MORAGA Calendar of Future Events:

ROTARY August 13 – Cliff Dochterman Celebration,

Holy Trinity, 1:00 PM
NEWSLETTER August 31 – Wednesday Dinner with Rotary
September 23 - The Burns Supper
July 26, 2022 September 24 – E-Waste Recycling 10-4 PM
October 28-30 – Monterey, District 5160
Annual Conference
December 13 – Christmas Dinner 6:00 PM
Next Meeting: May 27-31, – 2023 Rotary International
Convention, Melbourne, Australia
Tuesday, August 2, Noon at
19 Members and guests met at La
La Finestra Ristorante Finestra Ristorante, and our favorite
Chef/Owner/Rotarian Jeff Assadi served
Program: Breyana Brandt – Caprese and Caesar salads, Baked
Salmon in gorgonzola cream sauce, plus
Moraga Parks & Rec “Future Chicken Drumsticks in pomegranate
Plans” sauce, and mixed vegetables. For
dessert he served homemade cookies
and chocolate cake.
Greeter & Thought for the Day:
Herb Wehmeyer

Zoom connection information for next week’s

meeting will be distributed early next week

Upcoming Speakers:
.
August 2 – Breyana Brandt – Moraga
Parks & Rec Future Plans
August 9 - TBD
Co-President Roger Gregory rang the
bell to open the meeting of Moraga
Rotary, that has been serving our
community for over 55 years.
Today’s Greeter John Erickson led us in
the Pledge of Alligience complete with
Zoom delay. Then John shared a
prayer, highlighting these tough times,
with bad things happening, nobody
agrees, people are rude, inflation, crime,
and that life is just not fun. He asked for
heavenly guidance that we need more
than ever, asked for strength,
determination and the will to see us
through these times, and make our lives
better. Amen, and thank you John.
Guests today included potential new
member Kerry Hillis, Tom Guyette from
Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary, Honorary
Member Lillian Roodveldt from
Scotsdale, AZ, Honorary Member Mary
Caburi, and favorite Lafayette Rotary
visiting member Bill Eames who secretly
wants to blend in as a member.
~~Happy Bucks~~
Hubert Ma gave a Hang Ten, $10 Happy
Bucks for learning a Wildfire Mitigation
App he developed with friends has been
approved by Microsoft for Startups
Founders Program and hopefully will be
rolled out statewide soon, plus he’s
happy Kerry Hillis came to our meeting.
Evie Michon gave $5 Happy Bucks
because Ann Damaschino reports
Doug is doing much better after a bad
month, and is up and around getting in
Ann’s hair.
Dianne Wilson gave $10 Happy Bucks
upon hearing the Sierra Leone Center’s
Program Director is doing better, after
falling seriously ill during a visit there,
and finally being airlifted to a hospital in
Philadelphia where she is recovering
before coming back home.
Gary Irwin gave $5 Happy Bucks after
hearing from his photographer friend in
Mariposa Pines near Yosemite that his
house was spared from the Oak Fire.
Roger Gregory gave $5 Happy Bucks
for hearing Doug Damaschino is doing
better, and rumor has it he’s working out
and pumping iron with some guy named
Charles Atlas.
 ~~Birthdays & Anniversaries~~
We have not heard the details yet of
Brian South and Joseph Schneider’s
birthdays, nor Marv and Joyce
Ellenberg’s anniversary.
~~Announcements~~
President Roger reminded the members
that our annual club dues of $150 are
due in July. In addition, we request you
consider a voluntary contribution of $100
to The Rotary Foundation that will count
toward a Paul Harris Fellowship. You
can indicate the funds should go into the
Foundation general account or into
PolioPlus. The PolioPlus Society
members’ donations will go into
PolioPlus. Bring or send one check
made out to the club, at: Moraga Rotary,
PO Box 122, Moraga, CA 94556.
The Cliff Dochterman Celebration of
Life will be held on Saturday, August 13,
at Holy Trinity Cultural Center, 1700
School Street, Moraga, starting at 1:00
PM. All Rotarians are welcome to attend,
but you must RSVP to Claudia Mennuti
as soon as possible and before August
9th. Call (209) 931-4085 or email
cmennuti@comcast.net to attend.
President Roger announced we will hold
a Back-To-School Take-Out Dinner
with Rotary event now on Wednesday,
August 31, at our favorite La Finestra
Ristorante. Dinner will be meatballs and
linguini with salad, Italian bread and a
cookie. Price is $35 with a free bottle of
wine with 2 or more dinners. Details and
website are coming soon. Roger and
Rich successfully taste-tested the wine.
Our next E-Waste Recycling &
Document Shredding event is
scheduled for Saturday, September 24,
from 9:30 to 4:00. Email Rich Render if
you can work a shift. Snacks, lunch, and
refreshments are provided, with cold beer
at 4:00 for tear down.
President Roger reminded us it’s time to
start thinking about reserving your spot
for the Rotary District 5160 Conference
in Monterey, CA on October 28-30.
Register on the Rotary5160.org website.
President Roger announced our
Christmas Dinner is scheduled for
Tuesday evening, December 13, at Holy
Trinity, starting at 6:00 PM.
President Roger reminded us the next
Rotary International Convention for
2023 will be in Melbourne, Australia, May
27-31. It’s not too early to start planning
to attend. All Rotarians are welcome!
Visiting Rotarian Tom Guyette made 3
announcements:
The refrigerated van project for White
Pony Express has been approved by the
District, and Moraga Rotary has donated
$1,000 to the project;
The trip to Guatemala working on cement
floors is scheduled for October 9-19, and
fellow Rotarians are invited to join;
Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary is now a major
player in the Cars Second Chance
donation program, making positive
changes to it. And Tom awarded
Moraga Rotary with a $2,000 check as
our share from the sale of a GMC truck
that John and Mary Sue Erickson
donated to the program. John got to
hold the check for 10 seconds. Thanks
John & Mary Sue for your donation!
Emma Bustamante from Campolindo
High School was a recipient of one of our
$1,000 scholarships, and wrote a nice
thank you letter, below.
Evie Michon gave a Polio update in that
the number of Wild Polio cases in 2022
stands at 14, 1 in Afghanistan, 12 in
Pakistan and 1 in Mozambique. A case
of vaccine-derived Polio from a live
vaccine not used in the US has infected
an unvaccinated adult in Rockland
County, New York. There have been 182
cases of vaccine-derived Polio in the
world so far this year.
Visiting prospective member Kerry Hillis
introduced himself to the club, stating he
is the leader of Moraga’s Planning
Commission and a 5 year resident of
Moraga, with 3 kids under 5 years old.
He is running for Town Council too.
~~Program~~
President Roger introduced Peggy
Scalise and Wayne Steffen, the
founders of Caught in the Act Theater.
They both started the company in 2018
after being asked to develop a
fundraising skit for a charity. It was so
much fun they decided to form a
business.
They have 10 professional actors as staff
who have experience on stage, in movies
and on television. They provide
everything needed to put on a murder
mystery night at your venue. They
provide a stage, the sets, lighting, sound
system and mics, the actors and
costumes for the selected event. They
have 3 murder mystery shows to choose
from:
Funeral for a Gangster staged in 1928 at
a mob sendoff at a speakeasy, with the
family wondering who killed him and
where is his money.
Eat, Drink and be Murdered, an 80th
birthday party for an Irish matriarch with 2
warring clans, both wanting a secret
whiskey ingredient only she knows.
Death Near Dead Man’s Holler, where a
gun-slinger is in jail in a sleepy town
where nothing happens, but he somehow
winds up dead.
The normal evening schedule starts with
cocktails and dinner, the first act, then an
intermission where each table of guests
get a clue package to solve before act
two starts, then act two solving the
mystery, followed by dessert. The clue
packages are graded and the winning
table with the best answers wins a prize.
~~Encore Game~~
The prize pot was $20. This week’s
chosen player was Evie Michon.
Wayne Steffen selected the winning
Ace. Evie went back and chose the
cursed red Ace of Hearts as her choice.
Low and behold the card was the Ace of
Diamonds. OH… SO CLOSE! Tune in
next week to see who gets the chance at
the now $30 pot.

