Barbara Bruner had a high five for

MORAGA ROTARY attending a performance of An American

In Paris in San Francisco.
NEWSLETTER
~ANNOUNCEMENTS~

October 3rd, 2017 Kevin Reneau and John Erickson

Next Celebration: Oct. 10, 2017
Evening meeting
Haggerty Hall at Saint Marys College
Program: Stan Sutton Sailing
Adventures
Greeter/Invocator Alka Mulakaluri
*October 10 Stan Sutton Sailing Around the World*
October 17 Loto Rickman - Tahiti
October 24 Dr Jackie Steele
October 31 District Governor Visit
November 7 Ron Haas Manager Moraga Country
Club
November 14 Bobbie Preston No One Left Behind
* Dinner meeting
reported on progress with the All Access
Playground. Kevin received a $25,000
check from the Lesher Foundation and
work is now proceeding quickly. Due to an
early agreement with Ross, the playground
equipment company, we were reminded
that our Club will provide the concrete and
labor for pouring the foundations for the
individual equipment pieces and assemble
the pieces sometime in late October. The
equipment is scheduled to arrive October
23rd. More on timing later but members are
asked to consider their availability for a
work party. Kiwanis and our Boy Scout
Troop have said they will help too.

Playground construction concrete edge forms go up

President Dianne Wilson called the

meeting to order with a sharp ring of the bell
and announced that this is the 51st year of
service for our Club. John Erickson did a
fill-in invocation with a bit of grub related
philosophy and led the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag.

Our guests today included Rudy Reich of

the Orinda Rotary Club and Bill Eames,
our Moraga Rotary brother.

~RECOGNITIONS~

Debbie Koo had a trip to Oregon and spun

the wheel for a $10 fun fine.
 and a folding chair for your comfort while
cutting wires.

Frank May also reminded us that Rotary

Day at Golden Gate Fields will be
Saturday, November 18; the cost this year
for entry and lunch is $41. Contact Frank
to sign up. If you think you might go but are
just not sure sign up anyway. Frank says
its better to have a few unused tickets left
over than be short. This is a fabulous event
thats very popular, so tickets will go
quickly. President Dianne told us what a
wonderful time she had at the event a few
years ago and she never misses the
chance to take a few friends each year.

