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, which will take place at the Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way (across the street from Pacific University). Please plan on joining us as we hold a club assembly to do a debrief of the Steak Feed and Concours d’Elegance.

This meeting has a catered lunch and orders were due by Friday. If you did not RSVP with a lunch order, you are still welcome to attend the meeting, but you will need to provide your own lunch.

Change To Lunch Procedures For Meetings At Pacific: After this week and next week’s social meeting, we will return to our regular meetings at Pacific University with taking lunch through the dining commons in the University Center. The university’s food service provider, Bon Appetit, had updated the way lunches are purchased for our meetings. Beginning on August 27, all members and guests will need to check in the treasurer before going through the commons to purchase a lunch voucher.

• If you are billed for lunch, you will still need to check in to receive your voucher.
• All guests will also need a voucher to enter the commons.
• The cost for lunch remains at $10.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we transition to this new process. If you have questions, please contact President Andrea Stewart or Treasurer Sharon Olmstead.

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!

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.

Membership Committee: The club’s membership committee is looking for additional club members to assist with the committee. The Membership Committee not only works on identifying and welcoming new members to our club, but also helps to find ways to keep current members engage and feeling like they are part of something special. If you want more information or are interested, please contact President Andrea or Membership Chair Evelyn Orr.

Helped Wanted With Youth Exchange Students: Our Youth Exchange Committee is in need of help transporting our inbound youth exchange student to meetings from school. As part of their Rotary Youth Exchange experience, students are required to attend regular club meetings. If you are interested in being part of this process, please contact our Youth Exchange Chair, Sarah Barbour. NOTE: Anyone involved with transporting our exchange students must undergo a background check and the district’s youth protection training.

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 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.

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.

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
District Rotary Foundation Committee Report: As part of the district’s annual required Foundation report, here is a brief summary of the incredible work happening across our district. From raising nearly $2 million to supporting global and district grants, thanks to the dedicated Rotarians who make it all happen. It was a very good year from The Rotary Foundation. Here is a brief look at the results for the 2024-25 Rotary Year:

Giving
Annual Fund: $605,237 (153.9% of goal)
PolioPlus: $105,386 (151.1% of goal)
Shoot For The Moon: $1,946,442 (194.7% of goal)

Grants
District Grants: 95 Awarded For Total of $135,370
Global Grants: $143,815 (including 8 new grants approved)

This year’s giving totals included 1,092 qualifying for Every Rotarian Every Year (contributions of $25 or more), 959 sustaining members (contributions of $100 or more) and 243 Paul Harris Society eligible (contributions of $1,000 or more per year). A total of 522 Rotarians have a regular online recurring contribution through Rotary Direct.

A big thank you to all of our Rotarians who make our Rotary Foundation goals possible.

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: Amanda Hartmann, Children’s Heart Foundation
At last week’s meeting, we had the pleasure of hearing from our newest Rotarian, Amanda Hartmann, who presented on a cause that she is personally very passionate about, the Children’s Heart Foundation.

The Children’s Heart Foundation began after the passing of 8-year-old Sam Peterson, who was born with a congenital heart defect. After he died at age 8 due to heart-related issues, his parents created the Children’s Heart Foundation in 1996 dedicated to funding research to give more children a fighting chance at life.

Amanda’s introduction to the foundation came personally. Amanda and her husband were having twins and were informed at their 20-week scan that their daughter was going to be born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a serious heart issue. Essentially, the left side of the heart is underdeveloped. Gave birth to twins on Dec. 9, 2022 at Randall Children’s Hospital at 33 weeks.

Paige, one of the twins, had first open heart surgery at six days old. Because she was born premature, they were not able to do much to help her. That led to a weeks-long waiting game until she grew big enough to have another surgery. In the process of that wait, she had massive issues with oxygen levels. It was a very hard journey for Amanda and William.

At three months, doctors conducted a second open-heart surgery and found other significant issues. The surgery was 14 hours long and quite successful, but came out of surgery she came out on full heart and lung life support. The next day, Paige threw a blood clot and passed away. It was the most painful moment of Amanda’s life. This was Amanda’s introduction to “heart warriors” and the Children’s Heart Foundation.

Statistics show that congenital heart defects occur in nearly 1 in every 110 births. CHDs are the most common cause of infant death due to birth defects — 25% with complex CHDs won’t live to see their first birthday. Today, it is estimated 2-3 million people are living with CHD, including 1.2 million adults.

Today, 95% of babies born with a non-critical CHD are expected to survive into adulthood and 68% born with a critical CHD are expected to survive to 18 years of age. Most CHD specialists are located in major cities. The closest cardiac ICU to Portland is in Seattle. Rural and underserved communities have more difficulties finding the care they need. Across the US, there are just under 500 board-certified CHD doctors.

Thanks to research and advancements, death rates from CHDs in the US have declined by 37.5% since 1999. While CHDs are common and can be deadly, research is grossly underfunded relative to the prevalence of the disease. There is a significant public health relevance for research.

The main funding source of the Children’s Heart Foundation is a series of heart walks. The Oregon/SW Washington Congenital Heart Walk is on Sat., Oct. 4 in Tualatin.

For more information on the Children’s Heat Foundation, visit their website.

Club Calendar
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

Wed., Sept. 3: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Anne Haynes, Oregon Friends of Shelter Animals