LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Moraga Rotary named 'Outstanding Club' in Northern California District


Three recent presidents of Moraga Rotary accept the recognition banner of "The Outstanding Club of the Year," from left: Club presidents Ron Mucovich, Dianne Wilson, and Kevin Reneau. Sitting: Cliff Dochterman, former Rotary International president and current Moraga Rotary member. Photo provided

Rotary Club of Moraga was recognized as "The Outstanding Club of the Year" at the Rotary District 5160 awards dinner held recently in Woodland, Yolo County. This District consists of 72 individual Rotary Clubs ranging from Berkeley and San Ramon in the south to Weed near the Oregon border, with four clubs in Lamorinda. This award has been given annually to the Outstanding Club since 1994, when it was created by Cliff Dochterman when he was serving as worldwide president of Rotary International, and has been passed along each year to the winning club. This award honors the recent achievements of Moraga Rotary under club presidents Kevin Reneau, Dianne Wilson, and Ron Mucovich.

One factor contributing to Moraga Rotary winning this award was the successful fundraising, design, and completion of the All-Access Playground at the Moraga Commons, which achieved wide community support and is regarded as the largest privately funded gift to the town of Moraga. Donations in excess of $350,000 were received from more than 200 foundations, companies, individuals, and other organizations, including several service clubs and grants from The Rotary Foundation. The project has brought many segments of the local citizenry to work together, and the playground has been overwhelmingly accepted by children and parents.

The creative playground equipment enables special needs youngsters the opportunity to play with other children, and it serves children from many Bay Area communities.

The current major international project of Moraga Rotary is building a critically needed children's home in Sierra Leone, Africa, for children orphaned due to the outbreaks of ebola. Each speaker at Moraga Rotary last year was presented a backpack to be given to an orphaned child in Sierra Leone to enable them to attend school. Moraga Rotary has raised about $200,000 for the project, much of which came from local community groups and individuals. Already the kitchen to serve the orphanage has been constructed.

Moraga Rotary has served the community for more than 50 years through sponsorship of 14 Odyssey of the Mind teams, scholarships awards to Campolindo High School and Saint Mary's students, exchange students, sponsoring Interact and Rotaract Clubs at Campolindo and Saint Mary's College, donations to Moraga Education Foundation, and the Field Day for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. The Club also helps or donates to Monument Crisis Center, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, RotaCare Free Clinic, books for the library at Juvenile Hall, assistance to fire and flood disasters, and many other community and international service activities.

Rotary Club of Moraga is a local service club within Rotary International, one of about 33,000 Rotary Clubs in about 200 countries. Regular meetings are held on most Tuesdays at the Moraga Country Club. For further information, call Debbie Koo at (925) 376-9137, or check out moragarotary.org.