Moraga Rotary Newsletter- March 24, 2015 PDF

8/9/2019 Moraga Rotary Newsletter- March 24, 2015 PDF

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/moraga-rotary-newsletter-march-24-2015-pdf 1/3

MARCH 24, 2015

NEXT MEETING: MARCH 31, 2015Noon, at Soda Center, SMC

Program: Club Assembly

Greeter and Invocation: Al Simonsen

~~CLUB MEETINGS COMING UP ~~

*Apr. 7 -- “Clunkers4Charity” program **Apr. 14 – Area 4-Way Test Speech Finals (Trinity Hall)

*Apr. 21 – Moraga Education Foundation*Apr. 28 – National Alliance for Mental Health*June 2 – “Cooking with Kids”

*Regular Noon Meeting ** Second Tuesday Evening

BUSINESS MEETING

The meeting was called to order by PresidentDebbie, and the Thought for the Day and Pledge of

Allegiance were rendered by Doug Damaschino.There were two guests: Larry Tessler , with us to

help select an Employee of the Month, and ourspeaker, Melanie Wentz. President Debbie thanked Larry and his wife Carol for helping us setup for “A Nite at the Races” the Friday before.

CONFESSIONS & HAPPY BUCKS

Even though our Treasury is brimming, QueenDebbie went right to the money items: JimCampbell gave a couple of HBs for “no tiaraTuesday” today, and for a new lathe capable of

generating sawdust much more efficiently than hisold one. . . . Lad Lynch, as surprised as most ofus, gave a High Five for UCLA’s appearing in theSweet 16 in the NCAAs, despite expertprognostication from Kevin Reneau to the contrary. . . . .Cliff Dochterman gave a HB for a paintinggiven to him during a visit to Zagreb Bosnia in1992, when Rotary International was providinghumanitarian relief there. A photo of it is shownon p. 48 of the current Rotarian magazine (hint,hint). The painting still hangs on Cliff’s wall.

President Debbie and speaker Melanie Wentz

Queen Debbie gave a Hang Ten for 1) Lou’s excellent recovery from hip surgery (medical termrock star!), and 2) the world-famous White ElephaSale benefitting the Oakland Museum netted arecord proceeds of $2.153 million, and Debbie, ausual, worked pretty hard to make it happen . . . .John Erickson mentioned that his uncle’s paintinwas on the cover of the Rotarian in 1939 but I’m

not sure how much he contributed to the Club toannounce that fact.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

President Debbie expects all of us to sign up forall or at least most of this stuff: Orinda RotaryTrivia contest on Friday April 24, DistrictAssembly on April 25, e-waste collection on M2, Community Faire on Saturday May 9, MoragRotary Field Day on Wednesday May 13.

New events to sign up for!: Chamber ofCommerce mixer at Holy Trinity Hall on Tuesdaylate afternoon on April 28, jointly sponsored byLions Club and Moraga Citizens Network, andDistrict Rotary Foundation Training on May 16location to be disclosed later.



The Club received three very nice “Thank You”notes. One was from Andrew Nguyen of SMC,who has benefitted from our contributions to theBrother Albert Rahill scholarship fund. He’ll begraduating this June and wants to become ateacher after receiving a Master’s degree. JessicaMcCormick from Moraga Royale thanked the Club

for receiving the Employee of the Month award atour previous meeting. Ann Damaschino thankedthe Club for awarding her Honorary Membership,which everyone agreed was well deserved.

PROGRAM

Where is Holden High School located? In Orinda,and it has been there for 44 years, unbeknownst toeveryone in the audience. Our speaker, MelanieWentz, has been the Development Director for the

last two years and is enjoying her work with thisunconventional high school immensely. She likesRotary, since the Club in Springfield OH gave her afour year scholarship to attend college.

Holden High School is located in the lower level ofthe Orinda Community Church in the village area ofOrinda’s downtown, and was founded to educatechildren that were not thriving in traditional publicschools. Many had learning disabilities (about80%), or were into drugs, or had dysfunctional

families, and the resulting social isolation left themuninterested in school. Students are primarily fromContra Costa and Alameda Counties, and manyride BART to and from the school.

Holden High is fully accredited with the highestrating. It has four full-time teachers and others forspecialized subjects, and six counselors who areMarriage & Family Therapy interns who arebuilding up the hours needed for private practice.The subjects are typical core high school classes,

although languages are taught through BYUextension. They have recently added a fewscientific lab courses.

At Holden, the emphasis for the 40 students is oncommunity, where students are expected to voiceboth the good and the bad things going on in theirlife, and the other students will react in a supportiveway. Each student meets with a counselor each

week on a regular basis, so such sessions are anormal part of the week. Family members areallowed to attend eight counseling sessions durinthe year as well.

During the junior-senior years, each studentdevelops a Transition Plan for their further

education and adult life, with the help of counseloand others. Graduations are held in January andJune of each year, and the graduates, family, andfriends talk about the Holden experience and whait has meant to the graduate and to them. 90% othe graduates go on to a two or four year college university.

Holden High is primarily financed by tuitions, somof which are limited by a family’s ability to pay.Other financing is from donations from Orinda

Community Church members, the Orinda WomenClub, alumni parents, and other fundraising even

March Madness bracketology contest: BBexperts Frank May and Angelo Costanza lead thepack with 46 points, with three others just a pointbehind. Five people have 10 teams left standing

Raffle: Frank May had the winning ticket for$10, but he missed the big pot when the whitemarble eluded him.

Next week: Noon meeting at Soda Center ofSMC, with Queen Debbie presiding. Friendsand spouses are welcome. TheGreeter/Invocator is Al Simonsen.

CALENDAR OF FUTURE EVENTS

Apr. 10 – Finals for area Speech ContestApr. 24 – Rotary Trivia Bee, Orinda Masonic

Hall at 6:00 pmApr. 25 – District Assembly in VallejoApr. 28 – Chamber of Commerce mixerMay 2 – E-Waste CollectionMay 5 – Joint event with Martinez RotaryMay 9 – Moraga Community FaireMay 13 – Moraga Rotary Field DayMay 16 – Rotary Foundation TrainingJune 20 – Rotary Bocce Bash in MartinezJune 30 – Demotion of Queen Debbie!Aug 8-10 – OMPA Swim meet food booth



TRAVELOGUE

Do you ever want to go see some gray whales upclose and personal? Carol Irwin (in light green

jacket) does, and did, and here are some photos of

it: from San Ygnacio Lagoon in Baja California:

MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2014-15President……………………………………… Debbie RoesslerPresident-elect …………………….…… …......Roger GregoryPast President………………………………Nora Avelar-MartinSecretary…………………………………….........Kevin Reneau Treasurer……………………………………………....Lad Lynch Community Service Chair………………….. .Barbara Bruner New Generations..………………………………….Rich Render International Service Chair…………………Tony Schoemehl

Rotary Foundation………………..……… .Nora Avelar-MartinPublic Relations ……………………………… …… Gary Irwin Membership……………………………………... ....... Frank MayDirector at Large…………………………….……John Erickson Director at Large ………………………………...Marv Ellenberg Director at Large……………………………....Cliff DochtermanDirector at Large ……………………………………...Linda May

President, Rotary International………Gary HuangDistrict Governor…………………….……Pam GrayAssistant District Governor…………Mark Roberts

Newsletter Editor for March -- Jack Kerouac

Documents

Moraga Rotary Newsletter- March 24, 2015 PDF