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

Wreath Sale Coming Soon: Our club will be doing a wreath and holiday greens sale this fall as a fundraiser. Every fundraiser we do is important to try and replace funds that we have lost with the cancellation of the Steak Feed and the Concours d’Elegance. Details will be coming soon.

Monthly Evening Meeting: Mark your calendars! Our October monthly evening meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 20, 6:30 p.m., at the Zesti Carts food cart pod on Yew Street near Doherty Ford. Come out and enjoy some fellowship and support local small business by purchasing dinner from one of the food carts. We will not have a noon meeting that day.

Project With Habitat For Humanity: Thank you to all members and friends who attended our service project On Saturday, Sept. 25 at the new Habitat for Humanity build site on 23rd Avenue between D and E Streets. The work party took two-and-a-half hours clearing brush and debris from the site in an effort to start preparing it for construction of new homes. Thank you to Dan & Melinda Fischer, Jim Crisp, Greg Nemchick, Bryce Baker, Tom & Becca Raabe and Richard Kidd for their work!

Claudia Yakos Named Hometown Hero: Congratulations to our own Claudia Yakos for being named as one of this year’s Hometown Heroes by the Forest Grove News-Times and the Pamplin Media Group! Claudia was only recognized for her work with Rotary, but also her work with the Hispanic community through her business, CIMA Services, and her international humanity work through My360Project and her own non-profit, the Espy Collective. We are proud of all that Claudia does to make our community and the world a better place! Read The Full Article

Forest Grove Partnering With Lake Oswego On International Project: The Rotary Club of Forest Grove Board of Directors voted to partner with the Rotary Club of Lake Oswego on an international project. Called Project Flourish, the project is based with the MAIA Impact School in Guatemala, which strives to teach girls, and particularly girls in Mayan descent, to finding their empowered voice and to embrace what education can do for them.

Guatemala has the worst gender equity gap in the Americas. This initiative centers on the creation and implementation of an educational program to connect talent with opportunity for first-generation “Girl Pioneers” (young women born into situations of quadruple discrimination as rural, poor, female, and Indigenous) in Guatemala. The elements of this program center on the following:

• Formal internships to generate experience and informed decision-making
• Preparation for university entrance exams
• Training on soft skills for job interviews and workplace readiness/success
• Workplace English & IT training to increase employability

This project creates a powerful pilot that will serve 42 girls and their families (approximately 336 people). These girls and families represent over a dozen rural villages in Sololá. Once created, the project will continue on in perpetuity to serve generations of young women who will break out of poverty.

The project is partially funded through a Rotary International Global Grant. We will have a program of this impactful project later this fall.

A Note On Zoom Meetings: With the ongoing surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19 I have made the decision to move our meetings back to Zoom for the time being.

This isn’t the decision I wanted to make. I would love nothing more than to return to normal with all of you, singing, embracing, and eating together. But the world is not ready for normal yet. Delta spreads so much more easily than past variants, and this last week we’ve had a higher number of cases in our community than ever before. Masks are being required even for outdoor events and the CDC is recommending against all large gatherings. We must do our part to halt the spread further and keep our community members as safe as possible. Club leadership will continue to monitor the situation, and we will reinstate our in-person meetings again as soon as it is safe to do so.

As always I appreciate your feedback and questions, and I look forward to seeing you at our home away from home on Zoom this Wednesday.

Yours in Rotary Service,
Bryce Baker

ShelterBox HERO Club: Once again, our club has been recognized by ShelterBox USA as a ShelterBox Bronze Level HERO Club! The recognition signifies our club’s continued commitment to donate $1,000 per year to ShelterBox over a three-year period. We are truly grateful for the commitment of our members to continue to give to ShelterBox’s ongoing disaster relief efforts all over the world.

ShelterBox is an official Rotary partner. You can learn more about what the organization is doing around the world by Visiting The ShelterBox Website. Our own ShelterBox ambassadors, Jeannine Murrell and Pamelajean Myers, gave a program to the club on the organization in June, which can be Viewed Here.

Online Dues Payments: Our club is now equipped to process dues payments online! We can now process credit card or debit card payments for quarterly dues. Information on how to pay online will be included with quarterly billings that will be coming to your mailbox or email inbox soon.

