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Rotary Rewind – May 23, 2021

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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

Steak & Wine Sale Update: Our latest combination of steak and wine sales was another success. Our club netted approximately $2,275 from the latest round of sales, which will benefit our club’s many outreaches and our Scholarship Program. A special thank you to Jeff Duyck, Marge Johnston and Lucas Welliver for their work on making the sale run smoothly!

Over the last year, our club has netted over $14,000 from the steak sales that we have done over the last year. Another one is coming very soon in time for Father’s Day.

New Directors Elected: Congratulations to Melinda Fischer, Laura Thompson-Aue and Court Carrier, who have all been elected to three-year terms of the club’s Board of Directors. We thank them for their willingness to serve the club at a higher level.

The three will begin their terms of July 1 and will replace Ryan Garcia, Michelle Thomas and Paul Waterstreet, who are all completing three-year terms. Thank you all for your service!

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. Our club is currently contributing $1,000 per month of toiletry items, cleaning supplies and feminine hygiene products.

Distribution events for these items take place on the first Monday of each month. The next scheduled distribution event will be on Monday, June 7. If you are interested in assisting with the next distribution, please contact President Julia or Michael Yakos.

The Food Pantry is open on Mondays from 2- 4 p.m. Donations are accepted on-site on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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.

Rotary Citation – We Did It Again!: Exciting news our club. President Julia Kollar was notified last week that the Rotary Club of Forest Grove has received the Rotary Citation for the 10th consecutive year! The Rotary Citation is based on goals set by the Rotary International President and evaluate benchmarks in increasing club membership, developing sustainable service projects, giving to The Rotary Foundation and building awareness of Rotary in our community.

To receive the Rotary Citation, clubs must set and meet 13 goals out of a possible 25 available goals. The 2020-21 Goals Can Be Viewed Here.

Congratulations to President Julia, our leadership team and the entire club for another job well done!

Rotary Foundation Giving Update: Part of receiving the Rotary Citation means that our club has met its goals for fundraising for The Rotary Foundation. As of May 22, club members have contributed $10,877 to the foundation’s Annual Fund and $3,835 towards PolioPlus. Thank you to all of you for your continued contributions!

If you are interested in knowing where you are at on your contributions or believe that you may be close to your next Paul Harris Fellow level, please contact foundation chair Michael Yakos at 503-70-25843 or myakos@yahoo.com.

If you are interested in starting or increasing a regular contribution to The Rotary Foundation, Rotary Direct is a great way to make that happen. The online portal allows you to make a one-time donation or set up monthly or semi-annual contributions. To learn more r to set up your recurring donation, visit https://my.rotary.org/en/donate.

Please Pay Your Dues: As we continue to meet virtually, it can be easy to forget to pay your dues. We currently have 25 members who are 90 days in arrears on their quarterly dues. If you have not paid your most recent invoice, sent in early March, please do so as soon as possible. If you have questions or do not know if you are behind, please contact President Julia or treasurer Lucas Welliver.

Presidential Rotation Update: Due to an exciting new work opportunity, Josh Shinoda will be unable to fulfill the position for president of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove for the 2022-23 Rotary year. While we are sad that Josh will not fill that role, we are excited to announce that Janet Peters has accepted that role.

The presidential rotation for the next three years is…

2021-22: Bryce Baker
2022-23 Josh Shinoda
2023-24: Amy Tracewell

Club Visioning Rescheduled For June 5: The District 5100 Visioning Committee session for our club has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This visioning session will be done virtually through Zoom with some members of the club meeting in person at Zesti Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove. If you are interested in taking part in this important part of our club’s future planning, please contact President Julia Kollar.

Classics On Main Event: With the 2021 Concours d’Elegance unable to happen, the Concours Committee has decided a host a smaller event on Main Street on Sunday, July 18. The invitation-only even will feature up to 85 former class winners and judge. Requests for Rotarians to support the event with set-up, car-spotting, refreshments and more will be coming soon.

