FEBRUARY 2, 2016

NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, February 10,

2016

had a severe heart attack on January 21 from

which he could not recover. At this time no
public services are planned. May God bless
his soul. Please say a prayer for his family: his
wife Pam; son Mark and his family; and
daughter Carrie and her family. Dan was a
gentleman and a pleasure to work with at
Rotary and in the business world. He was a
local attorney and real estate broker and
former president of the Moraga Rotary Club.

No club meeting on Tuesday

evening next week.
Join us at the Interclub FAB 5 meeting at
Rossmoor on Wednesday, February 10,
2016.
~~CLUB MEETINGS COMING UP ~

* Feb 9 - No Club meetingAttend Interclub meeting

* Feb 10 Interclub Fab 5 meeting at Rossmoor
* Feb 16 Linda Groobin, Caring hands Voluntary
Caregivers Program
* Feb 23 Larry Tessler; SCORE Mentor Program
* March 1 John Walker, Principal, Campolindo High
School.
Club Members Enjoying the Meeting at Dryden Hall Today

*Regular Noon Meeting

** Second Tuesday Evening

~THE MEETING~
The meeting was opened by President Roger.
Al Simonsen, filling in for Barbara Bruner,
offered some political humor as well as a
comment from Dr. Seuss. There were no
guests at the meeting today.
Passing of Former Club Member Dan
Dahlen
Ron Mucovich sent out the following sad note
this weekend:
It is with great sadness that I inform you that
Dan Dahlen passed away this afternoon. Dan

~HAPPY BUCKS AND FELLOWSHIP~

President Roger offered $5 for a visit to the
White Elephant sale where the initial days
sales totaled $550K.
Cliff Dochterman is glad that the Iowa
political caucuses are finally over.
Al Simonsen is celebrating the success of
the Acalanes Womens Basketball team who
are 18-0 and ranked fifth in the nation.
Jim Campbell was happy to attend a noon
meeting and was glad that Frank and Roger
recognized him.
Frank and Linda May celebrated their 24th

Wedding anniversary on February 1st with a

special family dinner while visiting their kids
in Las Vegas.
Michele Robbins enjoyed her recent trip to
Fort Bragg..
There was a fierce dogfight for the Fine Free
Hat for February which was won by Kevin
Reneau for $40.
Annual Club Superbowl Pool
Gary Irwin cirrculated a traditional Super
Bowl pool signup sheet, a 10 x 10 pool with
payouts each quarter and final score, for just
$1 per square. The Club will get 25% of the
proceeds from this sporting event. See the
copy of the sheet at the end of this newsletter
to see if you win on Sunday.

Some
Unfinished
Business

Membership

Our newest member, Brian South, was

inducted into the club two weeks ago, At that
time we had neglected to present him with a
signed copy of Cliffs ABCs of Rotary. We
presented Brian with the signed book along
with a copy of the steps required to move
from his current red badge to a blue badge.

~ANNOUNCEMENTS~

Nite at the Races 2016

President Roger mentioned that A Nite at
the Races committee meetings will be at 5
pm at Cliffs on Feb 8, Feb 22, and March 7,
all Mondays. All are welcome. Frank May
urged members to solicit donations for the
Cocktail Auction and send in event
reservations now!
Al Simonsen is selling horses for the Nite at
the Races event again this year. Contact Al
if you want to purchase a horse for $25. If
your horse wins the payout is $50. There
was a flurry of horse selling with ten horses
being sold on the spot!!
Fab Five Interclub Luncheon February
10th
February 10th is the annual Fab Five
Interclub Luncheon, held at the Rossmoor
Activity Center beginning at 11:30 am. Buy
your $25 tickets from Treasurer Lad. We will
have no Club meeting February 9.
District Conference
The District Conference will be April 1-3 at
the Yolo County Fairgrounds. Fun will
include a golf tournament on March 31, and
the Friday night social where food and drink
are free. No free lunch, thoughno such
thing.

Businessperson of the Year Dinner

The dinner for Moragas Businessperson
of the year, Kevin Reneau, will be on
Tuesday Feb 23 at 6 pm at the Moraga
Country Club, cost $55 per person, so sign
up with Gary Irwin to attend. Gary indicated
that we should send our reservations and
checks to the Chamber directly and he will
coordinate the Rotary tables.

~PROGRAM~
Our planned speaker today unfortunately
had to cancel. President Roger convened a
Club Assembly where several topics were
discussed
It was announced that the club has made a
$500 donation to Families Without Borders.
Their managing director, Terry Khonsari,
made a presentation to the club last month.

Michele Robbins indicated that she would

be willing to make a presentation to the Club
about her travels in Uganda. We will get that
talk on the schedule!
Tony Schoemehl announced that the
Athletic Field Day will be held on May 11th.
There will be another E-Waste collection in
April but no one was sure of the exact date.
Doug Damaschino announced that the DVS
culinary Department is able to supply the
popular cakes for our Nite at the Races 2016
event. President Roger also announced
that our governor survived the cake that he
baked for him when he visited the club. Cliff
Dochterman recounted a funny Rotary
event story where a very expensive cake
was dumped on the floor by a less than
vigilant Eagle Scout.
A longer discussion was had around a
proposed park project for our Clubs 50th
anniversary in 2017. Committee chair Kevin
Reneau lead a session where several ideas
were discussed.

