The meeting was called to order
MORAGA
ROTARY
NEWSLETTER
May 7, 2019
Next Celebration: March 14, 2019
6 p.m. – Serbian Church, Moraga
Speaker: Fr. Paul Coleman -
Growing up in Ireland
Greeter / Invocator: Jennifer
Brophy
Upcoming Programs:
May 21 – Stephanie Dickerson –
Moraga School District
May 28 – Family Harvest Farm
June 4 - Open
* Dinner Meeting at 6PM
A full house for our lunch meeting
by Past President Debbie
Roessler, and Herb Weymeyer
provided the invocation with
thoughts about the concept of
Bringing Civility Back into Civil
Discourse, followed by the Pledge.
Speaker Efi Lubliner shared his passion
for films and his International Film
Showcase.
~~ANNOUNCEMENTS~~
Tony Schoemehl reminded the
club about their duties for our
Annual youth Field Day on
Wednesday May 8 where some
300 youth were expected to
participate… The club welcomed
two guests from the Diablo View
Rotary Club, current President
Stephanie Shaterian and their
incoming President Jerry Maya.
They were promoting their club’s
10th Anniversary gala on June 7 at
the Lakeside Room in Heather
Farm Park in Walnut Creek. Only
$25 gets a Mexican buffet feast
and beer and wine as well as
Stephanie Shaterian & Jerry Maya of the Angelo Costanza, our resident Bocce
Diablo View club were guests at lunch Ball guru, predicted big things from the 4
teams our club was sending to the
Rotary Bocce Tournament on May 11.
many stories about their first
decade as a Rotary Club. One can
purchase tickets at
~~HAPPY BUCKS~~
www.diabloviewrotary.org. They
Gary Irwin was happy to throw in
also talked about their unique
a happy buck in recognition of the
Range Day ad in Concord where
club’s hosting residents from
participants get a breakfast and
Shelter Inc as several members
unlimited shooting clay targets for
took those residents to a day at
$100. This 2nd annual event is
the Oakland Zoo last Saturday.
limited to 100 participants and sold
The 14 guests were truly thrilled
out a year ago. Registrations can
with the treat to get out of their
be made at the same website.
residence and see all the wild
Angelo Costanza announced that
animals (no, not club members,
our club had four teams scheduled
the actual giraffes, lions etc. at the
for the Martinez Rotary Bocce Ball
zoo). Linda May and Debbie Koo
tournament where more than 50
thought the event was great and
teams were expected to compete
each contributed happy bucks.
in the tournament this Saturday
Roger Gregory went with a High
(May 11). He also indicated that
5 for he and his wife Jan’s
the two selected for Camp Royale
appearance on the big screen Kiss
this coming summer, Lily
Cam at a SF Giants game last
Matranga and Pablo Nguyen
week. His smooch was so good,
both from Campolindo HS, would
the Giants gave them both free
be coming to next Tuesday
hamburgers. Jim Campbell
evening’s meeting.
honored the 10 year mark from the
time he served as District
Governor and pitched in a 10-spot
for that anniversary and also
mentioned that he was the one
who commissioned the Diablo
View Rotary Club.
Debbie Roessler did a High 5 for
her recent trip to San Francisco for
an arts festival and also suggested
club members visit the Oakland
Mormon Church which is doing
free tours through the month of
May.
~~PROGRAM~~
Our speaker for the meeting was
Efi Lubliner who heads the
International Film Showcase which
brings foreign films to local
theaters, including Moraga’s
Rheem Theater, the Orinda
Theater, Antioch’s El Campanil
Theater and the Jarvis
Conservatory in Napa. He grew up
in Israel but has lived in the U.S.
since 1970. For the past 8.5 years
he has promoted the Inernational
Film Showcase locally. He
carefully screens all the films
personally and selects the most
deserving. This month he has two
favorites playing including Never
Look Away which shows starting
this Friday in Orinda (and he says
the German film is superior to the
highly acclaimed Roma that
garnered many Best Picture
awards. He also will be showing a
UAE film called On Borrowed
Time starting in June. He donated
a pair of tickets for upcoming
shows locally and Bob Fritzky
and Jim Campbell each won an
envelope with the free tickets.
Former President Debbie Roessler
managed the MC duties as President
Ron was out of town.
~~ROTARY & SHELTER
INC.~~
Our Rotary Club has been very active in
community service this month. Our
association with Shelter Inc. meant a
couple of recent expeditions where club
members escorted Shelter Inc. residents
out into the community.
A week ago was a trip to the USS
Hornet, the historic WW II ship in
Alameda. Those attending were Mike
McCluer, John Erickson, Tony
Schoemehl, Rich Render, Ravi Singh
and his friend John. Led by Captain
Tony Schoemehl who is a docent with
privileges to the secret rooms of the
ship, we toured the hanger deck, the
flight deck, the bridge, the captain’s
bedroom, saw the direct phone to NASA
in Houston, the officer’s quarters, the
anchor room, many mess halls and
kitchens, the crew quarters, the
operating rooms, Joey Heatherton’s
bedroom, the 1943 computer room with
the gun trigger, the 5-inch gun bullet’s
conveyor, and finally the secret winch to
hand crank the rudder.
The group then went to the main part of
the Zoo below which had many animals;
an Elephant, Ghiraff, Chimpanzees,
Crocodiles, Bats, Giselle, Lion, Lizzards
and many smaller animals.

