Lesley Smith Honored with Paul Harris Award

    Lesley Smith, the secretary of the Greenville Rotary Club, was recently awarded one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a Rotarian - the Paul Harris Fellow.

    Ms. Smith is a licensed real estate salesperson with Coldwell Banker Prime Properties in Greenville.  She is a graduate of the State University of NY at Geneseo and resides in South Westerlo with her husband, Jerry. She is also an active member of the Community Partners of Greenville.

    Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary International in 1905.  The award that bears his name is given after a $1,000 donation is made to the Rotary Foundation by an individual, or in the name of that individual.  It is given “in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among the peoples of the world. “

    The Greenville Rotary Club chose to honor Lesley Smith because of her hard work and support of the club and its mission of “Service Above Self.” She was given the award on August 17, 2023.

Lesley Smith receiving her Paul Harris pin from Debbie Smith (no relation) as Greenville Rotary Club President Dianne Lewis looks on.

Greenville Rotary Supports Food Pantry & Scott M. Ellis Elementary

    The motto of the Grenville Rotary Club is “Service Above Self,” and this winter the club and its’ members and supporters proved that motto to be true.

    For the “Feeding Hudson Valley” service theme, the club is sponsoring a food drive to benefit the Greenville Area Food Pantry. The “Super Bowl” food drive is collecting two of the pantry’s most-needed items:  soup and cereal.  So far, 369 items have been collected.  Donation boxes have been placed at the National Bank of Coxsackie, Dollar General, and TOPS.  Thanks to all who have helped fulfill the need of the families who use the food pantry - demand has recently increased to about 70 households from the previous 40 households served.  The pantry is open the first and third Wednesday mornings at the George Vanderbilt Town Park.

    The Rotary Club likes to help students at the Scott M. Ellis Elementary school be prepared for winter by donating snowpants and sweatpants to be kept at the nurse’s office for children who may be unprepared for the weather or who have a wardrobe malfunction.  The Rotary recently responded to the need of students by donating 18 pairs of sweatpants.

    For more information, contact the Greenville Rotary Club at greenvillenyrotaryclub@gmail.com.  The club meets every Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at the Mountain View Brasserie

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Maryann Augstein, who runs the Greenville Area Food Pantry, is photographed with Rotarian Eileen Cuffe and some of the food donated during January. 

Ellis nurses Erin Hoyt and Karen Gardiner are pictured with the sweatpants donated for student use by the Greenville Rotary Club

This event will be structured and controlled, because of the large number of families attending.. We had a successful and safe event last year.  Thank you for your help in following these rules and allowing Greenville’s children to have safe Trick or Treating!  Children and parents will be allowed into the Trunk-or-Treat area in separate groups.   Each family will be asked to move to the next vehicle so that the following family can proceed - thereby having only one family group at each vehicle at a time. All foot traffic will be one-way down the single line of cars.  

If you are interested in bringing a car, decorating it, and giving out candy, please download the form here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_48q45k6AqirBm4ClQ1iZ_1M08IyjO1TzyB2t1QN0F8/edit?usp=sharing

and email it to:  greenvillenyrotaryclub@gmail.com.

For additional information, you may also email us at the address above.  Thanks!  See you on Halloween!

On June 9, Tracy Young, John Ingalls and Robin Frechette attended the awards night at Greenville High School and honored three graduating seniors with scholarships.  Two academic scholarships were awarded  - to Emma Haller, the class valedictorian, who will be attending SUNY Oneonta; and to Cheyenne Bogusz , the class salutatorian, who will head to Pace University.  A vocational scholarship was awarded to Emma Schatzel, who has completed the BOCES cosmetology program and will attend Columbia-Greene Community College for business administration, with the goal of opening her own salon.  Congratulations to our three scholarship recipients and all the graduates of 2022!

Safe trick-or-treating for families with COVID-19 precautions in place! Help us to keep Greenville safe!

All adults and children over the age of 2 years will be required to wear face masks.  All foot traffic will be one-way and directed by Rotary Club volunteers.  Children and parents are required to stay within their family groups, and groups will be asked to proceed individually to one vehicle at a time.  All vehicles will be socially-distanced and volunteers will be wearing masks and gloves, have hand sanitizer available, and will distribute candy to each child individually.

