~~Twenty- Eighth Meeting

MORAGA of the “20/21” Rotary

Year~~
ROTARY President Brian South rang the
NEWSLETTER bell to open our meeting. Brian
also offered a quote from Teddy
January 26, 2021 Roosevelt about not being a critic
_________________________________ but rather a “Man in the Arena”.
He then led the group in the Pledge
Next Meeting: February 2nd of Allegiance.
Zoom at Noon
GUESTS :
Program: Gretchen Ellis, Stand
Greeter: Alka Mulakaluri Liberty Franks, VP, Fund
____________________________ Development for Youth Homes,
To participate next week: and our speaker today.
Zoom connection information for next week’s
meeting will be distributed early next week.

Upcoming Speakers:

Feb 9 Hannah Pearson – Diablo

Valley Rotaract Night
Meeting
Feb 16 Joel Hodge – Blackhawk
Museum
Feb 23 Mica Williams – Contra Liberty Franks, Youth Homes
Costa Music Guild
March 2 Bobbie Preston – Monarch ~~HAPPY BUCKS~~
Habitat
March 9 Dave Miller – Swim a Million
Yards for Charity – Night Evie Michon offered a High $5 for
Meeting the reopening of the Juvenile Hall
Library project. She is also happy
to have received her first COVID-
19 vaccination.

1
Debbie Roessler was also happy
about her and Lou’s COVID-19
shots.
Linda May was also $5 happy to
have received her vaccination in
Antioch – although her experience
took over three hours in a long line.
Frank May had a better experience
the next day with a 30 minute or so
appointment at the County Hospital
in Martinez
Barb Bruner offered a High $5 for
seeing kids playing in our
playground at the Commons Park.
Debbie Koo was happy about
solving technology issues with her
computers.
. ~~BIRTHDAYS AND
ANNIVERSARIES~~
No birthdays or anniversaries this
week.
. ~~ANNOUNCEMENTS~~
Fine Free Hat
In a less than spirited fight for the
February Fine Free Hat, Linda
May won the battle for a mere $25.
Some New Projects
President Brian announced that
the board had approved a literary
project proposed by Joseph
Schneider for at risk youth. This
2
program will begin after the
pandemic settles a bit.
Brian also announced a project by
the Moraga Valley Presbyterian
Church to provide toiletry kits for
the homeless. See the flyer later in
the newsletter detailing how you
can help.
Moraga resident, Bobbie Preston
is starting a project to build a
habitat for Monarch butterflies at
Laguna Park. Debbie Roessler
mentioned that this will involve both
irrigation and fence work. It is also
a possible project to involve our
Interact Club.
Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary –
Valentine’s Day Dinner
Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary is
having a Valentine’s Day to go
dinner (on Feb 14 obviously!). See
the flyer at the end of this
newsletter for details!
Dinner with Rotary – January
28th
The next Dinner with Rotary will be
on January 28 at Amoroma
restaurant. At the deadline on
Monday evening, we had received
259 dinner orders (with 104 bottles
of wine). I hope everyone got their
orders in!
The vegetarian meal features
delicious ravioli filled with spinach
and ricotta with fresh tomato
sauce. This editor can’t wait!!
The Big Sign
Gala Evening with Moraga
Rotary
Our next fundraising event is the
virtual “Evening with Moraga
Rotary” to be held on March 6. .
The gala includes a salmon and
beef filet takeout dinner as well as
a virtual event streamed live into
our guests’ homes. See the
brochure at the end of this
newsletter.
3
Friends and family local to the area
can participate both in the takeout
dinner as well as the virtual online
gala. Remote friends can literally
participate in our event from
anywhere in the world!!
The event will highlight both past
and present Moraga Rotary
activities, provide some great
entertainment and ask for
donations to support our club. The
event will be hosted by Dan Ashley
from ABC News.
If you would like to make sure that
event publicity goes out to your
friends and family, send a name
and email address to Frank May at
mayfrl@comcast.net and they will
be added to our list to send event
information.
This is our major fundraiser of the
Rotary year. Help us make it a real
success! Note the next
committee meeting will be held
right after the noon meeting next
week.
A Second Greeting from Cliff
Cliff was late in joining the meeting
due to technical issues. But he
offered a poem from Rotarian,
Edgar Guest. A Rotary poem by
Edgar Guest may be found later in
this newsletter.
The Mystery Box
Brian and The Mystery Box
The mystery box this week was
donated by our last winner, Mark
Hoogs. A simple clue from Brian
turned into a flurry of guesses. The
prize, a set of Moscow Mule
glasses, was won by the lucky Evie
Michon. Since Evie has never
tasted a Moscow Mule, she is in for
a treat!!
Evening Meeting every Second
Tuesday.
A reminder that our club will
reinstate having an evening
meeting the second Tuesday of
every month. This will allow some
members who cannot attend a
noon meeting to attend Rotary at
least once a month. The first
evening meeting will be on
February 9th.
4
~~PROGRAM~~
Our speaker today, Liberty Franks
is the VP of Fund Development
Director for Youth Homes. She
was introduced to the group by
Debbie Roessler who has served
on the board of Youth Homes.
Liberty was a volunteer with Youth
Homes prior to her current position.
She was a foster child herself. She
is also a brand-new mom to nine-
month-old, Zephyr.
Youth Homes is a 55 year old
nonprofit, human services
organization that empowers youth,
young adults and families impacted
by trauma. 28% of California’s
foster youth are 14+ years old.
50% have experienced 3 or more
foster care placements. 65% of
young adults exit the foster care
system by aging out and 50% of
former foster youth are
unemployed.
Youth Homes offers a short term
residential therapeutic program in
four 6-bedroom homes providing
shelter, food, safety and structure.
They also provide a set of
community health services meant
to help families and young people
to succeed and thrive.
Their residential and community ~ENCORE GAME~~
service programs reduce the
juvenile justice system involvement Linda May was the lucky Encore
and 85% of the youth who leave Game player this week. She chose
their programs without re- the ace of hearts. It came up
offending! spades. Better luck next time.
Greeters/Invocators
Volunteers:
• 2/02 - Alka Mulakaluri
• 2/09 – Debbie Koo
• 2/16 – Linda May
• 2/23 – Open
• 3/02 – Frank May
• 3/09 – Angelo Costanza
• 3/16 – Tony Schoemehl
The Garden Program – An Example of the Community
• 3/23 – Open
Service Offerings. • 3/20 – Herb Wehmeyer
The emphasis of their programs is
what happened to a person rather We need greeters for the second
than what is wrong with that half of the Rotary year. Contact
person. Herb at oherbw@att.net and
signup to be a greeter! We need
Liberty ended her presentation you!
stating the need for philanthropic
support. They do receive county
support, but it does not cover their
costs. Liberty can be contacted on
925-391-5697 or
liberty@youthhomes.org. She
answered numerous questions
from the group.
Thank you, Liberty, for a fine
presentation.

