JUNE 19, 2012

Next Meeting: June 26, 2012 ANNUAL DEMOTION DINNER 6:00 pm What Ever Happened to President Nora Avelar? Invocation & Greeter: Louise Schopke
~~ COMING UP ~ June 18-23 Play Ground Installation at Rancho Laguna Park *July 3 Moraga Rotary Under New Management! Program: Monique Martineau Wisdom Based Leadership A Trend Thats Here To Stay **July 10 Ahmad Ghoreishi, Prof. of Political Science at Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey World Situation Regarding Iran and Afghanistan. *Regular weekly luncheon in Soda Center **Monthly evening meeting at Soda Center

Rich Render reminded the Club that next week will be the evening Demotion Dinner in the Soda Center. All members should be sure to sign up, pay and select a choice of entre. The Demotion Dinner is one of the highlights of the year. All members and spouses should be in attendance to end the year of Nora and the beginning of the year of Frank! th July 14 is the big District Awards and Installation dinner in Corning. It is a great event, lots of fun, and our Club will hopefully be in for some awards! Plan to go! Moraga Rotary is joining in the Ducky Derby and has 100 ducks available for $10 each. If you pick a fast duck you are liable to win some real cash! Watch for more details. Rob McSpadden announced that the annual Moraga Rotary Golf Tournament will be held in August at the Diablo Country Club the date to be soon announced. A sign-up list was distributed to express interest. Frank May noted that the 4 Clubs (Orinda, Moraga, Lamorinda and Lafayette) will have an entry in the Orinda th 4 of July parade. Some assistance and some walkers are needed to give Rotary a good showing! Angelo Costanza reported that our 2 Camp Royal students are at camp this week. He also gave a very spirited review of his attendance at the U.S. Open Golf Tournament this past weekend at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. And finally, he recapped the huge Bocce Ball Tournament!

GUESTS Grant Shoef guest of the Club (Mechanics Bank) Leslie Lynch guest of Lad Lynch Lauren Mitchell Outbound Exchange Student Mark & Anne Mitchell Parents of Lauren

YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENT TO SWITZERLAND

Rich Render introduced Lauren Mitchell from Campo High School who will be a sponsored Rotary Youth Exchange Student to Switzerland. It will be a one month short term exchange experience. Later in the summer we will have an Exchange Student from Switzerland visit Moraga and attend our Club meetings. Lauren has an outstanding record of school and community activities. We wish her a wonderful venture in Europe.

THIS WEEKS PROGRAM

Today Moraga Rotary went back to school, with an elementary class in Facebook taught by President Nora Avelar. With the assistance of the visual screen Nora was able to illustrate several steps to become accomplished in the marvels of social media. Perhaps the most helpful advice was to just sit down and play with the Facebook system and see what happens. It is important first to create a personal profile with the information about yourself you wish to share. Pictures and messages can be easily placed on your wall. The term like indicates you have seen an item and wish to continue a relationship with the sender. Nora showed many links with whom Moraga Rotarys Facebook is connected. The very informative program seemed a bit overwhelming to some of our over 60 members, but was extremely interesting to know what is available to be experienced. Thanks, Nora!

BOCCE BALL TOURNAMENT A HUGE SUCCESS

The Fourth Annual District Bocce Ball Tournament last Saturday in Martinez brought together 25 local Rotary Clubs and involved 57 teams. It was a beautiful day with soft breezes occasionally taming the 105 degree temperature. The several Moraga Rotary teams, led by Angelo Costanza, included Frank & Linda May, Lou & Debbie Roessler, Ron & Louise Schopke, Jim & Linda Campbell, Mary Elena Dochterman, Doug Damaschino, Colin Barnard, Nora Avelar, Gary Irwin, Peg Render, and Suzann Costanza, Heading the Moraga Rotary intrepid team of cheerleaders were Ann Damaschino and Cliff Dochterman. Rah, Rah, Rah, How do you like your meat? Raw, Raw, Raw! Or something like that. Im sure the crowd considered their pyramid stunts to be outstanding! It was a great day, organized by District Governor Nominee, Steve Lack of the Pleasant Hill Club. Thanks to all the Moraga

OTHER HAPPENINGS
The meeting was opened by Frank May with thoughtful comments regarding Rotarys Polio Plus program in Pakistan. President Nora called for several announcements:

Rotarians and spouses who upheld the name of our Club; and one of our teams made it into the final eight!

