Moraga Rotary Newsletter - April 5, 2016

~HAPPY BUCKS & RECOGNITIONS~
April 5, 2016
NEXT MEETING: Tues., April 12, 2016
Evening meeting at 6 pm
Holy Trinity Hall
Dick Vance, back from Giants spring

training (he didnt make the team),
offered $20 instead of a spin of the
wheel, but the cagey Rajah spun for
$35 to the Club. Dick allowed as that
was fair because he also took an
undeclared side trip rafting on the
Colorado River near Glen Canyon.
Program: Assemblywoman Catherine

Baker: A Report from Sacramento
Greeter and Invocator Jim Campbell
~~FUTURE CLUB MEETINGS~~
* April 19 -- Michele Robbins Shalom Can

Change The World.
* April 26 Marielle Smallheiser What We Should
Know About Medicare.
* May 3 -- Linus Eukel The John Muir Land Trust
and Carr Ranch Project.
** May 10 Agnes Moore (The official 94 year old
Rosie The Riveter)
(Evening Meeting at Soda Center)
*May 17 Diane Hardy & Tim Farley Annual Report
From St. Marys College.
*Regular Noon Meeting
** Second Tuesday Evening
~BUSINESS MEETING~
President Roger, still stoked after the
District Conference, opened the meeting
with a very robust ring of the bell, and
Doug Damaschino offered a few
profound quotes as the Thought for the
Day, and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Guests in attendance were: Elizabeth
Murphy, Vice President of the SMC
Rotaract Club; Steven Burchik, author
and our speaker today, and Bill Eames,
our designated guest.
Roger and Elizabeth Murphy, VP of Rotaract
Debbie Roessler gave a couple HBs

for her time last week as serving as
Aide to Cliff Dochterman at the
District Conference, and for getting off
jury duty. (I heard the defendant gave
5 HBs). . . . Al and Marilyn Simonsen
attended some sand volleyball games
in Santa Barbara where their
granddaughter played and won all her
games except against an undefeated
pair, and gave 2 HBs. . . John
Erickson, holder of the Fine Free Hat,
had
some
pretzels
and
Ace
propaganda on every table (lets hope
the next Hat auction gets a few more
bidders).
Cliff Dochterman donated his $1,000

speakers honorarium from the District
Conference to the Mary Elena
Dochterman Scholarship Fund.
~ANNOUNCEMENTS~
The next E-Waste collection day will be
April 30. Come out for some real fun in the
sun. Rich Render will circulate the signup
list sometime.
The District Bocce tournament will be held
on Saturday, June 18 at the Martinez
Bocce courts; signups are being taken by
Captain Angelo. He will conduct a coffee
& doughnut-fueled practice session a few
weeks before the tournament.
~DISTRICT CONFERENCE REPORT~

The Rajah speaks: What a great
Annual District Conference we just had
at the Yolo County Fairgrounds in
Woodland, CA. The event began with an
April Fools Party on Friday (April 1st).
The Rajah was let out and he ran
around for the whole evening with his
turban on. Rajs turban was much bigger
than Governor Ken Courvilles. The
speakers were great. The venue was
pleasant and Rotary had it all to
ourselves. Great dance band on
Saturday night too. Raj and Rajette
danced until there were just six people
left.
There will be a Past RI Presidents Dinner

held at Blackhawk Country Club on
Tuesday May 3, and will feature PRIPs
Rick King, Gary Huang (from Taiwan),
and Cliff Dochterman. For information
and signups, talk to Debbie Roessler.
Cost is $45 pp which incl dinner and wine.
Its a hot ticket!
Link to info:
http://www.sanramonvalleyrotary.com/ri-pastpresidents-summit-registration
Debbie Roessler announced that the
Chamber of Commerce mixer which Rotary
will host will be on Wednesday, Sept 21.
We should use this event to raise money
for the playground project.
The A Nite at the Races committee for
2016 met to recap this years event and to
plan for the future. The net proceeds to the
Club were about the same as last year,
plus additional donations were: $7,600
toward the 2017 playground project and
$500 toward Polio Plus.
Random acts of kindness exhibit
Cliff spoke Sunday morning about the

drops of Rotary, the ideas, which have
come together to create a wonderful
stalactite of great beauty which we call
our Rotary International organization. It
was nice that Moraga Rotary was
represented by John & Mary Sue
Erickson, Debbie & Lou Roessler,
Cliff Dochterman and myself & my
wife, Jan.
~SPEAKER OF THE DAY~

Our speaker today was Steven Burchik,
the author of the book A Compass and
a Camera, a compendium of his
experiences as a combat soldier in the
Viet Nam war. He served as a Sergeant
in mortar platoon in the First Infantry
Division from June 68 to June 69. Hes
a graduate of Manhattan College in New
York, a Christian Brothers institution.
Cliff Dochterman discusses rotary at DC
Attending a District Conference is a fun

thing to do so dont miss that chance
next year when the conference will be in
Berkeley. Calling all Cal-people please
plan to return to the campus for Rotary
fun.
~CAMPO INTERACT PROJECT~
The Campolindo Interact Club is
having a used clothing drive the week of
Monday, April 17th. The clothing will be
sent to the White Pony Express, Free
General Store for distribution to
homeless and destitute people in Contra
Costa. The clothing drive will run for two
weeks so bring your clean, used
clothing donations to our regular
meetings on April 12th and 19th and we
will make sure they get to the Interact
Club. Remember it is important that our
Interactors get a good project under
their belts as they move to the end of
their school year.
Pres. Roger and speaker Steven Burchik
While in-country, he took about 4000

