Club President Amy Tracewell (right) presents our annual scholarship check for Pacific University to Pacific President Jenny Coyle. Coyle was our speaker last week.

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

This Week –At Pacific University: The Rotary Club of Forest Grove is back to meeting in the Boxer Pause in the University Center at Pacific University. The room is located on the main level of the UC, through the diming commons. As we have in past meetings at Pacific, we will take our meals through the main dining commons. Please join us as we hear from Rotary Youth Exchange outbound students Aiden Rydman and we welcome Youth Citizens of the Month from the Banks and Gaston school districts.

Farmer’s Day: Our annual Farmer’s Day program is back! Invite your favorite farmer to join us for our meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 21 as we hear from Dan Lewis of Northwest Seed Company. Invited farmers will receive lunch courtesy of the club as a thank you for all they do for our community and to keep agriculture active in the area. A list of farmers will be distributed at this week’s meeting. If you have one you want to invite, please let President Amy know.

Satellite Club Meeting: This month’s Satellite Club meeting will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15, 6:30 p.m., at Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove. All Rotarians are welcome to attend.

Bundt Cake Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who participated in our bundtlet fundraiser with Nothing Bundt Cakes. We sold nearly 100 cakes. Our share of the proceeds will go towards funding meals to visitors and prospective members. Cakes will be delivered on Tuesday, Feb. 13 will be available at our meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 14. For questions, please email Evelyn Orr at e-orr@comcast.net. Thank you, Evelyn, for coordinating this fundraiser for the club!

Forest Grove HS Interact Club: Our inbound Youth Exchange student, Fareeha Nayebare, has restarted the Interact Club at Forest Grove High School! Meetings take place on Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. All Rotarians are welcome. The club is currently preparing for a service project with the high school’s Food Pantry. For questions, please talk with Fareeha at our meetings.

At last week’s meeting, Fareeha and other members of the Interact club joined our weekly meeting to introduce themselves to the club and to get a taste of what a Rotary meeting is like. We hope to see them again!

Crab Feed Committee: Our Crab Feed Committee, chaired by Julia Kollar, is starting to meet to plan this spring’s event. If you are interested in being involved in the planning and execution of this year event, please contact Julia at 503-939-2212 or juliakollar@aol.com.

The Crab Feed is a social event designed to be a celebration for the club and usually takes place in March. It is also when our club honors its newest Paul Harris Fellows and those who have advanced in Paul Harris Fellow recognition.

Silent Auction At The Crab Feed: At this year’s Crab Feed, we will once again be conducting a silent auction with all proceeds benefitting The Rotary Foundation. The committee is looking again for items such as themed baskets, weekend getaways, gift cards or experiences. In past years, the silent auction has been very successful in helping us meet our club’s annual Rotary Foundation giving goals.

If you would like to make a donation, please contact Parri Van Dyke, vandykeparri@gmail.com. Thank you to Parri and Evelyn Orr, who are coordinating the silent auction.

Chamber of Commerce Awards/Chamber Stars Gala: The Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce is welcoming nominations for annual awards to be presented during the 2024 Chamber Stars Gala, which takes place on Saturday, Mar. 23.

Nominations are being accepted for a number of awards, honoring both business and individuals who have made a great impact on the community and on the chamber. In 2023, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove was honored with the Spirit of Forest Grove award.

Click Here to learn more about the gala and to nominate for the chamber’s awards. The deadline for award nominations is Friday, Feb. 17.

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 (over 100 videos to date) are archived on our club’s YouTube page. Visit https://bit.ly/fgrotaryprograms.

Concours News
2024 Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance, presented by the Rotary Club of Forest Grove
Sunday, July 21 on Pacific University’s Forest Grove Campus

Concours Committee Meetings: The Concours d’Elegance Committee is starting the planning for our 50th show on July 21, 2024. If interested in getting further involved with the Concours, the steering committee is always looking for volunteers to prepare for the show throughout the year. For more information, contact Tom Raabe at 503-704-1200 or rotarytomr@gmail.com or Geoff Johnston at 503-939-7868 or gamsma@comcast.net.

