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 (will be the same for all of our online meetings moving forward)…

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

Hope For The Holidays: Thank you to all of our club members who made our 2020 Hope For The Holidays event such as a success! In all, the club was able to serve a record 45 families, presenting each with a $250 Walmart gift card to use on the Dec. 21 shopping night. In addition to the families, $1,000 was provided to the Forest Grove High School Food Pantry to shop for food and other critical supplies. A special thank you to the 22 Rotarians and their family members who took part on shopping night and to the steering committee, chaired by Claudia Yakos.

A full recap of the event can be found on the Rotary Club of Forest Grove Website.

Photos from the event can be found by Clicking Here and Clicking Here.

Wine Fundraiser: Thank you to all of our members who helped the club by taking advantage of the special wine sale provided to the club by former A Blooming Hill winery owners Holly & Jim Witte and Joel Simon of Alluvial Beverage. The first week of the sale provided the club with a profit of $1,175. A report on the full funds raised will be coming in next week’s meeting and the next Rototeller.

Thank You Bryce: Our sincere thank you to Bryce Baker for his stellar job as program chair over 2020. His adjustment to online meetings was seemless and provided for some unique opportunities for the club. Bryce has transitioned out of the role as he prepares to become club president in July. As Bryce transitions out, we welcome Josh Shinoda as our new program chair. We look forward to your year, Josh!

Congratulations Amy!: Pending board approval, Amy Tracewell has agreed to become the club’s president elect nominee and serve as club president for the 2023-24 Rotary year. Amy has been a member of our club since 2018 and has previously served as president of the Rotary Club of Cottage Grove. We look forward to your continued leadership, Amy!

Support Local Business: The Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce would like to encourage all the area businesses or individuals to purchase gift cards from the local restaurants who are in desperate need right now and donate those cards to the Forest Grove Food Bank who could also use some extra help in this especially critical time.  Whether you mail them or drop those cards off at the Chamber, we will make sure they get to those in need before the holidays are over. For more information, please contact Juanita Lint at the chamber at 503-357-3006 or director@visitforestgrove.com.

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.

Rotary Phone Tree: The phone tree continues and has been re-shuffled to keep things fresh. The latest phone tree was emailed out last week. 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.

Blood Drive Upcoming: St Anthony’s Catholic Church will be partnering with the Red Cross for a blood drive on Tuesday, Jan. 26, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the church’s parish hall at1660 Elm Street. Advance appointments are required and the Red Cross is adhering to strict COVID-19 safety protocols. To sign up for an appointment, please call 800-RED-CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org.

 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 Training & Leadership Opportunities (From December District Newsletter, By District Trainer Renee Brouse): The Learning and Development Committee continues to meet every other week.  It is an exciting time to be involved in this committee!  If you have an interest in serving the District through Learning and Development, please contact me.  We would love to have you join our team.

We just wrapped up our third session of the Pre-PETS training.  So far, we have discussed the importance of “Club Culture”. Then we discussed the “21 qualities of a leader”, based on John Maxwell’s bestseller.  Last week we focused our conversation on “Teambuilding”.  In two weeks, we will lean into the topic of “Emotional Intelligence and Conflict Management”. All of these webinars are designed to help develop the leadership skills in the Presidents-Elect to then create a Vibrant Club; a club that is adaptive and flexible, increases its impact, expands its reach, and engages its members.

We are working diligently on the upcoming Rotary Spring Training Event.  We are looking for people who are passionate about Learning and Development; people who are interested in facilitating.  Do you have an interest in leading a workshop?  Please contact me – we would love to work with you. We will spend day one, April 10th on Role Specific Training.  New this year are two levels: a 101 workshop for those who are new to the role and a 201 for those who are experienced.  The second day of the RSTE will be topic specific; we will cover topics such as DEI, Social Justice, Toastmasters, just to name a few.

Finally, I am excited to share a new initiative that is in development: a leadership identification program!  More to come on this but we envision this to be an opportunity to create a specific development plan that is tailored to you.

It has been a real pleasure to serve District 5100 as the District Trainer and to work with the Learning and Development Committee to create Learning and Development opportunities for District 5100.

District 5100 Training Assembly: This year’s District 5100 Training Assembly, which is typically an in-person event, will be delivered online once again this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sessions that are specific to club and district positions are scheduled to be delivered on Saturday, Apr. 10. Sessions providing general topics to the entire Rotary membership are scheduled to be delivered on Saturday, Apr. 17. More details will be made available in the coming months.

Around Rotary International
Leading British Rotarian Among First To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine: Dr. Hari Shukla was given the jab Dec. 16 at the Roya Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, as the Government began its roll-out of nationwide vaccinations in a bid to curb the virus.

Dr. Shukla is a Past President of Newcastle Rotary and a Paul Harris Fellow. Aged 87, he is still a very active Rotarian and a race relations campaigner.

His son Nitin Shukla is also a Rotarian and District International Chairman for Rotary North-East.

Speaking after having the vaccination, which he had along with his wife Ranjan, Dr. Shukla said that he felt it was his duty to do whatever he could to help. He told the BBC: “The whole world is looking at us to see how things go.” Read More

Last Week’s Program: Maria Reyes & Bob Lee, Oregon Zoo

Click Here To View The Entire Program

Last week, we ended 2020 with a program about the Oregon Zoo detailing one of its international outreach projects and an update on its continued renovations. We were joined by Maria Reyes, the Oregon Zoo Foundation’s director of development, and Bob Lee, the zoo’s general curator.

The first half of the program focused on work the Oregon Zoo is doing with organizations on the island of Borneo to assist in working with the elephant population.

The island is experiencing issues with deforestation caused by palm oil plantations. Despite that, all of the animals, including elephants are trying to co-exist in this space. There are approximately 2,000 pygmy elephants on the island. Since 1999, the Oregon Zoo has worked with local groups to locate orphan elephants and work to bring them back to their herds. There is plenty of human/animal conflict on the island. It can cause damage when humans encroach on their natural rangelands.

Chendra, a member of the Oregon Zoo’s elephant herd, is a rescue elephant from Borneo.

The Oregon Zoo is helping with creating spaces for captive management, providing training and collaboration opportunities, provide animal enrichment. They are also helping with reforestation work conducted by palm oil companies.

What does the future hold in Borneo? Oregon Zoo was asked to give an assessment by the Sabah Wildlife Department. They have also provided support from donors to sponsor two full-time WRU rangers to provide for the needs of elephants in human care in Borneo and to participate in a regional workshop.

Bob spoke extensively on the redevelopment of the elephant habitat at the Oregon Zoo, known as Elephant Lands. The new habitat allows the elephants to have up to 95 percent of their day made up of self-initiated activity. The last of the zoo’s renovations that were part of the successful 2008 bond measure will be finished over the next year, including the polar bear habitat and rhino habitat.

A copy of the Oregon Zoo’s annual philanthropic report can be found at ozfgratitudereport.org.

Club Calendar
All Club Activities Are On Zoom Unless Otherwise Noted

Wed., Jan. 6: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Peter Fry, End Poverty

Thurs., Jan. 7: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.

Wed., Jan. 13: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Eva Hawes, Washington County COVID-19 Update

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

Wed., Jan. 20: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Karen Hill, Cornelius Library Update