name.
It is Scots Gaelic and means "sun
MORAGA
ROTARY
NEWSLETTER
July 14, 2020
_________________________________
Next: July 21, Noon
We are now conducting regular
meetings on-line video or by phone!
Program: David O’Connell,
Saklan School
____________________________
To participate next week:
Zoom connection information for next week’s
meeting will be distributed early next week.
Upcoming Speakers:
July 28 – Kid Power: Erica Leonard
Sept 8 – Mark Nagel: St. Mary’s College
Dec 1 – DG visit: Mark Roberts
~~ Correction to Last Week’s
Newsletter ~~
The newsletter editor apologizes for an
error in the last newsletter on the name
of Moraga Rotary exchange student,
Eilidh Tait. She was incorrectly called
"Amy" in the newsletter. In the era of
Covid-19 and Zoom meetings where
social distancing prevents face-to-face
interaction such mistakes are more
common. "Eilidh" is a very beautiful
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ray." It is a rare, given name for women
and is pronounced "AY-lee.
~~Second Meeting of the
2020/2021 Rotary Year ~~
President, Brian South rang the
Moraga Rotary Bell to open the meeting.
Brian reminded us that this club has
been meeting for over 53 years. Past-
President, Debbie Koo provided the
invocation telling us that today is
“Pandemonium Day.” Pandemonium
means chaos and the word was first
used in the 17th Century epic poem titled
“Paradise Lost” by John Milton. In it
Pandemonium was the name of the
capital of hell. The word comes from two
Greek words – “pan” meaning all and
“demonium” meaning demons. Debbie
said pandemonium certainly describes
the state of the world today and
pandemonium will always be a part of
our lives. One way to escape it is to
organize our lives. Debbie then led us
in the Pledge of Allegiance.
There was one guest today, our speaker
Lucas Tucker.
On a down note, Debbie Roessler’s
husband, Lou is in the hospital. He was
having trouble getting his breath last
Friday and was rushed to the hospital.
He tested negative for Covid-19. They
put him in intensive-care, and he will
probably be at John Muir/Mt. Diablo
Hospital for several days. Debbie says it
is extremely hard to get information and
she is not allowed to see him. Today
(7/15) Frank got news from Debbie that
“Lou is feeling better. He is still in
intensive care and will probably stay in
the hospital for a few more days.”
Please keep Lou and Debbie in your
prayers.
~~Happy Bucks~~
Past-President, Evie Michon gave $5
Happy Bucks because she discovered
that Falmouth, Massachusetts has a
Rotary Club. Evie lived in Falmouth 20
years ago, long before she knew
anything about Rotary. She attended the
Falmouth Rotary Zoom meeting
yesterday and was pleased to find
several people who knew acquaintances
of hers.
President, Brian South had $5 Happy
Bucks for a conversation he had with
Samantha Merrick, the recipient of one
of the Mary Elena Dochterman
scholarships this year. Samantha is
going off to college in San Diego and
plans to look into Rotaract while there.
Brian also sent a letter to Sue
McCaffery to let her know that the Stan
McCaffery Endowment just went over
$100,000 in value.
Marv Ellenberg had $10 Happy Bucks
for his mother-in-law’s 105th birthday.
This was a very special occasion and
she continues to be a barrel of laughs.
Sharp as a tack and a treasure.
~~Anniversaries~~
Gary & Carol Irwin celebrated their
53rd anniversary on June 25th. They
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were married in 1967, the same year
our club was founded. Rich Render
informed the assembly that there is a
$40 maximum Happy Fine on
anniversaries.
President Brian South & wife, Suzy,
celebrated a 19th anniversary today!
Suzy is on a road trip to visit her Mom in
Bismarck, North Dakota. Brian is
manning the fort at home. He also notes
that the population of all North Dakota is
smaller than the population of Contra
Costa County.
