The Bulletin -- February 3, 2010 (#1027)

Program: Plattsburgh Half Marathon — Jennifer Boyer, Stephanie Desautels, Steve Peters and Lt. Scott Beebe

AL SWEENOR (CENTER), STANDS WITH (L-R) LT. SCOTT BEEBIE, STEVE PETERS, JENNIFER BOYER (SWEENOR’S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW) AND STEPHANIE DESAUTELS — THE CO-COORDINATORS FOR THE PLATTSBURGH HALF MARATHON.

The first ever Plattsburgh Half Marathon will be held in the city on Sunday, April 18. Stephanie Desautels, a national sales manager with Delta Marketing International, said she and Jennifer Boyer had talked about coordinating a race in Plattsburgh. Desautels and Boyer have been running for a while.

Boyer, a cross country runner while attending Seton Catholic High School, got involved because she thought Plattsburgh was really in need of a race. Runners travel everywhere to run the 15 kilometer marathons and half marathons. She described how big the BoilerMaker Road Race is in Utica – a 15k marathon, which has grown to more than 10,000 participants.

Desautels wanted to organize a race to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease after her dad was diagnosed with the disease last spring. The duo proposed the idea of a half marathon to the Common Council, which gave them approval.

With a goal of 500 participants (the number was limited to keep the first event manageable and successful), they had to stop taking registrations via the website in less than a month. The number of runner is now at 502 with 93% of the participants from the local area.

The organizers hope to raise $20,000 and make this an annual major event in Plattsburgh for local runners and people out of the area to come here. All proceeds will go to Team Fox, which is part of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research. Boyer and Desautels are also looking for sponsorships and donations and will be holding a raffle the day before and day after the event with all monies going to Parkinson’s.

Steve Peters, Recreation Director for the City of Plattsburgh, talked about the passion runners have and how that would help any sponsorship. He also exhibited a map of the course, which will start and finsh at the City Recreation Center An after party is planned at the Recreation Center with music and a raffle. Organizers are looking for donations of items of $100 or more. If smaller, it will be paired with something else. Tickets will be $5 and all proceeds will go to Parkinson’s research.

New Member Talk – Kerri Haley Kerri lived in Crown Point until she was about 10 years old. Her mother worked at Moses Ludington Hospital, and her father owned a small dairy farm…so she is a farm girl at heart. She moved to Plattsburgh at age 10, and went to Beekmantown Central School where she was a cheerleader. Her mother started working at CVPH Medical Center, and her father owns a sand and gravel business, which now has locations in Plattsburgh and Crown Point. Her first job was at Little Caesar’s where she met her husband. Following graduation, she went to SUNY Plattsburgh and studied for her Bachelor’s Degree in Business with a concentration in Marketing. While in college, she worked at CVPH in housekeeping. Following college graduation, she looked at moving to the D.C. area, but decided it wasn’t a good idea for her. Luckily for her, a new position arose in the Foundation office at CVPH. It was as a development assistant working with Hannah Hanford. She started as a temp and worked there for four years. She joined Sunrise Rotary and later Kiwanis, where she was the first female member. She was shocked to learn there were no fines in Kiwanis. The Director of Community Relations position became available at Elizabethtown Hospital. She was responsible for coordinating special events, doing public relations for the hospital, working with volunteers and raising $2 million for hospital’s expansion project. While at Elizabethtown she got her Masters in Business Administration online through Norwich University. She became pregnant while taking classes, and her first son was born during the two-week break between the end of marketing class and beginning of e-commerce class. She graduated with her MBA in 2007. In June 2009, she had her second son. In September she had the opportunity to return to the CVPH Foundation as the Executive Director. She is excited to be back, to see new faces and old faces.

Lt. Scott Beebe of the Plattsburgh City Police Department spoke of the commitment to the event by the Plattsburgh City Police. The force has put together the course route and is now looking for approximately 60 volunteers on the course. These people will direct traffic, runners, and keep people at length. Beebe said he hoped that someone from Rotary would serve as a coordinator of volunteers. Al Sweenor volunteered to be that coordinator. There will be a need for 150 volunteers in total, and the coordinator will be the contact point for all volunteers.

For the 60 people Lt Beebe needs, they will attend an orientation session on traffic control, how to be visible and how to be safe. The volunteers, who will be needed from 8 to 11 a.m. on the morning of the race, will be stationed at designated intersections throughout the course. Some of these posts will be for the entire length of race. They will set up prior to the start of the race and will be removed once the last competitor goes by them. The most important thing is to give direction to competitors, divert traffic away and to maintain a safety conscience condition so vehicle traffic does not intermingle with racers.

