Niskayuna Rotary

Just as a reminder to all, Lon sent out an email last night regarding the New Member Orientation for District 7190. This event is not limited to only new members, but is a great way to meet fellow Rotarians and network to help us achieve our goals.This is a free event open not only to new members, but also perspective members and those who may have been Rotarians for some time already. Orientation will be held on October 26th, starting at 6:00pm at the Holiday Inn Express in Clifton Park. The address is 18 Clifton Park Village Road, Clifton Park, NY 12065. If you are able and plan to attend please contact Christine Harvey-Berry at frank_christine@yahoo.com. Food will be available, but again contact Christine for further details.

In attendance today were Rita, Blaise, Jorge, Phil, Emily, Dave, Lon, and Derek (briefly before his surgery). Today was a day of exciting news and prospects. Derek stopped by quickly this morning to give a treasurers report, we are all very thankful for his hard work!! Rita then announced some more exciting news in that the state has agreed to fill in all of the cracks at the traffic circle by the end of October and if not then before the snow hits!! This will go a long way to help make the community more pretty!!

Also, Blaise and Emily visited two 3rd grade classrooms at the Yates School yesterday to distribute dictionaries, they were well recieved. They will visit the Martin Luther King Jr. School next Monday, 10/26 at 11:30am. Cans for a Cause is going strong, Rita has been collecting from her work, Emily has also ben collecting. Rita proposed a contest for whomever brings int he most money for Cans for a Cause Rita will purchase their Rotary t-shirt. The next fundraiser is the gift wrapping at Barnes and Noble which is scheduled for Saturday December 5th from 2-4 and Sunday December 13th from 12-2 at the Niskayuna Barnes and Noble.

A new project idea was introduced, a literacy program for a local Schenectady Elementary schools whereby we stem it off of the old Pizza Hut readers contests. A Stewarts free ice cream coupon for every kid who reads ten books in a month, a blue ribbon at the end of the year to commemorate their participation in the literacy drive. If we get a booklist from the teachers perhaps we can look into getting books donated and every kid who reads the whole book list would get a gift card to buy more books for themselves. Dave will chair this project and get back to us.

Just a reminder, next week is our speaker event, Phillip Morris CEO of Proctor’s will be joining us. All are welcome to attend, and we are encouraged to bring a friend in an attempt to hopefully increase membership.

In Attendance today was were Dave, Rita, Blaise, Emily, Derek, Jorge, and Lon Penna. We also had the pleasure of Don’s company, a visiting rotarian. After the bell was rung, pledge and prayer said, we got down to business. First item on the agenda was the upcoming fundraiser in December. We were presented with a contract from Barnes and Noble allowing us to gift wrap in their Niskayuna store on December 5th, 2009 from 2-4 pm. We decided to acecpt this date and ask Barnes and Noble if we could also have the following Sunday December 13th, for another two hour slot. More information to follow on that next week.
Blaise then brought up the concept of membership and what we can do and must do to increase our numbers. The club decided that we must create a unique idea that will draw in members, have activities that will bring in the families of rotartarians instead of pulling rotarians away from their families. The idea was brought up to also reach out to thriving rotary clubs for tips on how to increase membership. The club disucssed the reasons why we all joined rotary, most felt that as the community has given to them, they feel an urge to give back to not just the community and the country, but the world as a whole.
The club decided that as the weather should be perfect on Wednesday 10/14, we will plant the tulip bulbs in the traffic circle at 6pm. Hope to see everyone there!

Niskayuna Rotary Club is collecting returnable cans and bottles for the month of October. The money from this collection will be used to fund projects including Blankets for Babies, Scholarships, the Dictionary Project, Rotary Youth Leadership Institute, and Flowers and Beautification of the Town.

Niskayuna Rotary is happy to pick up your cans and bottles from you the last weekend in October, or you can drop them off at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Niskayuna. For more details or to schedule a pick up please email drive@niskyrotary.com

We would like to invite everyone to our upcoming speaker event. Philip Morris will be joining us on Tuesday, October 27th. This event will be coupled with our normal meeting and will be held at 7:15am at the Blue Ribbon Diner in Schenectady. For more information please contact us at club@niskyrotary.com

Help us support Twin Bridges Rotary Club in their 5th Annual Karaoke Contest, October 2nd, at Phelan’s Banquet House. This is their major fundraiser for the year which support projects such as Hannah’s Hope Fund, Chamber Angels, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Shelter Box, Birthing Kits, and Gift of Life as well as many more.  First Prize wins $200, Second Prize receives $100, and Third Place takes home $50. Preorder  tickets for $30 (price increases to $35 after September 18th). For more information please contact Twin Bridges Rotary Club or attend their meeting (Thursday’s at noon at Salty’s Pub in Half Moon).

Help us build our club photo album. Please email any and all pictures from past events to dadikes@gmail.com

We would like to let everyone know that we have recently done a total overhaul of our clubs website and suggest clicking around a bit. Some of our new features includes Member Log In for our club members, a brief history lesson in the world of Rotary, as well as much more.

Happy Viewing,

Dave Adikes

We are building a better website to serve our group. Look for improvements between now and Aug. 1