MORAGA
ROTARY
NEWSLETTER
May 14, 2019
Next Celebration: March 21, 2019
12 noon – Moraga Country Club
Speaker: Stephanie Dickerson –
Moraga School District
Greeter / Invocator: Roger Gregory
Upcoming Programs:
May 21 –Stephanie Dickerson --
Moraga School District
May 28 -- Family Harvest Farm
June 4 -- Open
*June 11 -- Diabetes Testing
* Dinner Meeting at 6PM
Rotarians had a choice of salmon or
chicken for dinner on Tuesday.
A dinner from La Finestra brought in a
big crowd for our Tuesday meeting.
The meeting was called to order
by President Ron Mucovich, and
he asked Jennifer Brophy to do
the Thought of the Day and
invocation. She talked about the
origins of Mother’s Day back in
1914, followed by the Pledge.
Members Doug and Ann Damaschino
with Linda May enjoy catching up before
the meeting on Tuesday.
~~HAPPY BUCKS ~~
Tony Schoemehl tossed in a
High 5 for a successful Field Day
with almost 300 youth
participants… Ron Mucovich
thanked Debbie Roessler for
filling in as host of last week’s
meeting with a happy buck…Gary
Irwin was generous with a High 5
for Tony’s fine work in leading
Field Day and for celebrating the
Warriors reaching the Western
Division finals…Lad Lynch
updated the crowd with an update
indicating the Warriors were in the
lead over Portland and gave a
buck.
~~ CAMP ROYALE ~~
The club was able to meet two
Campolindo HS students, Lily
Matranga and Pablo Nguyen
who our club is sponsoring to attend
Rotary’s Camp Royale this summer.
With GPAs over 4.0 and a great track
record of community involvement, they
will be great representatives to the
camp.

~~Birthdays~~
Dianne Wilson recently
celebrated a birthday and said that
she also hosted 32 family
members for a celebration
including her mom’s 90th birthday.

~~Bocce Ball Tourney~~

Campolindo HS students Lily Matranga
and Pablo Nguyen will be sponsored by
our club to attend Camp Royale.
~~ Field Day Results ~~
Tony Schoemehl reported that our
club’s annual Field Day for elementary
school students was a success, though
he said that the 267 youth participants
was slightly lower than last year.

Our club was well represented for the

Martinez Rotary Bocce Ball Tournament.

Four teams traveled to Martinez on May

11 to participate in the annual Bocce
Ball Tournament put on as a fundraiser
by the Martinez Rotary. Only one team,
the Moraga Rotary Gaels headed by
bocce guru Angelo Costanza and Tony
Schoemehl advanced to the Round of
16, but everybody enjoyed the day.
Field Day chief Tony Schoemehl hangs
out with volunteers from St. Mary’s
basketball team for Field Day.

Camino Pablo School was the high
point winner with 117 points, while Los
Perales had the most participants with
88.
The fastest girls in Moraga with medals.
Boys can also run like the wind.
The high point girl was Olivia Metz, a
fifth grader from Camino Pablo, while
Chase Nickens a third grader from
Rheem, won the boy’s high point honor.
The high point winners will come to our
club’s meeting on May 28 to receive
their top scorer trophies.
Moraga School Board President Jon
Nickens officially thanked our club for
the “positive impact that your club has
for all Moraga Students” at their May
board meeting.,
Greeter/Invocator Schedule
5/21 = Roger Gregory
5/28 = Bob Fritzky
6/04 = Debbie Roessler
6/11 = Tony Schoemehl
6/18 = John Erickson
~~ Program ~~
Our guest speaker at the meeting was
Father Paul Coleman, the pastor at St.
Monica’s Church in Moraga.
He told of his childhood growing up in
Belfast in a mixed family with his mom
Catholic and his dad being Protestant. It
was an unusual family setting and he
related that there was almost never any
contact between Catholics & Protestants
in Belfast at that time.
The British was part of the
gerrymandering that occurred, mainly to
silence the Catholic majority and that
everything eventually led to Bloody
Sunday which resulted in violence and
death.
Fr. Paul was ordained in 2003 and sent
to the San Jose diocese for 5 years,
before he spent 5-6 years in Danville
and Dublin and then another stint as a
Secretary to the bishop. He has been at
St. Monica’s in Moraga for the past 1.5
years.
Father Paul Coleman shared stories
about growing up in Ireland.
 for the new income the Fund will earn in the
years to come.
At the same time, the Annual Fund of The
Rotary Foundation last year received
~~ Cliff’s Corner ~~ contributions in excess of $131,400,000
which will be used for educational and
Small Tasks of Service humanitarian programs.
As I traveled the world, I observed Rotarians That is how The Rotary Foundation is
performing every possible service for people growing for the future.
of all ages who were in need. Every act of dimension to their lives.
kindness was not “a big deal” or a major
publicity worthy activity. Rotary service is
frequently just little tasks which make a real
difference in the lives of others.
I remember sitting in the back of a pick-up
truck in Mexico as we passed out food to Coming Events
those who were hungry. In Malaysia, we
distributed tennis shoes to school children • May 17-19: District Assembly for four
who never had shoes before. In the districts at Peppermill Casino in Reno.
Philippines, I joined a Rotary team to pass • June 1-5: Rotary International
out worm medicine to youngsters who lived Convention in Hamburg, Germany
in deep pockets of poverty. I have assisted • June 25 – Moraga Rotary Demotion
Rotarians collecting books and packing them Party
to be shipped to India to supplement a local • July 27 Afternoon - Cliff Dochterman
library. In Brazil, we sat on a large rock at Luncheon Celebrating 60 Years of
the side of a road and gave two drops of Rotary Service at the Serbian Center,
polio vaccine to children as they were School Street, Moraga
brought from neighboring villages. In Malta, I
inspected a senior center where aging family
members and others with physical
disabilities could be watched for a few hours
a day to provide a respite to their regular
care-takers. Or, I think of the excitement our
local youngsters have each year at the
Moraga Rotary Field Day.
These rather small or common tasks of
Rotary service are certainly not earth-shaking
events, but they make a huge difference in
the lives of others. Just little acts of kind and
thoughtful service – that’s what the Rotary
motto really describes – Service Above Self.
How has this worked out? In a little over 25
years, The Endowment Fund of The Rotary
Foundation has accumulated a total of
$1,276,000,000 of cash and committed
donations! This Endowment Fund will exist
in perpetuity and will not be spent, except
 MORAGA ROTARY DIRECTORS 2018-2019

President Ron Mucovich

Co-Presidents-elect Debbie Koo & Evie Michon
Past President Dianne Wilson
Co-Secretary Vickie Devlin & 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
Membership Chair 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 Jon Dwyer

President, Rotary Barry Rassin
International

Newsletter Editor – Kevin Reneau