If you didn’t make it to our last Rotary Club of Forest Grove meeting, here’s what you missed…

Online Meetings: We will continue to meet virtually using the Zoom Meeting platform for the foreseeable future. Our meetings will begin at our normal meeting time, Noon on Wednesday. All Rotarians are welcome and participating will count towards meeting attendance. Here are the login details…

Direct Link: https://zoom.us/j/183084884
Meeting ID: 183 084 884

To join by phone, dial 669-900-6833 or 346-248-7799 and enter the meeting ID number when prompted.

Zoom App Downloads
Zoom Cloud Meeting App For Android
Zoom Cloud Meeting App For iPhone
Download Zoom Meeting App For Desktop

March Madness Is Here!: After a one-year hiatus, our March Madness fundraiser is back with DOUBLE the fun and DOUBLE the madness!

There are only two requirements to participate: Make a $20 donation to the Foundation of the Rotary Grove and to join the FG Rotary Group at Yahoo! Sports and fill out a bracket. “Selection Sunday” for the NCAA Division I Tournament is Sunday, March 14.

You can make your donation by sending a $20 check or cash to the Rotary Club of Forest Grove, PO Box 125, Forest Grove, OR 97116, or online by Clicking Here.

Every dollar donated will go the Annual Fund of The Rotary Foundation and earns you points towards a Paul Harris Fellowship. The club will match every one of those points. The top three brackets will be matched with Paul Harris points as follows:

First place: 50 percent
Second Place: 30 percent
Third Place: 20 percent

They profit most who PICKS the best!

Road Cleanup Scheduled: The first our club’s semi-annual road cleanups along Gales Creek Road and Thatcher Road will take place on Saturday, Mar. 20, at 8:30 a.m. We will meet at the Oregon Department of Forestry offices at 801 Gales Creek Road. All bags, equipment and safety vests will be provided, just bring yourself and your gloves. Many hands will make for quick work! Please RSVP to Andrea Stewart at 503-357-1427 or astewart@pacificu.edu.

Garden Committee Update: The MacDougall Garden committee is planning for the annual planting this spring but is in need of plants! In past years, the committee has purchased flowers from Forest Grover High School. This year, due to the pandemic, they did not grow any plants for purchase. We need approximately 700 starts and three species of flowers to plant the garden. If you have a potential lead for some starts, please contact any member of the committee including Jim Cain, Lucas Welliver, Geoff Faris or Rob Foster.

Anna & Abby’s Yard: With Anna & Abby’s Yard making its long-awaited opening at Rogers Park earlier this year, it is time for our club to step up and make some enhancements to the park. Through $2,500 in club donations and a $2,500 District 5100 matching grant, our club is providing an ADA accessible picnic table, a double barbeque and a gaming table to enhance the covered picnic area.

A volunteer corps spent part of last Saturday at the Forest Grove Public Works yard assembling the equipment, which the city will install at the park for us in the near future. Thank you to all of our club members for their longtime support in making Anna & Abby’s Yard a reality.

Update On FGHS Food Pantry Toiletry Distribution: The second of our club’s monthly toiletry distributions at the Forest Grove High School Food Pantry took place on Monday during the pantry’s open hours. Thank you to Rotarians Michael Yakos and Tom Linkhart for being on site for this month’s distribution.

Our club is working with the Forest Grove High School Food Pantry to provide toiletries, personal hygiene items and cleaning materials that are not part of the Oregon Food Pantry’s typical distribution. This effort is funded through $2,000 from our club and a $2,000 matching grant from District 5100. This will help sustain the purchase of these items and distribution over the next few months. It is the hope that this effort can become a regular sustained project for the club.

Special thank you to Rotarians Gwen Hullinger, Michael & Claudia Yakos and Laura Thompson-Aue for the initial push to make this toiletry distribution happen and to Janet Peters for submitting the District 5100 grant application in such rapid fashion. We are making a difference in the community!

Scholarship Program: A reminder that there is a month left for local high school seniors to submit their applications for the annual Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarships. The scholarship program is open to all graduating high school seniors residing in the Forest Grove, Banks and Gaston school district attendance areas.

This year, through the work of Sharon Olmstead and the Scholarship Committee, the entire application process will be done online. Applications must be submitted by midnight on Thursday, Apr. 1. Click Here For Full Scholarship Detail Information.

For additional questions, please contact Sharon Olmstead at sharon.olmstead8571@gmail.com.

Thirsty Thursday: Our March Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club gathering is scheduled for Thursday, Mar. 18, 6:30 p.m., at the Zesti Food Carts pod, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove (across from Doherty Ford).

Steak Feed & Concours Update: We have been informed by Pacific University that due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, our club will not be able to host its annual Steak Feed or the Concours d’Elegance on campus this year. Both committees will be meeting to discuss what this means for the club and will provide updates at a later date.

Rotary Phone Tree: Keep up the work keeping our members in the loop with the Rotary Club of Forest Grove phone tree. If you have questions, or if your information on the Phone Tree is not correct, contact Paul Waterstreet.

The goal of the phone tree is to reach out and check on every member of the club to make sure they are doing all right and to provide updates on club announcements and activities (Hint: You have a great list to draw from here). The plan is for the tree to be activated every Tuesday. The idea is that for each person to call the next one on the list. The last person on the list should call the team captain to make sure the list is complete.

FGHS Community Food Pantry: Even with schools closed, the need for resources at the Forest Grove High School Community Food Pantry continues. Thanks to its partnership with the Oregon Food Bank, food donations are still welcome but are of less need at this time. Of need, however, are toiletries and hygiene products as well as household cleaning materials. There is a particular need for dish soap and laundry soap.