With the transition to billing with Quickbooks, some members may not have received their quarterly invoice. If you did not, please contact treasurer Lucas Welliver at 971-241-7426 or lucaswelliver@gmail.com.

FGHS Community Food Pantry: Our club’s support for the Forest Grove High School 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.

The Food Pantry is open on Mondays from 4-5 p.m. The pantry is now open in its new site in the building along Nichols Lane between the football field and the Basinski Center.

For information on the Food Pantry, 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 2020 are archived on our club’s YouTube page. Visit https://bit.ly/fgrotaryprograms.

Around District 5100
Rotary Story Slam: One of the most effective ways to introduce people to Rotary is by telling your story. District 5100 is holding a competition, called Your Rotary Story Slam, encouraging you to share your Rotary story.

A “story slam” is a competition based on the art of storytelling. You will present a 3-5 minute oral story without notes. This year’s topic is “Serve to Change Lives.” Share a time where Rotary service changed your life, a time you’ve changed a life or have been part of an impactful project. The story should be yours – authentic, true and fit The Four-Way Test.

Our club will have its own Story Slam competition within the next two months. Club-level winners will compete in a regional story slam over the winter. The winners from each region will present at the District 5100 Conference and will receive a $500 cash prize.

For more information, visit rotarystoryslam.com.

Save The Date: District 5100 Rotary One Conference: Mark your calendars for May 19-22 as District 5100 will present its first combined Spring Training Event and annual conference in Seaside. The combined conference will provide Rotary training opportunities, inspirational speakers and a celebration of what is hoped to be a great year in District 5100.

Around Rotary International
The Best Chance To Eradicate Polio Is Now: “There’s something about the whole idea of eradicating polio that grabs the imagination,” says Aidan O’Leary. “Most people talk about making steps toward achievements, and it’s almost always into the never-never. Eradication is a zero-sum game; anything short of zero is failure. You keep getting closer and closer, but ultimately the only number that actually matters is zero.”

Although O’Leary, the polio eradication director for the World Health Organization, is speaking from his home in Galway, against the verdant backdrop of western Ireland, his focus is on war-torn Afghanistan and the parched and dusty plains of Pakistan — the last two places on the planet where wild polio still thrives.

Even during a pandemic, even as grim realities confront him, O’Leary conveys a sense of optimism about the possibility of finally eradicating polio. “Particularly in the days of COVID-19, there is something that really resonates about snuffing out a highly communicable infectious disease,” he says. “As COVID has taken off, it has also led a lot of people to better understand why now is the time to finish this job with polio.”

Yet O’Leary’s optimism is shaded with a sense of urgency and pragmatism. “There is absolutely no case for complacency here,” he says. “What is really important is that we double down on reaching the persistently missed children who are a top priority for our program.” Read More

Last Week’s Program: Ryan Garcia, Italian Vacation
Click Here To View The Complete Program

At last Wednesday’s meeting, we had a chance to hear a presentation from one of our own Rotarians for the second straight week. This time, Ryan Garcia presented on the trip to Italy and that and his now finaceé, Allyson, took to southern Italy.

A full two-week trip to Italy wasn’t the original plan. The original trip plan was for Ryan and Allyson to spend the first part of their trip in Croatia and then move on to Italy. Because of COVID-related travel restrictions, however, the trip changed completely to Italy.

The trip began in Rome, which included a chance to go inside the Colleseum, which has been closed for much of the pandemic. From there, Ryan’s trip included stops in Naples, Fornio on the island of Ischia, Pompei, Sorento, Almafi, Positano and Capri. It was on Ischia that Ryan and Allyson were engaged to be married. Congratulations!

Rather than try to explain the highlights of the vacation in a few paragraphs, we believe Ryan does it better in his own words. We encourage you to click the link above to his presentation on the club’s YouTube page and hear about a wonderful trip to an incredible part of the world.

Club Calendar
Meetings Are On Zoom Unless Noted

Wed., Oct. 13: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Dave Parker, Forest Grove School District

Thurs., Oct. 14: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.

Wed., Oct. 20: Monthly Evening Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Zesti Carts, 2131 Yew Street, Forest Grove
Program To Be Announced

Wed., Oct. 27: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: District Governor Jim Boyle