If you did not make it to our last Rotary Club of Forest Grove meeting, here is what you missed…

This Week’s Meeting: We hope to see you at our weekly meeting on Wednesday at noon in the Boxer Pause room of the University Center at Pacific University. This week we will hear from our newest Rotarian, Amanda Hartmann, as she presents on her work with the Children’s Heart Foundation.

Upcoming Meetings & Lunches: Next week’s meeting, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, will take place at the Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way (across from Pacific University). If you wish to take part in the catered lunch for that meeting, please RSVP to Secretary Claire Agner by the end of the day on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

If do you not RSVP, you are still welcome to attend the meeting, but you will need to bring your own lunch.

Change To Third Wednesday Meetings: Rotary is all about service and fellowship and we’re bringing both to life in a new way. Starting this August, our club will replace its noon meetings on the third Wednesday of each month a social evening on the third Thursday of each month in conjunction with our Satellite Club. These socials will take place at Zesti Carts, 2131 Yew St., at 6:30 p.m.

The hope is that these new social meetings will provide a chance for club members to bond better with one another, to better connect those who attend our Satellite Club meetings, and to align better with the fifth point of The Four-Way Test: Is it fun?

Our first social meeting will take place on Thursday, Aug. 21 and will be District Governor Susanne Holmberg’s official visit to our club. This will also be a joint meeting with the Forest Grove Daybreak Rotary Club. It will also involve a trivia contest, with President Andrea promising great prizes.

Bring your significant other, invite a friend and come ready to meet someone new. Let’s make these evenings a place for fun, connection and the shared purpose that makes Rotary meaningful. We can’t wait to see you there!

ShelterBox Hero Club: Once again, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove has been recognized as a ShelterBox Bronze Hero Award. The award, presented by ShelterBox USA, recognizes our club’s donation of $1,000 to assist ShelterBox’s disaster response efforts. Our club has been a longtime supporter of ShelterBox and two of our Rotarians, Jeannine Murrell and Pamelajean Myers, have served as ShelterBox ambassadors.

ShelterBox began as a project of the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard (England) in 2012. In 2012, ShelterBox became Rotary International’s first project partner and remains the only disaster relief charity. The international organization leverages Rotary partnerships to move disaster relief supplies into affected areas all over the world.

For more about ShelterBox and its mission, visit their website. You can also read more about the partnership between ShelterBox and Rotary.

Concours d’Elegance: Another year is in the books! It was perfect weather and while there were a few hiccups, our annual Forest Grove Concours D’Elegance was another success. Thank you to our club members and our friends and community volunteers who made it all happen. And thank you to all who purchased tickets and our sponsors. Your contributions help fund our Scholarship Program and our service projects for the next year.

For club members, we will have a debrief meeting to go over both the Concours and our Steak Feed during our weekly meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 13. Please plan on attending and providing feedback on how both events can be better.

Concours Merchandise: Our partners at Willow & Ash have a limited amount of Concours d’Elegance souvenirs available for purchase, including shirts and engraved vacuum-sealed coffee cups. Willow & Ash is located at 2036 Main Street in downtown Forest Grove.

Club Community Service Coordinator Wanted: We are looking for a club member who would like to step forward to help coordinate community service opportunities for our club. Upcoming potential service events include the Corn Roast on Saturday, Sept. 20 and the Oktoberfest on Saturday, Sept. 27. If you are interested in helping to coordinate some great service opportunities, please see President Andrea.

Steaks Available For Purchase: Our club has a number of packages of steak left over from the Steak Feed available for purchase. Packs of two choice New York steaks are available for $20 each. If you are interested, please contact Janet Peters.

DacDB Updates: If you have not responded to the email asking for updates to your current information for DacDB (District & Club Database), which our club uses for club operations. Please take the time to review the email and confirm that we have the most up-to-date information for you.

If you did not receive an email, or need assistance in updating your information, please contact Secretary Claire Agner.

Service Opportunities For Club Members
Do You Know Of Service Opportunities?: Are you aware of service opportunities in our area that our members might be interested in? We can advertise those here! This space is not limited to club-sponsored activities but to any service opportunity in the community. To promote the service activity, please send a detailed description of the project, the date and time, contact information and a link to register to Rototeller editor Blake Timm, blakertimm@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.

During the summer, the Food Pantry is open Mondays from 2-3:30 p.m. The pantry will be closed on Monday, July 28. The pantry is located along Nichols Lane between the football field and the Basinski Center. Click Here for more information on the FGHS Food Pantry and on other resources for those experiencing food insecurity.

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.