The next meeting of the Concours Committee will be on Tuesday, Feb. 13 via Zoom at 7 p.m. (Note meeting date change from past months).

Sponsorships: Once again, we are excited to welcome Jaguar Land Rover of Portland as the presenting sponsor of the Concours d’Elegance. We are also proud to welcome back Barrett Jackson as an associate sponsor.

Sponsorships go a long way to increasing the profit of the Concours, which goes to fund our scholarship program and our club’s other outreach activities. To learn more about available sponsorships, Click Here to contact Tim Pearson at 503-998-8616 or timpearsonpc@gmail.com.

Entries Now Open: Entries are now open for the 2024 Concours d’Elegance. Click Here for details or if you (or a friend) want to enter this year’s show.

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.

Upcoming Habitat For Humanity Service Project: The club is working with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity for a joint service project in May. We will have more details on this service opportunity soon.

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 Mondays from 4-5:30 p.m. 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
Registration Now Open For Rotary One Conference: Make your plans now to attend the One Rotary Conference, District 5100’s combined training assembly and annual conference. This year’s conference runs from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28 at the Best Western Hood River Inn in Hood River. This is a wonderful opportunity to not only learn more about Rotary, but to connect with Rotarians from all across the District.

The annual conference includes district training sessions on both Friday and Saturday. Friday evening features a barbeque dinner buffet and the annual Youth Exchange Talent Show, a dinner event on Saturday and the annual awards ceremony and passing of the district governor banner on Sunday.

As our own Jeannine Murrell will be receiving the banner in advance of her district governor year, we would like to see as many members of our club as possible attend the conference to support her!

A link to register for the conference, along with the schedule of events and a link for hotel reservations at the Rotary rate, can be found at This DacDB Link (you must log in to DacDB to access).

District 5100 Newsletter: Click Here To View The Monthly District 5100 Newsletter

Last Week’s Program: Pacific University President Jenny Coyle

Click Here To View The Complete Program

With our return to Pacific University last week for the first time since the summer, we were honored to be joined by fellow Rotarian and Pacific President Jenny Coyle.

Coyle’s presentation also included the presentation of our club’s annual check for scholarship proceeds from the 2023 Concours d’Elegance. This year’s contribution is $9,622.79, which will be used to both fund scholarships to local graduating seniors attending Pacific and to increase the club’s endowed scholarship at the university.

Coyle used much of her presentation to focus on efforts at the university that align with Rotary’s mission. She highlighted the President’s Global Scholars Fund, which supports not only classes on campus with an international focus, but also long-term study abroad experiences. In 2022-23, 31 students embarked on long-term study abroad experiences while 114 participated in short-term study experience.

Pacific has regained its place as the No. 1 private research institution in the Pacific Northwest. Pacific currently has active, awarded grants totalling over $21 million. That total includes $10.2 million for research and scholarly projects and $6.4 million for student support and services.

Over the summer, Pacific hosted the Synapse Health Career Explorations Camp, a program for 25 ethnically diverse high school students. Held in collaboration with the Oregon Healthcate Workforce Institute (which is housed at Pacific’s Hillsboro Campus), the program introduced those students to careers in the health professions.

Among the new programs that Pacific has introduced over the last year include the Doctor of Healthcare Science program, the Master of Nonprofit Leadership program (which graduated its first cohort in January) and an undergraduate major in engineering physics. Pacific has also implemented the first five-year hybrid program in pharmacy in the U.S., which allows people to work towards their Doctor of Pharmacy degree while continuing to work. In the development stages is a Master of Dental Therapy program, which will be just the fourth of its kind in the U.S.

Club Calendar
Tues., Feb. 13: Concours Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Feb. 14: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Aiden Rydman, Rotary Youth Exchange

Wed., Feb. 14: Concours Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Thurs., Feb. 15: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Thurs., Feb. 15: Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove

Wed., Feb. 21: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Farmer’s Day/Dan Lewis, Northwest Seed Co.

Wed., Feb. 28: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause, University Center, Pacific University
Program: To Be Announced