photos on 24 shot rolls of film (remember
those?) of the terrain, his troops,
indigenous people, and some combat
situations. After his discharge in 1968, he
stored the photos until recently, when he
was asked by several groups to share his
experiences. At one presentation, he was
asked When will the book be available?.
So Steven published his book.
His unit in Viet Nam only lost four men,
which was well below average for a
combat company. For two months, they
were assigned to guard the Saigon water
supply plant, and for another two months
they guarded the Saigon electric power

plant.
More intense combat duty included some
search & destroy missions where they
were ferried to and from the combat area
by helicopter, but had to cross rivers, rice
paddies, and other wet terrain. They also
set night ambushes and cleared out
tunnels. They also set up night defensive
positions with water & supplies,
surrounded by razor wire and fortified with
sandbags.
His company got to meet celebrities Joey
Bishop and Tippi Hedren, who he later
saw at a reunion in Bodega Bay on the
50th anniversary of her movie, The
Birds.
~MARCH MADNESS POOL~
Southern-most Rotary wheel in the world!
The winner of the Rotary NCAA college

basketball championship pool was Angelo
Costanza, winning $40 due to his skill and
cunning. John Erickson won 2nd place
worth $20, which he donated back to the
Club. The Club also received $20 off the
top for putting up with this nonsense.
Thanks to commissioner Al Simonsen for
running the pool.
The winning green raffle ticket was held by

Bill Eames, but he settled for just ten
bucks but won the privilege of hosting the
Last Friday Social at his house in
Rossmoor.
Bills address is:
1901
Lakeshore. Phone is: 510-604-9592. Gate
password is: rotary. Carpets and wine
should be: white.
~SMC ROTARACT PROJECT~
CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS
The SMC Rotaract Club is planning an

Adopt-A-Pet day project for Saturday, May
7 at the Moraga Commons. Mark your
calendar; details to follow.
Apr 16 District Assembly - Benicia

Apr 29 Last Friday Social at Bill Eames
Apr 30 -- E-Waste Recycling
May 3 -- Past RI Presidents Dinner
May 11 Rotary Field Day
May 14 Moraga Community Faire
Jun 18 District Bocce Ball Challenge
Jun 28 Demotion party dinner
Aug 5-7 OMPA swim meet food booth
Sep 21 Chamber of Commerce mixer (sponsor)
Mar 24-26, 2017 District Conference
May 17th noon at the Soda

Center Diane Hardy & Tim
Farley speaking about St.
Marys College
May 24th Open noon at the
Soda Center
May 31st Open noon at the
Soda Center
June 7th Open - noon at the
Soda Center
June 14th evening at the Soda
Center Gary & Carol Irwin
tell us about their recent trip to
Antarctica
June 21st - Open - noon at the
Soda Center
June 28th Evening, 6:00 pm at
the Soda Center, Claeys Hall
Demotion Dinner
MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015-16

President.Roger Gregory
President-elect ..........Kevin Reneau
Past President.Debbie Roessler
Secretary.... .Kevin Reneau
Treasurer.... Lad Lynch
Community Service Chair......Barbara Bruner
New Generations... ...Rich Render
International Service Chair..Tony Schoemehl
Public Relations ...Gary Irwin
Membership........Frank May
Director at Large...John Erickson
Director at Large..Marv Ellenberg
Director at Large Cliff Dochterman
Director at Large ...Linda May
President, Rotary InternationalRavi Ravindran
District Governor.Ken Courville
Assistant District Governor..Mark Roberts
April Editor Gary Irwin
Future Greeters/Invocators
April 19 Ron Mucovich
April 26 Tony Schoemehl
May 3 Evie Michon
May 10 John Erickson
May 17 Frank May
May 24 Herb Wehmeyer
List of upcoming programs:

April 19th noon at the Soda
Center Moraga Rotarian,
Michele Robbins, Shalom Can
Change the World.
April 26th noon at the Soda
Center Marielle Smallheiser
speaking on Medicare
May 3rd noon at the Soda
Center Linus Eukel speaking
on the John Muir Land Trust
and the Carr Ranch Project
May 10th evening at the Soda
Center Agnes Moore, Rosie
the Riveter. 94 years old.
Moraga Rotary Board meetings: (All Tuesdays

@ 5:00 pm in the Trinity Center at the Serbian
Orthodox Church on School Street):
April 19th
May 17th
June 21st
July 19th

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~HAPPY BUCKS & RECOGNITIONS~

Dick Vance, back from Giants spring

Program: Assemblywoman Catherine

* April 19 -- Michele Robbins Shalom Can

** Second Tuesday Evening

Roger and Elizabeth Murphy, VP of Rotaract

Debbie Roessler gave a couple HBs

Cliff Dochterman donated his $1,000

~DISTRICT CONFERENCE REPORT~

There will be a Past RI Presidents Dinner

Random acts of kindness exhibit

Cliff spoke Sunday morning about the

~SPEAKER OF THE DAY~

Attending a District Conference is a fun

Pres. Roger and speaker Steven Burchik

While in-country, he took about 4000

they guarded the Saigon electric power

The winner of the Rotary NCAA college

The winning green raffle ticket was held by

~SMC ROTARACT PROJECT~

CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS

The SMC Rotaract Club is planning an

Apr 16 District Assembly - Benicia

May 17th noon at the Soda

MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015-16

List of upcoming programs:

Moraga Rotary Board meetings: (All Tuesdays

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