5
Pictures from Dianne Wilson
from her Home in the Snow

Cliff’s Bell in the Snow Winter in the Sierra – Dianne Wilson

Moraga Rotary Directors 2020/2021

President Brian South
President Elect Brian South
Past Co-Presidents Evie Michon & Debbie Koo
Executive Secretary Evie Michon
Secretary Jennifer Brophy
Treasurer and Youth Services Chair Rich Render
Club Administrator Debbie Roessler
Foundation Chairman John Erickson
Community Service Chairman Tony Schoemehl
Public Relations Chairman Gary Irwin
Fundraising Chairman Frank May
International Service Chairs Dianne Wilson & Debbie Koo
Membership Chairman Roger Gregory
Director at Large Mary Sue Erickson
Director at Large Linda May
Advisor to the Board John Erickson
Advisor to the Board Jim Campbell
Advisor to the Board Cliff Dochterman
District Governor 5160 Mark Roberts
President, Rotary International Holger Knaack
This month’s Newsletter Editor – Frank May

6
Brian’s Invocation

7
An Edgar Guest Rotary Poem from the Rotarian Magazine

8
9
10
 Evening with
Moraga Rotary!
Save the date for a fun filled evening and join Moraga Rotary
for a take-home dinner gala on Saturday, March 6, 2021.

We will be offering a pre-ordered catered meal for pick-up

from the Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church on School
Street between 5:00-6:30 pm. The dinner is a full-course
beef & salmon fillet combo with dessert. Then, join us for a
live-streaming fun-filled event at 7:00 pm featuring Dan
Ashley of ABC7 News, DJ Ryan O, the Campolindo choir and
much more! More details will be available soon on our
website: moragarotary.org.

Dan Ashley of ABC7 News

Don't miss Moraga Rotary's big fun night in!

11