Lad & Leslie Lynch celebrated their
58th anniversary. They spent the time in
lockdown same as the past 16 or 17
weeks.
~~Club Business and Info~~
Past Presidents, Debbie Koo & Evie
Michon picked up their Rotarian of the
Year Awards from Cliff Dochterman at
Moraga Royale.
Don’t forget we need greeters and
invocators! There is a sheet at the end
of this newsletter with dates. Please
correspond with Herb Wehmeyer, who
does a fantastic job as coordinator of
this important task. You might pick a
date and send your selection to Herb at:
oherbw@att,net
Cliff Dochterman is authoring an article
for the Rotarian magazine about one of
his predecessors who was the oldest
Past Rotary International President. The
Honoree was 98 when he passed away.
Watch for the article about October.
Dianne Wilson told us that she and
Clyde have been looking for a Sierra
property for the past 8 years. They
finally found it and bought it. At the end
of this month they will be moving into a
condo at the Moraga Country Club while
most of their furniture moves to the new
property. They will be in the condo until
they sell the Moraga house. But don’t
worry, Dianne is going to keep doing her
Moraga Rotary functions.
President Brian South reminded us that
last year we did Grand Parents Day at
Moraga Royale with the Moraga Juniors.
Due to Covid-19 that event will not be
taking place this year. In lieu of it we
and the Juniors have a joint project
called the “Summer Smiles Project.” We
will decorate rocks which will be placed
in the gardens at Moraga Royale and
Aegis to cheer the residents. Rock
decorating kits and markers are
available at the Canyon Club Brewery.
Kits are located in a special rack just
within the entrance outside the brewery.
Just pick up the kits and decorate to
your hearts content. Then drop the
finished rocks back to the rack outside
the Canyon Club Brewery. Directions
and ideas are in the kits. See the flyer at
the end of this newsletter. It would be
swell if you could take a photo of your
completed rocks and email to
MoragaRotary@gmail.com.
Because of Covid concerns you may
prefer to have the kit/kits dropped off at
your home - contact the Moraga Juniors
at: service@moragajuniors.org. And
when you get done with the decorating,
you can also notify this site for a pick-up
from your home.
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You will also see another Moraga
Juniors project in the rack next to the
Rock Decorating kits. The Juniors are
also collecting school supplies for
students that are in need. If you can -
please help the Juniors collect supplies.
The Club Mystery Box activity…
President Brian South showed this
week’s mystery box wrapped in blue
shiny paper. This is a new “mystery”
since the first box was solved last week.
Each guess costs $1 and each week
Brian gives a hint about what’s in the
box until someone guesses and wins
the item. This week’s hint was, “The
item is worth about $60” and the
guessing began:
• Debbie Koo “A bottle of wine?”
No
• Cliff Dochterman “A police
revolver?” No
• Gary Irwin “An item of apparel?”
and when prompted Gary
guessed, “a shirt?”… No
• Angelo Costanza “A portable
radio?” No
• Evie Michon “An umbrella?” No
• John Erickson “A bag of
quarters?” No
• Dianne Wilson “A scarf?” No
Next week there will be another hint.
We are invited to confidentially
submit ideas for box items to Brian.
The box is about 10” by 10.”
~~Program~~
Today’s speaker was Lucas Tucker, a
student at Campolindo High School.
Debbie Roessler introduced Lucas.
She saw an article in the East Bay
Times about Lucas and the activity he
developed called “Friendly Flash
Fiction” which involves creative writing.
In an attempt to cope with the stress of
the Covid virus Lucas developed this
activity for 8 to 18-year-olds who like to
write.