For more information:  email us at greenvillenyrotaryclub@gmail.com or contact us on Facebook @greenvillenyrotaryclub

Since both the Tuesday and Thursday clubs are meeting remotely on Zoom, we have decided to combine our meetings.  Going forward we will meet on Thursdays at 6 p.m. on the first and third weeks of the month and on Tuesdays on the second and fourth weeks.  Log-on information is the same for both meetings.

Club meeting ID and Passcode -
Meeting ID: 419 718 569
Passcode: email greenvillenyrotaryclub@gmail.com for passcode

January meetings:

Tuesday, January 7 -International Potluck Dinner - private event at the Tasting Lab. RSVP to Robin Frechette.

Wednesday, January 15 - Visiting the Windham Rotary Club at Vesuvio Restaurant in Windham. RSVP to Robin Frechette by Tuesday, 1/7

Looking for Host Families for the 2019-2020 School Year

The Greenville Rotary is looking for families who would be interested in hosting an exchange student during the 2019-2020 school year.  Greenville has a wonderful history of hosting an exchange student every year and an integral part of this is finding families to open their homes to youth from around the world.  

The fascination and rewards of temporarily hosting a teen from another country is a unique opportunity provided by Rotary Clubs worldwide.  Students come to our community and enroll in GCS for a full year. During that time, they stay with three different families to give them a sense of the diversity of family life in the U.S. The average stay with each family is 3-4 months.

Some families may have children close to the age of the exchange student, some may have older or younger children, others may be childless or empty nesters. Some families may be more interested in sports, others in culture. The only requirements are a separate bed for the student, open minds and big hearts.

Students are treated as members of the family, not as guests. If your children are assigned chores, your Rotary student can also have family chores. It’s the student’s job to adapt to the family, not vice versa.  By hosting a Youth Exchange student in your home, you’ll make a young person’s dream come true, and you and your family will share an unforgettable and fulfilling experience.

If you are interested in becoming a host family please contact Greenville Rotary Youth Exchange Officer, Todd Hilgendorff.  518-966-5070 ext. 519. hilgendorfft@greenvillecsd.org

• Promoting peace
• Fighting disease
• Providing clean water
• Saving mothers and children
• Supporting education
• Growing local economies

Below, Catherine Sielaff is pictured with Rotarian Todd Hilgendorff, who was her principal when she attended Greenville High School.

Join us at 6 p.m. on Thursday nights at the Mountainview Brasserie for our meetings! If you are interesting in attending, contact us here or at greenvillenyrotaryclub@gmail.com. Here are some of our upcoming speakers:

2/22 Catherine Sielaff - St. John’s University student/former Interact member - community service projects

3/1 Cecile Plattner - Cuba Travel

An e-mail we recieved from the family who got flocked on Friday, August 18:

 

"Well we got Flocked again. Carla called and said check the front porch I think we got a delivery, I said noooo the men know to leave everything on the side porch noooo she says the message says front porch okay so I go out. WHAAAAAAAT MY BIRDIES ARRRRRE BACK. YEAYYYYYYY OH I SO LOVE THEM. THE BEST THING IS THAT THE LAST FLOCK MUST HAVE BROUGHT A NEW FLOCK BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY MORE. Ohhhhhh how am I going to get any work done today , I sooooo love sitting on the porch looking at these darlings. People are passing and beeping and I am waving and laughing. They certainly bring a lot of joy. Here are some photos . There are even two that are farrr off in the front meadow . Sooooooooo Coooooool. Loving Life.😘"

If you're wondering where the money raised by our roaming flamingo flock is being used, here is one example:

Christine and Lenore have been selected to represent Greenville High School and the Greenville Rotary Club at this year’s annual Rotary Youth Leadership Award and conference. RYLA is a program that originated with Rotary International and has subsequently been adopted by our local Rotary. RYLA encourages service leadership in youth by recognizing and rewarding deserving 11th grade students who are chosen to attend the RYLA conference as an “award” for their past and present leadership and service activities. Christine and Lenore are important members of our Interact Club which is why they were selected. They will attend an all-expense paid camp where they will be inspired by a diverse group of exceptional speakers, make life-long friends through fellowship activities and discuss ethical and social issues that affect our students and communities today. Congratulations to Christine and Lenore! #GHSBlog#I'vebeenflocked#flamingosatwork