Due to logistical challenges surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no Concours d’Elegance in 2021. Click Here To Read The Full Announcement.

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 at 503-888-7185 or h20st2@juno.com.

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.

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 Conference A Great Success:
The first District 5100 Virtual Conference, “Wandering Through New Doors,” was a great success. Much of the planning and execution of this year’s conference was done by a committee of members from our club chaired by Claudia Yakos.

Our club and the entire district thanks Claudia and her team, including Julia Kollar, Andrea Stewart, Melinda Fischer, Ryan Garcia, Michelle Thomas and Amy Tracewell, for all of their great work in the district’s annual conferences over the last three years!

If you missed it on May 1, you can view the entire program at your leisure on the District 5100 Vimeo Page.

District 5100 District Governor’s Message (By Jo Crenshaw from May 2021 District Newsletter): My wanderings have brought me back to home base and I am recapping some of the amazing activities that occurred over this past month. We completed our District Conference (District Celebration) and Annual Business Meeting. During the ABM we approved new resolutions to improve some of our District policies. Thanks to DGE Jim Boyle and PDG ED Gronke for their work coordinating the meeting. You can request a copy of these resolutions from the District office.

While conducting virtual visits with all sixty-eight clubs and our Rotaractors, I was able to share my vision and thoughts of our year. Even though I was only able to join members virtually I enjoyed a multitude of adventures. I began close to home, went south to Salem and beyond, then North across the Columbia River to the Vancouver area and over to the Eastern sector of the District.

On the journey, I met “Brad Pitt” (aka Josh at the Portland New Generation club), introduced thirty plus new members to Rotary, awarded three of our highest PHS members and listened to stories about many local and global projects. Food banks were supported and peace poles were added (that has now taken on a project of its own).

We received rave reviews of our relevant and inspiring speakers, Andy Andrews and Jordan Harrison during our virtual conference. We offered a well-received DEIA workshop as well.

You have the opportunity to stream the entire celebration by following this link.

Our Rotary Spring Training Event and District Conference were led by our knowledgeable teams, completing all virtually for the first time. Thanks to Renee Brouse and her training team and Claudia Yakos and her conference team for jobs well done.

I must congratulate all our award winners this year. Even during this pandemic, we have continued doing the incredible work of Rotary. The following Rotarians received awards: The Denny Purkey Award – PDG Denny Jones (Seaside), Rotarian of the Year – Dorothy Holt (McMinnville Sunrise), The Avenue of Service Award – Liz Butson (District Office & Beaverton), The Dick Elixman Award of Innovation – Ashley Holmer (Lewis River – Battle Ground) and the prestigious RI Service Above Self Award – PDG Tom Markos (West Linn). Thank you for your commitment.

We said goodbye to a number of our Rotary family. For any that we missed recognizing during our memorial service, please accept our heartfelt apology. Our sympathy to you and your families. Thank you PDG Doug Taylor for your assistance in putting this recognition together on such a short notice.

I observed the presentation of our finished work on the mobile shower project, designed to assist the houseless in our communities. Bill Stewart of the Southeast Region led this project for the past year and was able to get it up and functioning with the help of Assistant Governor Dennis Curtis and five of the Southeast Region Rotary clubs: Oregon City, Clackamas, Milwaukie, Clackamas Sunrise and West Linn, along with community participants including Love One, Providence Willamette Falls Hospital Foundation and others. Thank you, Bill for being the leader of this project and to all the assistant governors, club leaders and members who helped to make this possible. What a lasting gift from our foundation and our community.

Sydney Schilling and Steve Williams have guided our DEIA task force. It is our hope to help to grow our Rotary family with these focuses.

We will continue to become a District of Action; focusing on Young Rotarians, DEIA and Social and Racial Justice while helping to bring peace to our world. Get involved as Everything you do Matters.

Around Rotary International
Rotary Members In Italy Apply Expertise To Assist In COVID-19 Vaccinations:
Riccardo De Paola knew that as Italy’s supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses increased, more people would be needed to administer the shots and staff vaccination sites. He started contacting medical directors in the Verona region about how Rotary clubs could be ready to help — and began mobilizing a volunteer force that has since become a critical government partner.

