MorAGA & ROTARY NEWSLETTER March 29, 2022 Next Meeting: Tuesday, April 5, Noon at La Finestra Restaurante Program: Mike Maxwell — Choice in Aging. Greeter & Invocator: John Erickson |April 5 — \April 12- Alex Arnold and Skip Mc Gowan The Afghan Family Project |april 19 —Julie Parks — Superintendent, Moraga School District pril 26 - Kathy Bowles ~ Lafayette Theater Trust Calendar of Future Events: April 11 — Student of the Month Awarded April 19 — Bring a Prospective Member April 21 —TGIT at Bill Eames Home (Thursday) April 30 - E-Waste Recycling Fundraiser May 7- District Training Sessions May 9- Tip a Rotarian Dinner Fundraiser May 14 — Bocce Ball in Martinez 21 club members and guests met at La Finestra Restaurante, and our favorite Chef/Owner/Rotarian Jeff Assadi served Caprese and Mista salads, Beef & Pork Meat Loaf with veggies and potatoes, Rigatoni di Parma with with prosciutto, spinach and sun dried tomatoes in cream sauce, and Tiramisu for desert. ) \ President Brian South (remember him?) called in with his barking dog, and President Elect Roger Gregory rang the bell to open the meeting.Today's Greeter/Invocator Tony Schoemehl began by reminding us that March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day, commemorating the day all combat and support troops withdrew from Vietnam. American involvement lasted 20 years, 2,709,918 men and women served in Vietnam, 58,220 Americans died, and less than 850,000 who served are still alive. An Australian visiting the Vientnam Veterans Memorial Wall wrote this poem after his visit: “From the wide brown land beneath the Southern cross, our journey ended in this sacred place. A symbol of a generation's loss where the living and the dead come face to face. The men whose names are written on the Wall show the true cost of war's great tragedy. Though strangers to me, yet | know them all, each one my brother, each one could be me.” Guests today included Bill Eames of Rossmoor, Caudia Ovenden (owner of Lords Ice Cream) and Scott Parsons, both of Lamorinda Sunrise, and Mary Caburi ~~Rotary Minute~~ Igor Kipnis recalled how after he changed jobs and moved to Wells Fargo in Rossmoor, he decided he should join some service club in town. So he called Lions Club and left a message, and nobody ever called him back. Next he called the Rotary Club, and got a return call in minutes. He was invited to meetings and decided to join. ~~Happy Bucks~~ Debbie Roessler kicked off with a High Five Happy Bucks in honor of Rotarian Hays Englehart who is moving to the Los Angeles area. Garry Irwin gave a huge $15 Happy Bucks for visits from his kids from Vancouver and Portland, plus the Jayhawks win, whoever they are Kiwanian Barry Behr gave $2 Happy Bucks to be with us today, the best community service club in the whole world. . . | think that's what he said Herb Weymeyer gave a High Five Happy Bucks because his daughter from Virginia and son from Oregon are coming home to visit. President Brian South gave a High Five Happy Bucks for being able to sign in with us for a short while. Jim Campbell gave a High Five Happy Bucks because he was enjoying a beautiful week on the coast with Linda. ~~Birthdays & Anniversaries~~ There was furious bidding for the April Fine Free Hat, between Ron Mucovich and John Erickson. John unloaded his fat wallet by winning the Hat for $50, then he said he really didn’t want it.~~Announcements~~ As a reminder, Rotarians can donate to the Ukraine efforts by going to: https://my.rotary.org/en/disaster- response-fund. The memorial for Cliff Dochterman is scheduled for Saturday, July 23, at Holy Trinity. Details will follow on how our club will support this event. Rich Render announced the next E- Waste Recycling Fundraiser will be on Saturday, April 30". Helping hands will be needed all day. Beer at 4 PM for tear down. Barry Behr invited the club members to nominate a Moraga Citizen of the Year. Details will follow soon and an application will be emailed to all members. Evie Michon reported the new Wild Polio cases in 2022 stand at 1 in Afghanistan and 8 in Pakistan. The Vaccine Derived Polio cases stand at 43 compared to 166 last year. UNICEF is vaccination 2.9 million children in Malawi due to last year’s outbreak. Rich Render announced our 3 high school Odyssey of the Mind teams that won Regionals came in first place and two tied for second place against the 69 other