Rudy Reich of the Orinda Rotary Club

spoke for a few minutes about that clubs
event called Adventures in Cuba which
will take place at the Orinda Country Club
on October 11th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. This
event is a social get-together with Cuban
hors doeuvres, wine and special cocktails
(Cuba Libres and Mojitos). The guest
Debbie Roessler told the Club that the Boy
speaker will be Russ Aubry, who has
Scout Troop we sponsor was meeting on
travelled extensively in Cuba and will offer
Wednesday evening, October 4th at 7:30
insights few others have experienced. Cost
pm at Moraga Royale and Cliff
of the evening is $25 and the location is the
Dochterman was speaking. Moraga
Orindawoods Clubhouse (Woodhall), 501
Rotarians were invited to attend.
Orindawoods Drive, Orinda, CA 94563.
Please RSVP to the Rotary Club of Orinda
Frank May reminded us that this Saturday,
by email to
October 7th our Clubs Fall eWaste Recycle
RodneyLal@PrimeVintageRealty.com or
event occurs from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.
phone direct at 925 366-8077
Please contact Rich Render to let him
know if you can be on site for the morning
President Dianne told us about the
shift (8:30 to noon) or the afternoon (noon
Lafayette Rotary Golf Classic 2017 at the
to 4:00). It occurs in the usual locations
Rossmoor Golf Course on Monday,
the parking lot next to McCulloughs here in
October 16th. This is a scramble format.
Moraga. Rich is providing refreshments
(See last page for details on sign-up,
(soda, water) throughout the day,
schedule, etc.)
doughnuts to start the early shift,
sandwiches/snacks for lunch and beer to
President Dianne also informed us about
end the day. Please bring wire cutters/snips
the Tuesday, November 14 meeting. This is
an evening meeting with a special start time
of 5:00 pm. Initially we will gather in the
Orinda Room where we will have the first
portion of our meeting until about 5:45.
Then we will move to the Moraga Room
(the center room of the Soda Center) where
we will join the Moraga Chamber of
Commerce(Tri-Chamber;Moraga,
Lafayette & Orinda) to mingle and to listen
to their four speakers addressing
Enhancement of the Customer Experience
for Small Business. There will be
snacks/refreshments. Note, there will be
no dinner served for the Moraga Rotary.
This was the first cold lunch meeting in the
new arrangement with Sodexo. (Picture
below) There was an extensive array of
items for a build-your-salad theme. We had
two different lettuce bowls, fresh fruit,
cottage cheese, shredded cheese, blue
cheese, bacon crumbles, shredded turkey,
tomato, stuffed hard boiled eggs, chicken
grillades, four kinds of dressing, rolls, butter
and cheese-cake for dessert. Members
were in agreement that this was a good
meal and much less wasteful than our
previous hot meal arrangement. The once
per month evening meeting will still have a
full, hot meal format.
~TROUBLE ON CAMPUS~
Marv Ellenberg told us a story with two
possible endings. It goes back a few
years to his time on the Berkeley campus
when he was close to finishing up his Law
studies at Boalt Hall. Marv had spent the
evening studying at the library and left that
facility very late. As he walked across the
campus a police officer pulled to the side
of the road and ordered Marv to get in.
The officer told him there had been a
peeping tom incident nearby and he was
taking Marv to the scene to see if the
complainant could recognize him as the
offender. Marv was shocked not only
had he not done it but he feared a false
identification could lead to arrest and
render him unable to gain entry to the Bar.
What an inglorious end to years of study.
He was aware that misidentification was a
real risk. When they got to the house
Marv was told to stand outside a window
while the woman in the darkened room
tried to identify him:
Possible ending #1 The woman laughed
loudly and told the officer that Marv was a
classmate and she knew it wasnt him.
Possible ending #2 The policeman told
Marv to remove his glasses and stand
outside the window. Marv replied, Goll
Darn (or something to that effect). Look at
these coke bottle glasses! If Im going to
be a peeping tom Im sure going to wear
my glasses. The officer agreed and
released Marv.
Ron Mucovich was the lucky selectee to
discern which was the true outcome and
he picked ending #2 which was correct.
Ron won the plate of Cowboy Cookies
from Moraga Royale.
~PROGRAM~
Bob Fritzky introduced todays speaker,
Betsy Biern. Betsy is the CEO of Make-A-
Wish of the Greater Bay Area. She is
originally from Maryland and now resides
in Berkeley and is a member of Oakland
Rotary #3 the third Rotary Club
established after Chicago and San
Francisco. Betsy has worked for several
major organizations as a fund raiser and
holds the distinction of generating over a
Billion dollars for these organizations over
the years. She was VP of Development
for the UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital
and through the years has worked with
Rotary International in Evanston on Polio
Plus.
Make-A-Wish, like so many organizations
runs on volunteers. The work just cannot
be done without a strong, motivated corps
of volunteers. Make-A-Wish of the
Greater Bay Area works across 17
counties in Northern California from
Monterey to Humboldt. In 2017 they
granted over 400 wishes.
These wishes are not LAST Wishes.
Many of the recipients, though they suffer
from a serious illness do not die. It is the
organizations goal to grant the wish of
every eligible child between the ages of
21/2 and 18 who have a critical illness.
They do this because the Wishes bring joy
and hope to the child and familiesAnd
the community that wants to help and
support. The Wishes also bring greater
health outcomes with adherence to
treatment protocols, decreased
hospitalizations and lower health care
costs.
Betsy stressed that they work with the
hospitals and physicians. Anyone can
refer a Wish - usually via email or a phone
call to:
Betsy Biern bbiern@sf.wish.org
phone 415 402-2760
or:
Stefani Govan, Executive Assistant
sgovan@sf.wish.org
phone 415 402-2777
Website sf.wish.org
Address 1333 Broadway, Suite 200,
Oakland, CA 94612
The three year vision is to:
Grant the wish of every eligible child
in the territory.
Cover the wishes of 500+ children
per annum by:
o Increasing the number of
referrals.
o Grow the volunteer wish
grantor base.
o Enhance in-kind support (air
miles, etc.)
o Build financial support
o Tell the story more broadly
emphasizing impact and
urgency.
Make-A-Wish works in Moraga. In our
community alone there are 571 donors
and several strong volunteers including
Scott Loyet, wish grantor and former board
member. Wishes granted in Moraga
include trips to Disney World and Aulani
Resort in Hawaii.
 December 14 Club Christmas Party @ MCC
January 2 Open
January 9 Prof Susan Skelton Geneology
January 16 Open
January 23 Mike Matoso Athletic Dir St. Marys
January 30 Open
February 7 Fab Five Club Meeting Rossmoor
February 13 Joint Meeting with Chamber

MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Dianne Wilson

President-elect Ron Mucovich
Past President Kevin Reneau
Co-Secretary Vickie Devlin
Co-Secretary Evie Michon
Treasurer Lad Lynch
Foundation Chair John Erickson
Youth Service Chair Rich Render
Public Relations Gary Irwin
Newsletter Editor Frank May
Community Service Chair Tony Schoemehl
Co-Chair, International Services Barbara Bruner
Co-Chair, International Services Linda May
Co-Chair, Membership Mike McCluer
Co-Chair, Membership Debbie Koo
Director at Large Mary Sue
Erickson
Director at Large Roger Gregory
Director at Large Debbie Roessler
Advisor to the Board Jim Campbell
Advisor to the Board Cliff Dochterman

District Governor 5160 Gary Vilhauer

Calendar of Future Events President, Rotary International Ian Riseley
Newsletter Editor for September Gary Irwin
October 7th E-Waste Recycling Event
November 18th Rotary Day at GG Field
Greeter/Invocators:
December 14th Holiday Party at Moraga CC
March 10, 2018 A Nite at the Races 10/10 = Alka Mulakaluri
10/17 = Roger Gregory
Future Speakers: 10/24 = Al Simonsen
10/31 = Roger Gregory
October 10 Stan Sutton - Sailing Adventures 11/07 = Michele Robbins
October 17 Loto Rickman - Tahiti 11/14 = Debbie Roessler
October 24 Dr Jackie Steele
11/21 = Angelo Costanza
October 31 District Governors Visit
November 7 Ron Haas - Manager MCC
November14 Bobbie Preston-No One Left Behind
November 21 Open
November 28 Chip Herman Orinda Car Show
December 5 Mari Pareno ExDir Xenopha
ZTraining Ctr and Toys for Tots