Around District 5100
Rotary Friendship Exchange Scheduled: District 5100 is pleased to announce that during this Rotary year, a Rotary Friendship Exchange has been arranged with Rotary District 4640 in southern Brazil.  Our district had an exchange with this Rotary district in 2019.  Those who went on the exchange had a wonderful experience and made lasting friendships! 
Rotary Friendship Exchanges are open to Rotarians and Rotaractors as well as their family members and traveling companions.
District 4640 borders on Argentina and Paraguay and includes Iguazu Falls.  Tentatively, the team from here will travel to Brazil in November of this year and the inbound team from Brazil will visit in the March/April timeframe.  Brazilian Visas will be required. While in District 4640, RFE team members from here will be hosted by Brazilian Rotarians in their homes.  Rotarians of our district will provide home hosting when the inbound team is here in the spring. 

Participants cover all of their own expenses, which include airfare, Visas fees, cost of any required vaccinations or medications, and independent travel.  Costs of meals outside of those provided in host homes, transportation, activity fees, and meals in restaurants are paid by team members.  There will also be costs for items such as gifts for hosts, business cards, pins, and a banner.  This list is not intended to be all-inclusive.
Independent travel before and/or after the exchange is optional, but it is typically better for the team to travel together to the country being visited.
RFEs are a wonderful opportunity to learn about Rotary in another country, that country’s culture, and to make life-long friendships!  Clubs can participate in hosting inbound RFE team members even if a member of their club is not part of the outbound team.

If you are interested in participating in this Rotary Friendship Exchange, please contact PDG Dennis Wickham.

District Governor Town Halls: District Governor Susanne Holmberg will hold monthly town hall meetings for Rotarians (and those curious about Rotary) on the fourth Tuesday of each month this Rotary year. The Zoom meetings will have an open house flavor — come and go as you please — to hear concerns, ideas, suggestions, or to just visit. This is part of Susanne’s effort to bring Rotary to where Rotarians are. There is no requirement or expectation of attendance, but if you would like to visit with Susanne or other Rotarians across the district, this is an opportunity to do so.

The town halls will take place on the fourth Tuesday is each month, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. A Zoom link will be sent by the district by email prior to the meeting.

Susanne’s Storybook: Click Here to read the latest edition of Susanne’s Storybook, the Rotary District 5100 newsletter.

Last Week’s Program: Donna Gustafson, City Club of Forest Grove
At last week’s meeting, we welcomed Donna Gustafson, president of the City Club of Forest Grove, who provided an overview of the organization and its work with the Main Street Program.

Donna is a strategic strategist and consultant. She is also in her second term as a member of the Forest Grove City Council. Has lived in Forest Grove for almost 20 years. She and her husband, Rodney, have lived in the area all of their lives.

The City Club of Forest Grove has been around for 20 years and annually helps produce such community events like Holiday In The Grove, Oktoberfest, Trick or Treat with downtown merchants and more. In the last two years, it has added to its mission the administration of Forest Grove’s involvement with the Main Street Program.

The Main Street Program is a national program to revitalize downtowns. The program is a strategy-driven framework that helps revitalize downtown commercial districts and neighborhood areas. Focuses on economic vitality, design, outreach and promotion. The goal is to improve the economy, appearance and image of a community’s downtown. Forest Grove applied to be part of the program 18 months ago.

In Forest Grove, the Main Street Program covers FG from B Street east to Elm Street, from University Avenue to 18th Avenue, including Pacific University. High level goals include revitalizing downtown Forest Grove, promoting community engagement, stimulating economic stability and growth, revitalizing historic buildings, identifying place-making opportunities, increasing tourism, enabling and promoting downtown community networks and promoting business and community programs. To reflect those goals, the City Club will be changing its name soon to the Downtown Association of Forest Grove.

Funding for the Main Street Programs does not come from tax dollars. Thirty percent of funds come from cities, with the majority of funds coming from transient lodging tax income. Other funding sources include 21% from events, 13% from projects and 11% from memberships.

To learn more about the City Club and the Main Street Program, visit their website.

Club Calendar
Wed., Aug. 6: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Amanda Hartmann, Children’s Heart Foundation

Wed., Aug. 13: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way
Program: Club Assembly – Steak Feed & Concours Debrief

Thurs., Aug. 14: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Thurs., Aug. 21: Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m.
Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St.

Thurs., Aug. 21: Joint Meeting with Daybreak for District Governor Susanne Holmberg’s Official Visit, 6:30 p.m.
Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St.
There will be no noon meeting on Wed., Aug. 20 

Wed., Aug. 27: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Keith Buckley, Pacific University Athletics