A suggestion was made to allocate

$10K each year from the profits from
the Nite at the Races event.
The play area should serve both
special needs as well as other
children.
Signage
is
an
issue
under
consideration.
Trees are an important consideration
as well..
Cliff felt that funding would not be a
worry as long as we have a good idea.
Is Rancho Laguna Park a good
alternate location for the project?
Perhaps we should seek input from
the parents of special needs children.
Need benches for the caregivers of
the children.
Can the children safely play without
constant supervision?
Need to consider parking and access
to the play area.
Perhaps we should ask for input of
doctors and other medical personnel.

Brian South drew the winning ticket which

was held by Jim Campbell. Alas, the
winning marble eluded him.

Editors Comment

President Roger and Kevin Reneau discussing Our 50th

Anniversary Project

This morning I had the pleasure of visiting our

local Kiwanis Club to solicit their attendance
at Nite at the Races. Our event was listed on
a Hot Events sheet by their president,
Barry Behr. Several of their members
indicated that they would attend.
The
Kiwanis Lobster Feed is on February 25th.
Several of us plan on attending their event,
Contact
Leslie
at
899-9536
moraga.kiwanis,event@gmail.com if
would like to attend the Lobster Feed.

or
you

Rotary Acts of Kindness

District Governor, Ken Courville, has
distributed an Acts of Kindness box that will
be stuffed by club members. Here are some
messages posted by our club members this
week.
Wont you add to our list of kind acts by
placing a note in the box that will be
prominent at our meetings for the rest of this
Rotary year?

Scheduled Greeters and Invocators:

Feb 9
no meeting
Feb 16
Barbara Bruner
Feb 23
Gary Irwin
March 1 Kevin Reneau
March 8 Michelle Robbins
March 15 Angelo Costanza
March 22 David Kruegel
March 29 Debbie Roessler
April 5
Doug Damaschino

CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS

02/02/2016 Last week I was able to help a mom
who is out of work by providing some funds for
groceries
Moraga Rotarian
01/27/2016 - 87 year old woman with walker at a
Concord playground selling hand-drawn pictures
for $1 to supplement very tight Social Security
income. Rotarian told her, Wait a second. That
looks like a $5 picture. And paid her. She was very
grateful.
Moraga Rotarian
01/31/2016 A woman dropped her BART card on
the floor of a train. A Rotarian brought it to her
attention, picked up the card and returned it to her.
Moraga Rotarian

02/02/2016 An elderly woman was concerned

that her homes entry lights were inoperable.
I went there with a ladder and repaired the lights
and put in new bulbs. She is very happy now and
feels much safer.
Moraga Rotarian

Feb 10 Fab 5 Interclub Luncheon at Rossmoor

Feb 23 C of C Dinner for Kevin Reneau
Mar 12 - A Nite at the Races Fundraiser
Apr 1-3 District 5160 Conference in Woodland
May 14 Moraga Community Faire
TBD -- Rotary Field Day
Jun 28 Demotion party dinner
Aug 5-7 OMPA swim meet food booth

And please remember this week to be a

Gift to The World!
The Rajah

MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015-16

President.Roger Gregory
President-elect ..........Kevin Reneau
Past President.Debbie Roessler
Secretary.... .Kevin Reneau
Treasurer.... Lad Lynch
Community Service Chair......Barbara Bruner
New Generations......Rich Render
International Service Chair.Tony Schoemehl
Public Relations .. Gary Irwin
Membership.......... Frank May
Director at Large... John Erickson
Director at Large..Marv Ellenberg
Director at Large Cliff Dochterman
Director at Large ...Linda May
President, Rotary InternationalRavi Ravindran
District Governor.Ken Courville
Assistant District Governor..Mark Roberts
Newsletter Editor for February Frank May

~SCHEDULE OF FUTURE PROGRAMS~

February 9th No Meeting due to the Fab Five Assembly meeting on February 10 th
noon in Rossmoor, where the speaker will be Rotarian, Brad Howard
February 16th Linda Groobin, Manager of the Caring Hands Volunteer
Caregivers Program
February 23rd Larry Tessler, SCORE Mentor to tell us about the business advice
SCORE can provide to entrepreneurs.
March 1st John Walker, Principal Campolindo High School
March 8th Evening at Trinity Center, School Street, Moraga Open (Possible
speech contest sponsored by Orinda & Moraga Rotary Clubs.)
March 15th noon (back at Soda Center) - speaker from the Orion Academy, a
special school for autistic middle and high school students here in Moraga.
March 22nd - Candace Andersen, Supervisor Contra Costa County
March 29th noon (at Soda Center) Chris Lardge, speaking on Cracking the
Enigma Code.
April 5th Steve Burchick, A Compass and a Camera, A Year in Vietnam.
April 12th Evening at TBD location speaker, Assemblywoman Catherine Baker

Moraga Rotary Board meetings: (All Tuesdays @ 5:00 pm in the Trinity Center at the Serbian
Orthodox Church on School Street)
th
February 16
March 15th
April 19th
May 17th
June 21st
Moraga Rotary Nite at the Races 2016 Meetings at 5PM at Cliffs
February 8th
February 22nd
March 7th