teams that competed in the State Competitions last weekend. All 3 go on to the World Championships at lowa State in May. The first place team won the coveted Ranatra Fusca award, given only to one team a year for creative design and risk taking in their performances. In all the years sponsoring Odyssey, Moraga has only won the award once before. Jim Campbell reported his friend, Past District 1285 Governor Graham Johnson in Manchester, England, (the third oldest Club in Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland) was invited last week to propose the Rotary International toast to a club somewhere in the world, and he chose the Rotary Club of Moraga. In his toast, he recounted how, after Jim & Graham’s Governor Training together in January 2008, Cliff and Mary Elena Dochterman invited him and his wife to stay at their home for a week. He told his Club of the story Cliff told of how, when he was RI President, he had gone to Africa and was invited to visit a village and to formally open a water well which had been built by local Rotarians. A lady had come to Cliff after the ceremony and said that she thanked Rotary for the well because: "When the Rotarians came and dug the well in her village, the children stopped dying !" Graham said “How powerful was that? - the children stopped dying |" Graham was invited to speak at Moraga Club, and his wife said after his presentation that his voice sounded a little nervous. His response was that it is not every day one is invited to speak to the Club of a Past RI President and to be in the presence of such an orator as was Cliff ! The toast is a great honor for our club. This week's Rotary magazine has a tribute to Cliff on page 62. Gary Irwin announced that Hubert Ma is so far ahead in the Men’s NCAA Brackets that we just awarded him his $50 share of the prize money. In the Women’s NCAA Brackets, Rich Render & Hubert Ma are tied for 1st place with 76 points, Jennifer Brophy is in 3rd place with 75 and Linda May is in 4thplace with 74. Brackets are attached. Angelo Costanza announced Rotary Bocce Ball returns to Martinez on May 14. ~~Program~~ Debbie Roessler introduced our speaker today, Julie Clemens, Director of Development at Shelter, Inc. Shelter, Inc. was founded 35 years ago, and initially focused on finding shelter for the homeless. Its core values are Dignity — Accountability - Compassion. It now has shelters in Contra Costa, Solano and Sacramento counties, with a staff of 119 full time certified employees. Its budget is $21 million a year. Federal grants provide the majority of the funding, with 90% of that going to help the needy. Last year, it had served over 3,700 people and 1,100 children. National figures show 24% of all homeless in the nation reside in California, 151,278 total. And 20% of Bay Area residents have less than $400 in emergency savings, so it is very easy to slip into homelessness. From 2011 to 2019, housing costs rose 88% but incomes only rose 17%. Shelter, Inc. has 3 models: « Prevent homelessness ¢ End the cycle of homelessness. ¢ Provide affordable housing They actually own and lease homes of their own to families. They are different from typical shelters in that fathers can stay in the shelter also, versus most shelters that are for women and children only, with fathers sleeping in cars. Their results show 95% of their clients move into permanent housing, 90% still retain a home after a year through their rental assistance, and 84% without a home actually move into a home. They truly end the cycle of homelessness. A few years ago, Moraga Rotarians took Shelter, Inc. families for outings to the movies and lunch, and a tour of the USS Hornet as a community service project. Thanks Julie for this great and informative presentation. ~~Encore Game~~ The prize pot was a measly $10. This week's chosen player was Jennifer Brophy, followed by Lillian Roodveldt, and finally Ron Mucovich. Tony was chosen to select the winning Ace, and Ron guessed the Ace of Diamonds. Low and behold the card was the red Ace of Diamonds. BINGO, we have a winner. Tune in next week to see who gets the chance at the same $10 pot.Future greeter/invocators: April5 - John Erickson April 12 - Herb Wehmeyer April 19 — Igor Kipnis April 26 — Rich Render This month's Newsletter Editor — Rich (Sill Dusty) Render For the Rotary Year our leaders are: President Brian South | Presidents