Farhat and President Roger exchanged club

flag in a show of Rotary solidarity.

JANUARY 19, 2016

NEXT MEETING: January 26, 2016

Noon meeting; Soda Center

Program: Dan Dunn, Executive Director of
the San Ramon Valley Museum.
Greeter and Invocation: Ron Mucovich
~~CLUB MEETINGS COMING UP ~

* Feb. 2 - Jafer Yaghoobi, Author of Let Us Water The

Flowers: Memoir of a Political Prisoner in Iraq
* Feb 9 - No Club meetingAttend Interclub meeting
* Feb 10 Interclub Fab 5 meeting at Rossmoor
* Feb 16 Linda Groobin, Caring hands Voluntary
Caregivers Program
* Feb 23 Larry Tessler; SCORE Mentor Program
*Regular Noon Meeting

** Second Tuesday Evening

Roger & Farhat exchange Club banners

~PAUL HARRIS FELLOWSHIP GIVEN~

District Governor Ken Courville announced that
a Paul Harris Fellowship is awarded to none
CarC President Roger Gregory, by his
other than
grateful Club members.

~THE MEETING~
The meeting was opened with a pretty robust ring
of the bell by President Roger, who promptly
proceeded to introduce our several distinguished
guests, listed below. Herb Wehmeyer provided a
few non-partisan political jokes and a prayer, and
led the Pledge to the Flag.
Guests today were: District Governor Ken
Courville (Dixon Rotary), Fab 5 Assistant
Governor Mark Roberts (Lamorinda Sunrise
Rotary), visiting Rotarian Farhat Hussain
(Udaipur India Rotary) and his wife Nastreen
and his aunt Hamida, who lives in Orinda, and
Jan Gregory.
Farhat Hussain spoke about his Rotary Club of
Udaipur in Rajasthan, India, which has 49
members with average age of about 40 and is the
best club in his District. It was chartered in 2008.
They have many good service projects, and they
publish an excellent, professional quality
newsletter-magazine with advertising.

DG Ken presents certificate to President Roger

~HAPPY BUCKS AND FELLOWSHIP~

Herb Wehmeyer confessed that he and Mary
Caburi spend a nice vacation in Puerto Vallarta,
and spun for only $10. . . . John Erickson gave
an HB because former Rotarian Mike Khayami,
who runs the gas station near the Country Club,
keeps a coin box for Polio Plus with cumulative
receipts so far of $342 . . . .

The Rajah gave a High Five for our District

Governors and AGs support for Moraga
Rotary . . . . Evie Michon, believing that 90% of
life is just showing up, gave a HB because she
was here Rotary.

~ANNOUNCEMENTS~
President Roger mentioned that Nite at the
Races meetings will be at 5 pm at Cliffs on Jan
25, Feb 2, Feb 22, and March 7, all Mondays.
All are welcome. . . .The C of C Dinner for
Moragas Businessperson of the year Kevin
Reneau will be on Tuesday Feb 23, so sign up
with Gary Irwin to attend. . . . Were sad to
report that Louise Schopkes husband Ron is
moving to a care center in Garberville NV to
better cope with his condition, and to be near
his two daughters. Please keep this good
Rotary family in your thoughts and prayers.
February 10th is the annual Fab Five
Interclub Luncheon, held at the Rossmoor
Activity Center beginning at 11:30 am. Brad
Howard, RI Director, will be the speaker.
Tickets (you must have one) are $25, and the
entre will be chicken saltimbocca (alternates
available). We will have no Club meeting
February 9.

DG Ken honoring PH Society members

DG Ken and his wife have dreamed up

an award of their ownThe Be A Gift to
the World Award, given to the member
of each Club who most deserves it.
Since John Erickson has been a very
active member of the Club for 47 of 48
years, and he and Mary Sue are always
in the middle of our projects, he was a
lock for this award.

The District Conference will be April 1-3 at

the Yolo County Fairgrounds.
Fun will
include a golf tournament on March 31, the
Friday night social where food and drink are
free, and Cliffs Last Speech #347.

~DISTRICT GOVERNORS
PRESENTATIONS~
DG Ken discussed the Paul Harris
Society, whose members pledge to give
$1,000 per year to The Rotary
Foundation as long as they are able. He
recognized the Moraga Rotarians who
have joined: Nora Avelar, Jim & Linda
Campbell, John Erickson, Louise
Schopke, and Debbie Roessler, of
which two were in attendance.

John Erickson, our Gift to the World

~DISTRICT GOVERNORS REMARKS~

Today was the official visit of Ken Courville of
the Rotary Club of Dixon, our District
Governor.
He was accompanied by our
Assistant Governor for the Fab Five, Mark
Roberts of Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary. We
are his last Club to visit of the 71 Clubs in the
district (thats a lot of chicken). He reports that
being District Governor is an excellent,
rewarding experience, and invites us to
consider it.
His major goals are to Have Fun, support The
Rotary
Foundation,
encourage
new
membership and retention of members, and
expand knowledge of Rotary and its principles
among youth, and continue eradication of Polio.

about 3000 students in the program. Camp

Royal, teaching 140 incoming HS seniors about
leadership, and Camp Venture, teaching 40
students about entrepreneurship, and both good
ways to teach about Rotary.
He left us with some homeworka small
cardboard box designed for donations, not of
money, but of notes stating services or random
acts of kindness we have given to others. You
dont need to sign your name. Ken wants to
display a good selection of them at the District
Conference.

Before beginning his speech, he put on his blue

blazer (like most of us have in our closets
somewhere). He noted that it was the official
DG jacket chosen by RI President Ravindran,
who, being a good businessman, saved RI quite
a bit of money by not having to supply most
DGs with a custom color coat. He did scare
most of them, though, by showing pink and
yellow silk coats first, before settling on the
blazer. Then he removed it, packed it, and
commenced his speech in the blue & green
District shirt.
His working career included 28 years with the
Coca-Cola company, where his customer
retention rate was 96%. He calculated that our
Zone has a 76% retention rate, and that our
district of 71 Clubs needs an average of 396
new members per year to overcome it. One
way is to not overburden new members with
large tasks, and to support them in tasks to
which they are assigned.
Its very important to support youth programs.
We have 65 Interact Clubs in the District, with

~RAJAH BUYS SOME MARBLES~

President Roger went out and overpaid for a
fancy new set of striped orange marbles that
looks like a Bengals helmet, with one lone green
marble hiding among them.
However, Lad
Lynch, who obviously had been practicing
marble-drawing over the last week, found it for a
win of $121. When this weeks raffle drawing was
held, Kevin Reneau couldnt find the green
marble which was OK since there wasnt much
more than $10 in the pot.

And please remember this week to be a

Gift to The World!
The Rajah

Nasreen & Farhat Hussain with Jan Gregory

Scheduled Greeters and Invocators

Feb 2Dick Vance
(Thanks to Herb for keeping the list)

CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS

Feb 10 Fab 5 Interclub Luncheon at Rossmoor
Feb 23 C of C Dinner for Kevin Reneau, BPOTY
Mar 12 - A Nite at the Races Fundraiser
Apr 1-3 District 5160 Conference in Woodland
May 14 Moraga Community Faire
TBD -- Rotary Field Day
Jun 28 Demotion party dinner
Aug 5-7 OMPA swim meet food booth

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
Newsletter editor for January -- Gary Irwin