Lucas presented a series of well-
developed PowerPoint slides to illustrate
his “project.” (The newsletter editor sees
this as more than a “project” – it is
maybe more like half-way to genius…)
Working with Ms. Donohoe, English
teacher at Campolindo High School,
Lucas gathered a cadre of 15
Campolindo “tutors” to guide
participants. Then developed a website,
posted flyers, used Instagram,
SnapChat and Twitter to attract teens
who like to write while sheltering from
Covid-19, and created three weekly
sessions of roughly 30 minutes each to
help participants craft their story. The
stories spring from the minds of each
participant and involve topics that
interest the participant. Both participants
and tutors learn by teaming-up to
present the stories. A suggested
donation of $20 is requested for each
30-minute session but the fee is waived
if the participant cannot easily come up
with the money. All money collected is
donated to the UCSF Covid-19 Relief
Fund. Lucas has a Go Fund Me site to
help gather donations. So far roughly
$1,300 has been collected.
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Currently there are 20 student/
participants. The youngest is 6 or 7
years of age with the average age being
about 10 to 13.
Past president, Evie Michon declared
the program “Fabulous.” She said this
may well affect the lives of many far into
adulthood. Evie requested a link to the
website and said she would be
contacting her writing family members.
Link to Lucas’ presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1asEXr16k9
VGfxSgVTvMRkC20wOgK5XoHNG9m9yax70M/
edit?usp=sharing
Link to the Friendly Flash Fiction
GoFundMe (for donations):
https://gf.me/u/x7yikb
Link to website: friendlyflashfiction.org
Debbie Roessler asked about the
content of the lessons? Lucas said there
are a series of prompts the tutors use to
draw out what the participant is
interested in. It might be, “I want to be
an astronaut” or “I want to get a dog.”
The tutors use a bank of about 30
prompts for each session. They had one
participant who was really into time-
travel. The prompt might be something
like, “What if you could go back 300
years but you can still communicate by
i-phone. What would you do? What
would you report back?”
Brian asked Lucas to send us some
writing samples and suggested Lucas
explore getting involved with the
Campolindo Interact Club.
Lillian Roodveldt explored the ages of
the participants and how the tutors are
Campolindo students but the
participants can be from anywhere.
~~Final Words~~
President Brian South told Lucas he
would receive a Certificate of
Appreciation for speaking with us and a
First Aid kit would be donated by the
club to the Moraga Schools in Lucas’
name. There was healthy Zoom
applause for Lucas and his
presentation!
Next Tuesday evening at 5:30 pm we
will have our usual 3rd Tuesday of the
month Moraga Rotary Board Meeting. A
Zoom meeting link will be sent out in
advance.
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Herb Wehmeyer needs
Greeters/Invocators. Please see the
date/signup sheet at the end of this
newsletter and notify Herb of your
preference.
Debbie Roessler needs speakers. She
told us she found Lucas Tucker through
the East Bay Times news article and
says, “You can find speaker ideas
everywhere.” Please help Debbie,
particularly in light of the fact that she
will be facing unknown time constraints
when Lou comes home from the
hospital. We need to flesh out speakers
for August and September.
President Brian told us that next
week’s speaker will be David O’Connell
the new director of the Saklan School
and Ron Mucovich will be the
Invocator.
The meeting was adjourned with a
ringing of the Moraga Rotary Bell and a
wish for a blessed week to all. See you
on the Zoom next week.
Moraga Rotary Directors 2020/2021
President Brian South
President Elect Brian South
Past Co-Presidents Evie Michon & Debbie Koo
Secretary Jennifer Brophy
Treasurer and Youth Services Chair Rich Render
Club Administrator Debbie Roessler
Foundation Chairman John Erickson
Community Service Chairman Tony Schoemehl
Public Relations Chairman Gary Irwin
Fundraising Chairman Frank May
International Service Chairs Dianne Wilson & Debbie Koo
Membership Chairman Roger Gregory
Director at Large Mary Sue Erickson
Director at Large Linda May
Advisor to the Board John Erickson
Advisor to the Board Jim Campbell
Advisor to the Board Cliff Dochterman
District Governor 5160 Mark Roberts
President, Rotary International Holger Knaack
July newsletter editor – The Rajah - Gregory

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