Beebe mentioned that numerous students have volunteered, but they are really looking for adults for these 60 positions. They have been in contact with the college sport teams for aide stations volunteers and they have lots of other volunteers offering already but are looking for more.

Albany Runners Exchange will do the timing for the race. Each runner will have a bib with a computer chip, which will log the start and finish times as they cross the start and finish lines. This will help avoid the lag time for runners. With little elevation in the course, Steve Peters noted that more runners may improve their half marathon times.

Any questions can be directed to plattsburghhalfmarathon@yahoo.com or Stephanie Desautels 518-572-4326 or Jennifer Boyer 518-569-5727.

Visiting Rotarians: Bob Grugle (Glens Falls), Sophie Mitsoglou (Sunrise Club)

Guests: Sally Connolly (Maria Alexander), David Kimmel (Ellen Bouchard), Patrick Ryan (Roger Van Guilder), Jennifer Boyer (Al Sweenor), Stephanie Desautels (Al Sweenor), Steve Peters (Al Sweenor), Scott Beebie (Al Sweenor)

This Week:

• All badges have been renumbered and therefore in a new location on the rack. Reminder to people whose badges are at home, see Barb or Marsha so they can give you your new number and your new badge location.
• Eight people still need to pay dues. This is good, but we wanted 100% last week so please get your checks in.
• First Thursday will be held at Ground Round and there will be a special event happening. Colin Read and Bonnie Black will serve as guest bartender 5 – 7 p.m. They will be collecting tips which will go to Polio Plus.
• Rotary Radio Day will be held Monday, April 12. Tim Kononan reported that the Sunrise Club and our club met with WIRY to confirm the date. Packets and the “NO NO” list will be available soon and selling will begin Wednesday, Feb. 24. Open selling starts Wednesday, March 10.
• Next board meeting will be held Monday, Feb 22. Red badges members should attend the meeting while other can get a meeting make-up.
• The meeting with the Noon Kiwanis Club will be held, Thursday, March 11. Same location. So no Wednesday meeting that week.
• Rotary International Fishing Classic, June 4 - 6.
• The Rotary Golf Tourney will be Wednesday, June 9.
• District will hold a meeting about youth services on Sunday, Feb. 14, 9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. If interested see Pres. Bonnie.
• Anyone that was not wearing the Rotary pin was fined $1.
  
  

Bonnie's Bucks:

• Maria Alexander paid a fine for her guest, Sally Connolly, who works for the U.S. Census and announced 3 things.
  Between March 15 and 17, the census forms will be in your local Post Offices. Please complete one and send it in.
  If you need help completing the form, there will be places set up in Plattsburgh to get help.
  Jobs are available. Crew leaders, census takers and employees to staff help centers. Jobs pay $13/hr and/or $.50 cents per mile. She has sample tests available on way out of Rotary or you could take test online.
• Marty Mannix said the Hannah’s Hope Texas Hold’em Tournament last weekend saw 140 players and raised $9,000.
• John Bernardi spoke about Rotary Ski Day. He mentioned that the last two years saw very poor attendance. He said that if there is enough interest this year, he would do it again. The ski day will be sometime in March and he kicked around the idea of having it at Big Tupper instead. If you are interested, contact John.
• Sybil Kiroy announced that she got engaged over Christmas time. Congratulations!!!
• On our tables there was information from the back inside cover of Rotarian. The information was on automatic deductions from your bank account for your annual gift. If you decide on the annual gift, Rotary does not send out bills so this is sometimes forgotten. With this form, you can have it deducted from your checking account automatically in the amount of your choice.
• Also regarding the Rotary Foundation, February is World Peace and Understanding Month, and Pres. Bonnie mentioned committing $1,000 when you die through your life insurance or your will. There is a card to fill out to do this. We are looking to get more members to do this as our number of benefactors is decreasing from the 35 we had 20 years ago. Mary Anne Bukolt-Ryder offered to do a free simple will for anyone donating a $1,000 or more to Rotary.
  

50-50 Raffle:

The pot today is $726, we are looking for Ace of Spades still. Bob Frenyea had the winning ticket and drew the two of clubs.

TRIVIA
Did you know…?
Rotary Foundation has a Haiti Earthquake Relief fund. You can use your cell phone to make a one-time US$5 donation to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Text ROTARY to 90999.