Our Shelter Inc group really enjoyed the

day and thanked us for the time and
treating them to the park, parking and
lunch.

Shelter Inc. families were treated to the

Oakland Zoo last week.

We had a great lunch on board midway

through to give us a rest from the stair
climbing. Many of us helped grandma
navigate the steps, and Rich was seen
President-elect Debbie Koo felt lucky
carrying baby Zach many times. Poor with the winning ticket but left the big
Ravi had a bum knee and had to sit out bucks in the pot for a future drawing.
much of the climbing. Tony and Rich’s
phones calculated we walked 3.5 miles
and climbed 10 flights during the day.
With hugs all around from our Greeter/Invocator Schedule
exhausted guests, we headed back to
Shelter Inc. around 3:00 PM. It was a 5/14 = Jennifer Brophy
warm and beautiful day, and thanks to 5/21 = Roger Gregory
Rotary we made many people a little 5/28 = Bob Fritzky
happier. Thanks to Mike McCluer for 6/04 = Debbie Roessler
organizing this event. 6/11 = Tony Schoehmehl
This past Sunday, Eight Rotarians 6/18 = John Erickson
hosted several families totaling 16
people at the Oakland Zoo.

The Zoo has a relatively new section at

the top of the hill with a gondola ride to
access. Once there a fine selection of
live Birds, a Condor with a huge
wingspan, Grizzlies Bears, Mountain
Lions, etc and a kids playground. A
beautiful restaurant and view was the
perfect break for lunch.
 ~~ Cliff’s Corner ~~ That is how The Rotary Foundation is
growing for the future.
Rotary Foundation Funds dimension to their lives.
From the earliest years of The Rotary
Foundation, the annual funds collected were Coming Events
held for three years in order to use the short
term interest to cover the costs of • May 11 – Rotary Bocce tournament
administration. Then the funds were spent • May 11 -- Moraga Community Faire
on the educational and humanitarian work of • May 17-19: District Assembly for four
The Rotary Foundation. districts at Peppermill Casino in Reno.
In the mid-1990’s several of us Trustees of • June 1-5: Rotary International
The Rotary Foundation began promoting the Convention in Hamburg, Germany
idea of building a fund which would not be • June 25 – Moraga Rotary Demotion
spent by the Trustees. Rather, this fund Party
would be a “permanent” fund, which • July 27 Afternoon - Cliff Dochterman
overtime would be earning a new source of Luncheon Celebrating 60 Years of
additional income for the work of The Rotary Rotary Service at the Serbian Center,
Foundation. School Street, Moraga
This concept was not well understood by
several of the Foundation Trustees. A few
expressed the view that a “permanent
endowment fund” was just hoarding money.
Others believed that all donations should be
used for programs in the year it was
received. The idea of having two funds – an
Annual Fund and a Permanent Endowment
Fund – was a difficult one to secure full
Trustee agreement. However, it was finally
achieved.
By 1994, the Permanent Fund of The Rotary
Founda-tion was created. In 2013, the
name of the fund was changed by the
Foundation Trustees to “The Endow-ment
Fund.”
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
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
contributions in excess of $131,400,000
which will be used for educational and
humanitarian programs.
 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