De Paola, a past governor of Rotary District 2060 (Italy), says the dozen medical directors he talked to in late 2020 all echoed the same refrain: They desperately needed volunteer help to get vaccination sites up and running. De Paola coordinated with the current district governor, Diego Vianello, to recruit volunteers from the region’s 91 Rotary clubs.

“Our members work in so many professions, with deep and diverse expertise. We wanted our volunteers to use their skills in the best way possible,” says De Paola, a founding member of the Rotary Club of Marco Polo Passport D2060, which was chartered in July 2020 with the specific purpose of carrying out coronavirus-related service. Read More

Rotary Responds To COVID-19: Rotary is taking action in response to the pandemic as our clubs support COVID-19 vaccination and continued prevention efforts around the world.

Tapping into decades of experience in bringing polio to the brink of eradication, Rotary members worldwide are helping health authorities communicate lifesaving information about COVID-19 and vaccination, combatting misinformation, supporting fair and equal access to vaccines, and curbing the spread of the virus by donating protective gear and other supplies to clinics and hospitals that are under strain. Read About How Rotary Has Responding & Supporting

Last Week’s Program: DGE Jim Boyle, The Future Of Rotary

Click Here To Watch The Complete Program

At last week’s meeting, we were honored to have District 5100 Governor Elect Jim Boyle join us. He gave a presentation on “The Future of Rotary” and provided perspective on some of the focus that our district will have during his year as governor.

When we talk about the future of Rotary, Jim said, you could almost re-title the presentation The Rotary Christmas Carol. We can’t talk about the future without talking about the past and the present.

Growth in Rotary has been stagnant over the last 15 years despite the fact that the organization has been around for over 115 years. Growth in North America has dropped. Growth in Europe has been stagnant while it is growing in Asia. Over the last 14-15 years in District 5100, we have on average lost one Rotary Club per year. Forest Grove is one of the few clubs in the district that has grown, specifically because of the development of the Satellite Club.

Over its first 100 years, Rotary did not grow in just two years: during the 1918 flu epidemic and during the Great Depression in 1932. Over the last 20 years, Rotary has struggled to sustain growth. Rotary’s biggest growth came in 1919 as the world came out of the flu epidemic. Jim believes that as we come out of COVID, there is great opportunity for growth. People want to be connected.

Before COVID, no one would have thought of the concept of virtual meetings, online trainings, etc. Both our district and Rotary as a whole have adjusted well to the virtual approach. We need to take a really close at ourselves, both individually and as an organization, if we want to change. When we look at differences, Jim said, we often times do not take the additional step of trying to understand.

Rotary had developed a pandemic task force that has allowed clubs and organizations mobilize to help with vaccination efforts and food insecurity related to the pandemic. The work of this task force, along with Rotary’s DEI committee, is positioning Rotary to better make a difference and to grow.

Of the people who leave Rotary every year, the majority leave within the first year. Jim challenges us to think about why we joined Rotary why we have stayed involved. When Jim joined Rotary, he did so to try and make connections in the community. After being involved with his first service project, which helped battered women and children, Jim saw the significance of how Rotary makes an impact in lives.

With that said, who is the customer of Rotary? In the past, we have thought it was the community. In reality, Jim believes, is Rotary’s members themselves. Once their needs are met, they will go out and serve the community.

During Jim’s year, District 5100 will not charge district dues to new members. The district will also be looking to develop new board members and work with individual clubs to define what success for them. The club has developed a technology committee, a communications committee and a crisis response committee to help assist clubs.

Club Calendar
All Meetings Are On Zoom Unless Noted

Wed., May 26: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Andy Cartmill, Washington County Addiction Services, Suicide Prevention

Wed., June 2: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: To Be Announced

Thurs., June 3: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.

Sat., June 5: Club Visioning Meeting, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Zesti Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove

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