FUN AND OTHER STUFF

Al Simonsen had a big birthday, which was celebrated at a great movie and dinner! Rob & Joan McSpadden rd had dinner out to celebrate their 43 Anniversary at least that is how many Rob remembers! Ron Mucovich had a very happy buck in honor of a wonderful Fathers Day! Debbie Roessler also had a happy $1 for Lous entry in the Lamorinda Rotary car show this past weekend. Kevin Reneau found a happy buck to report that he has just bought tickets to take his children and grandchildren to Disneyland for the week. We expect a report back on his togetherness experience. The Club thanked Barb Bruner for the super Western Dinner she provided for 12 guests this weekend all part of her generous donation to the Nite At The Races Fundraiser last March! A report was made about a little trip to the hospital which John Erickson made the past few days. We all wish him a quick recovery from a mysterious illness cause we all know John is the real glue that keeps Moraga Rotary together. Frank May had one happy buck for his niece being part of the Girl Scout presentation at the As game. And another buck for all the fun at the Bocce Ball Games last Saturday! When the red Ticket was drawn, it was held by Tony Schoemehl, who had to settle for $10. We also heard about the fantastic work of Mike Rosa, Lou Roessler, Tony Schoemehl, Jim Campbell, Rich Render, Barb Bruner (and perhaps others) who moved the Moraga playground Train in Rancho Laguna Park to the new childrens play area. Up-to-date reports will be forthcoming!

CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS

June 26 Annual Demotion Dinner July 3 The Reign of Frank May Begins!! Aug. 3-5 OMPA Swim Meet Aug. 26 LMYA Soccer Sign-up Event

EDITORIAL COMMENTS
Recently, I read an article in a Rotary Club Bulletin a list of ways to enjoy a Rotary meeting, which included these suggestions: Arrive at the meeting just a few minutes early just to visit with other members. Give a sincere greeting to as many members as possible. Introduce yourself to any visitor or guest you see. Join in sharing happy bucks for some of the good things in your life. After the meeting stop and express your thanks to the guest speaker who has given their time to our Club. Take your time on the way out to say your good-byes. If you do these things, you will go away wondering why that meeting was just a little bit better than any other you have ever attended!

HOW BIG IS YOUR CIRCLE?

Many years ago I first heard a little verse by the poet Edwin Markham, which went like this: He drew a circle that shut me out Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in! How big is your circle on Tuesday noon? Is your conversation limited to your good friends on your right or left? It seems that we all unintentionally do this. But, when you stop and think about it, you begin to realize that it only takes a friendly smile, a brief remark, or a casual comment and the circle is expanded as if by magic! Bring someone else into your conversation. That is the real value of Rotary friendship. Try this next Tuesday. See if you can draw your circle to include at least one new friend. You just might make their day. And yours would be a little brighter, too.

MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2011-12 President..Nora Avelar President-elect..... Frank May Past President .....Tony Schoemehl Secretary.........Kevin Reneau Treasurer..Louise Schopke Community Service Chair.Barbara Bruner New Generations....Rich Render International Service Chair..Colin Barnard MembershipFrank May Rotary Foundation...... Lad Lynch Public Relations Gary Irwin Director at LargeDebbie Roessler Director at Large..Mary Elena Dochterman Director at Large...Cliff Dochterman President, Rotary International...Kalyan Banerjee District Governor, 5160 ...David Dacus Assistant District Governor.Debbie Roessler
Newsletter Editor for June Cliff Dochterman

Rotary International Theme for 2011-12 REACH WITHIN TO EMBRACE HUMANITY