During the fall, the Food Pantry will be open on Mondays from 2- 4 p.m. Donations are accepted on-site on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The pantry will remain open on Mondays over the Winter Break.

If you can donate any of the above items, please contact Brian Burke, bburke@fgsd.k12.or.us. If you wish to make a cash donation to the pantry, Click Here.

Additionally, Rotarian Gwen Hullinger has put together an Amazon wish list of items that can be purchased and donated. Click Here To View That List.

Past Programs: Did you miss a meeting or want to go back and check out a program again? Most of our programs since May are archived on our club YouTube page. Visit https://bit.ly/fgrotaryprograms.

Around District 5100
District 5100 Spring Training Event: Registration is now open for the District 5100 Spring Training Event (formerly District Training Assembly). The virtual training event will take place over two weekends on Saturday, Apr. 10 and Saturday, Apr. 17. Sessions on Apr. 10 are geared towards club officers, including membership chairs, treasurers, Rotary Foundation chairs and more. The second weekend is geared towards anyone interested in learning more about the inner-workings of Rotary.

Two keynote speakers will be appearing as part of the training event. On Apr. 10, the event will be joined Rotary Zone 26 & 27 Director Vicki Puliz. On Apr. 17, the speaker will be Mitty Chang, president and CEO of Candeavor, a digital marketing and web development agency, ad a very-involved Rotarian.

Check Out The Schedules: Apr. 10 | Apr. 17

Attending the Spring Training Event is free to Rotarians but advance registration is required. You can sign up for the event by logging into DacDB and completing the registration form.

District 5100 Conference: The District 5100 Conference, slated for Apr. 30 and May 1, will be online. This will make the event as accessible to all Rotarians more than ever.

When the District Conference Committee, chaired by our own Claudia Yakos, started planning, chose the theme of “Wandering Through New Doors.” Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping us physically distant, it’s more important than ever to focus on the strength and opportunity that comes with opening new doors of opportunities. The District 5100 Conference will educate, connect, inspire and offer virtual fellowship. More information to come.

Around Rotary International
New Rotary Foundation Grant Supports Scaling Proven Malaria Program In Nigeria: The Rotary Foundation is giving a significant boost to the fight against malaria in Zambia with a new $2 million Programs of Scale grant that will scale an already successful program model. Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia is a Rotarian-led effort that will use a community health worker model proven to effectively respond to cases of malaria and prevent transmission. The program aims to help reduce malaria cases over time by 90% in 10 target districts in two of the country’s provinces.

Malaria, a preventable disease caused by a parasite spread through the bites of infected mosquitoes, continues to be one of Zambia’s leading causes of illness and death, especially infant and maternal deaths.

The grant will allow Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia to strengthen the country’s health system by working with Zambian health officials at all levels and training 380 health facility staff members, as well as training and equipping more than 2,500 new community health workers. This will increase access to malaria diagnosis and treatment for the more than 1.3 million people in heavily affected areas in the Central and Muchinga provinces and greatly contribute to the national effort to eliminate the deadly disease. Read More

Last Week’s Program: Rocky Brown, Troop 213

Click View To View The Complete Program

Rocky Brown, scoutmaster for Scouts BSA Troop 213, joined us for an update on what the troop has been up to over the last year. Troop 213 has been chartered by the Rotary Club of Forest Grove for over 75 years.

Last year, summer camps were all canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These were council decisions, not individual troop decisions. They did have a group of five scouts and three adults go to the BSA High Adventure Northern Tier Camp in northern Minnesota. They canoed for 12 days for 150 miles. The troop had the longest trip of the summer both in terms of distance and time.

This summer, eight scouts are signed up to go to Camp Meriwether on the Oregon coast and an additional group of scouts is signed up for a high adventure experience biking in Canada.

Over the last year, Troop 213 has seen six scouts earn the rank of Eagle and complete their Eagle Projects: Kyle Hoekstra, Austin Walker, Christopher Durrenburger, Josiah Brown, Ethan Jones and Hannah Powell.

Of particular note, Hannah Powell is the first female scout to earn her Eagle in the troop and in the Cascade Pacific Council. She is also believed to be the first female scout from west of the Rocky Mountains to earn the Eagle rank.

Ethan Jones did for his Eagle project building garden beds at Joseph Gale Elementary. Hannah Powell’s project was the construction of pads and benches at Gales Creek Cemetery. Kyle Hoekstra’s Eagle project involved building shelves, painting and doing other repairs on a World War II transport ship being restored.

Christopher Durrenberger’s project involved building trash receptacles over trashcans in downtown Hillsboro. Josiah Brown’s Eagle project was removing vegetation and blackberry plants and other improvements around the A.T. Smith House in Forest Grove.

After six years as the scoutmaster of Troop 213, Rocky is stepping down. We in the club are grateful for his service to the troop and the troop’s continued service to the club and the community. The troop is looking for an interim scoutmaster that can lead the troop for several months while a new permanent scoutmaster is trained. If club members are interested in taking on that task, please contact Chuck Pritchard.

Club Calendar
Wed., Mar. 17: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Dave Parker, Forest Grove School District

Thurs., Mar. 18: Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove

Sat., Mar. 20: Road Clean-Up Service Project, 8:30 a.m.
Oregon Department of Forestry, 801 Gales Creek Rd.

Wed., Mar. 24: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Donald Smith, Portland Pearl Rotary Social Justice Committee