Elect Igor Kipnis& | Roger Gregory Secretary Jennifer Brophy [Executive Secretary | Evie Michon | [Treasurer Debbie Koo | Program Chair Debbie Roessler [peeecree ree | |Community Tony Schoemeh! | | Internatior Debbie Koo & Service Chairs Dianne Wilson “Foundation Chair John Erickson ich Render Youth Services Chair i ects an rae Public Relations Gary Irwin Chair [Fund Raising Chair | Frank May “Membership Chairs | Roger Gregory es | Hubert Ma Directors at Large [Mary Sue Erickson & | i Linda May Eternal Director Cliff Dochterman | Advisor to the Board Jim Campbell | District Governor 5160 Kathy Suvia President, Shekhar Mehta | Rotary International ieeeMen's NCAA Brackets 1 2 3 4 ‘Subtotal Hubert 27 20 10 42 69 D. Koo 23 20 6 8 61 John 25 18 6 8 57 Rich 24 20 12 oO 53, Tony 24 16 9 4 53 ‘Angelo 22 18 6 4 50 Gary 21 20 7. 0 48 Ron 24 14 4 6 48 Frank, 20 14 9 4 47 Jennifer 25, 14 3 4 46 ‘Women’s NCAA Bracket aes 8 soit Db = F ESE 7 winner*6 [2 winnare*|4 winners =| winners *| 16 winners | 92 winners 1 ots Sots ‘sot Sots | *2pts | tpt » [max powrs[ 720 é 10 16 24 32 32 TOTAL | ROUNDS] ROUND S- | ROUND Z— | ROUND S— : | exrey | romrs | rimac | Fiwaca | evres | sweerts | rouno2 | rounot tLe eremy [75 76 75 2 2 3 erwin 7 = a2 2 25 5 [B.Koo-win| 68 2 32 2 2s 1 [B.Koo-Pace] = 3 2 7a 2 > HM 76 16 1 20 z >» L May 7, 32 16 78 25 0|_R Renae 76 a2 18 2 2a 1 [8 South a 4 2 € a =M@®RAGA Community Foundation December 2021 Thope this letter finds you well. It is my pleasure to report on the past year’s progress as well as the future of the Moraga Community Foundation. I'm happy to report that MCF is as vibrant as ever. 2021 was a pivotal year on a number of fronts and we are excited as we head into what promises to be an eventful 2022. First, we have closed a chapter in MCF history concerning the fraud and embezzlement inflicted on the Foundation by now convicted felon, Robert Fritzky. Mr. Fritzky is serving an 18-month sentence in federal prison, and he also has been ordered to pay restitution to MCF of more than $210,000 under the supervision of federal authorities. On a decidedly more positive note, 2021 saw MCF officially launch our Moraga Commons Enhancement Program. This important fundraising program will ensure the Commons continues to be a vital gathering place for our community for years to come. Phase | recently concluded with the installation of a new water bottle filling station and replacement of the aging flagpole at the entrance to the Commons. Phase Il is far more ambitious, and for that we need significant community support. This exciting new phase of the Moraga Commons Enhancement Project will include: Replacing aging restrooms to ensure ADA accessibility Improving picnic areas near the All-Access Playground Planting trees throughout the Commons and West Commons parks Making irrigation improvements in the Commons and West Commons parks To date we have received donations and pledges of nearly $200,000 — well on the way toward meeting ‘our capital campaign’s fundraising goal of $450,000. These include a $50,000 donation from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a $50,000 donation from the Eagle Foundation, and a $25,000 anonymous challenge grant which will match on a 1:1 basis all contributions received from the Moraga community. MCF’s board of directors has unanimously pledged their financial support for this worthy venture, munity Foundation Charity Tax Init 47-4521886 4, Sle. C # 191, Moraga, CA 94556, info@moraaacommunityfoundation ora \Visit us online: yyw, moragacommunityfoundation.oraM@®RAGA Community Foundation ‘ur goal is to complete this fund-raising campaign by June 30, 2022, and we urgently need your help to get us across the finish line. Attached to this letter is additional information about the program, including sponsorship levels and benefits. We greatly appreciate your past support, and we ask that you consider donating to this project and to MCF as you evaluate your year-end contributions. Checks may be sent to MCF at our Moraga address below. Or you may visit us and donate online at www.moragacommunityfoundation.org. Sincerely yours, David Trotter President, Moraga Community Foundation Enclosure Moraga Community Foundation 501 (c) 3 Public Charity Tax Id# 47-4521886 C # 191, Moraga, CA 94556, info@moragacommunityfoundation.ora, line: www moragacommunityfoundation.ora 1480 Moraga Road, St Visit