Thursday, accompanied by his wife Lorraine. He talked about efforts to bolster membership, including restarting Rotary in Troy, a club focused on veterans begun by Glenville Rotary, and another new club, Heartbeat online, which is affiliated with Niskayuna. He reminded us about an Oct. 29 meeting in Liverpool, near Syracuse, for World Polio Day, and the Nov. 18 Rotary Foundation dinner at Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia. And he told a 1980s story about when he was a new Rotary member in Scotia, and helped put a Whipple bridge over Collins Creek.

Also Thursday, our member Bob Conner started his sixth year on a club Rotary project, working with the Shenendehowa School District on the Bountiful Backpacks program, delivering food to Chango Elementary in Malta.

         

                                                                                               

Balet Farm and Business

 

Suzanne Balet Haight was our speaker on Thursday, and told us about her family's small farm and business in the northeastern corner of Malta. Balet Flowers & Design is on Nelson Avenue Extension, not far south of the town's Kayaderosseras Creek border with Saratoga Springs. It is a family business founded by Balet's parents.

"We grow as organically as we can," she said, aiming to avoid using  herbicides or pesticides.

Our guests Mark and Rachel Oberreuter live in the same neck of the woods, on Malta Avenue Extension.

 

Educating

 

Rotarian Dave Kruczlnicki, left, and Stuart Williams, right, coordinator of community relations for the Ballston Spa School District, listen to district Superintendent Ken Slentz at our meeting this morning at The Ugly Rooster.

Slentz led a wide-ranging discussion about issues in this area and beyond, including what he said has been a successful "structured literacy" reading initiative in the district over the past three years. He said the much discussed "learning loss" due to Covid has been "overstated", because "we built in a ton of support" for students using federal aid. 

Slentz said some people still stigmatize BOCES programs, which he characterized as a prejudice "not based on reality" because many students get qualifications for good jobs there. But the superintendent also expressed concern about graduation rates as low as 23 percent in local community colleges.

Roostin' Back

 

Starting tomorrow, club meetings will resume at the former site of the Malta Diner, now The Ugly Rooster, at 7:15 on Thursday mornings. 

The speaker at tomorrow's meeting will be Ken Slentz, superintendent of the Ballston Spa School District.

Dunkin' and other business

 

Saturday September 11 was Malta Community Day at Shenantaha Creek Park, where our dunk tank was a hit. Thanks to all who participated.

At last Thursday's meeting, we heard from Larry Bailey, assistant district governor, and discussed membership issues.

Our member Paul Phillips told the meeting that a young Ugandan boy has been scheduled for hole-in-the-heart surgery as a result of a contact made at a Zoom meeting of the club last March with Gift of Life CEO Rob Raylman.

This week's speaker at the park (our temporary meeting place) will be Ballston Spa School District Superintendent Ken Slentz.