The price range is $2,000 - $2,500 for the We have only 9 players, so if you want to
night, so this is something the board will play the game, be sure to pay Treasurer
consider for a future fundraising event. Debbie Koo or Evie Michon your $10
entry fee.
Thank you Peggy Scalise and Wayne
Steffen for a very interesting and Future greeter/invocators:
informative and fun presentation. 8/02/22 = Herb Wehmeyer
8/09/22 = Rich Render
President Roger gave our speakers 8/16/22 = Ron Mucovich
certificates of appreciation and they 8/23/22 = Alka Mulakaluri
selected a male in Guatemala to receive 8/30/22 = Angelo Costanza
a Kiva Micro Loan from our club in their
honor.

This week’s Newsletter Editor – Rich (the rascal) Render

For the Rotary Year our leaders are:

President Igor Kipnis &

Roger Gregory
President Elect Jennifer Brophy

Secretary Jennifer Brophy

Executive Secretary Evie Michon

Treasurer Debbie Koo

Program Chair Debbie Roessler

Community Tony Schoemehl
Service Chair
International Debbie Koo &
Service Chairs Dianne Wilson
Foundation Chair John Erickson

Youth Services Rich Render

Chair
Public Relations Gary Irwin
Chair
Fund Raising Chair Frank May

Membership Chair Hubert Ma

Directors at Large Mary Sue Erickson &

Linda May
Eternal Director Cliff Dochterman

District Governor 5160 Suzanne Bragdon

President, Jennifer Jones

Rotary
International
 IMAGINE THE POWER OF ROTARY
Rotary themes are both inspirational and fun, whether at the International,
District or Club level. They convey a mood and direction for the coming year.
The RI and District themes for 2022-23 play off each other beautifully!

Jennifer Jones’ inspiration for the 2022-23 theme is a line from John Lennon’s song, Imagine. “Some say I’m a
dreamer,but I’m not the only one…” Purple, green and white are her selected colors, which is a nod to the
suffragettes. The three colors also represent Polio, the environment and peace. Hear President Jennifer
Jones describe the message behind this year’s logo. https://youtu.be/K5vx2opxguU

The Power of Rotary.

Our story. Our way.

Rotary clubs are the strength of Rotary. The

Power of Rotary comes from

 Leveraging friendships and networks.

 Leveraging connections between clubs and districts.
 Leveraging expertise and resources.

Through our experiences, our stories, this power of Rotary becomes real. With your help, we will
be collecting, documenting and sharing members' stories over the coming months.