John White and Emily Harper presented at our meeting last week on the Green Grove Cohousing Community. Photo by Blake Timm.

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

This Week: We look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday at noon at the Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way (across the street from Pacific University). Please join us as we receive a presentation from Clark Mather of Northwest River Partners.

As we are meeting off campus, we need an RSVP from anyone who plans to have their lunch provided. Please RSVP to Beth Hardy via email by no later than Sunday, Oct. 11. If you do not RSVP, you are still welcome to attend the meeting, but you will need to provide your own lunch.

Upcoming Meetings: All of our weekly meetings this fall will take place at Pacific University with the exception of the following dates, when we will meet at the Forest Grove United Church of Christ: Oct. 14, Nov. 11, Dec. 2 and Dec. 9. Remember that on the third week of the month, we do not meet on Wednesdays. That week, we encourage everyone to attend our monthly social on Thursday, 6:30 p.m., at Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St.

October Monthly Social – Now At Growler Garage: We hope to see many Rotarians and friends at our monthly social on Thursday, Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m. After over a year of meeting at Zesti Carts, we are changing location for October to The Growler Garage, 1837 Pacific Avenue (owned by Rotarian Jill Verboort and her husband, Jerod). Plan on coming out for an evening of good food, beverages and fellowship with your fellow Rotarians.

World Polio Day Potluck Social At Waltz Brewing: In observance of World Polio Day on Oct. 24, our club will hold a potluck social on Sunday, Nov. 1, 4-6 p.m., at Waltz Brewing, 1900 A. St., Forest Grove. Plan on bringing a favorite dish to share with everyone. Families (including children) are invited to join us. While we provide the food, Waltz will have its bar open with beverages for purchase. There will also be a chance to raise funds for Rotary International’s PolioPlus Fund to continue the quest to eradicate polio. Mark your calendars and we will see you there!

Wreath Sales Are Back!: We thought last year was the last year, but our annual holiday wreath sales are back! This year, we are using a new local provider (Melinda Fischer has retired from the wreath-making business) and will used the proceeds to benefit Mrs. Claus Cares, the nonprofit that presented at our Sept. 2 meeting (read the Sept. 7 Rotary Rewind on the club website to learn more).

Prices remain the same: $35 for a small wreath, $45 for a large wreath. Orders are due to Janet Peters by Friday, Nov. 13. Wreaths will be delivered on Saturday, Nov. 28. Payments by cash or check (payable to the Rotary Club of Forest Grove) are appreciated. Contact Janet if you need different options.

Garden Cleanup & Road Pickup: Saturday, Oct. 3 included a morning full of service to beautify our community. Thank you to all of our Rotarians and friends who participated in both our McDougall Garden maintenance project and our semi-annual road cleanup. We had a great turnout with 16 Rotarians and three friends of Rotarians who participated. When you drive by the garden, located between Pacific and 19th Avenues at the big flagpole, or along Gales Creek and Thatcher Roads at the west end of Forest Grove, thank your fellow Rotarians for their service!

McDougall Garden Project Participants: Hector Mendez-Colberg and his son, Gustavo, Melinda Fischer, Beth Hardy, Carl Heisler, Geoff Faris, Sharon & Adrian Olmstead, Howard Sullivan, Claire Agner, Blake Timm and Carla Kimzey.

Road Cleanup Project: Cole Thursam and Maddie, Greg Nemchick, Jill Verboort, Stephanie Magoulas, Lucas Welliver and Janet Peters.

A special thank you to Geoff Faris and Melinda Fischer for coordinating work on the McDougall Garden, and Rus & Janet Peters for coordinating work on the road cleanup.

Pickleball Is Back Nov. 2: Loosen up your legs and get ready for the indoor pickleball season! Once again, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove will sponsor pickleball evenings at the Forest Grove National Guard Armory, 2950 Taylor Way, beginning on Monday, Nov. 2. Courts will be open Monday through Thursday evenings, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Cost is $5 per person per evening to help cover rental costs.

Each evening will offer three courts for beginner, intermediate and advanced players. Players of all ages and abilities are welcome, and paddles will be provided for people who are new to the sport.

Steven Barnard, our Rotarian pickleball master, is looking for one more volunteer host to cover Thursday evenings. Duties include opening and closing the armory, managing sign-in and money, managing the flow of play and cleanup. Volunteers play for free on other nights.

For more information on all things pickleball, contact Steven or visit the Forest Grove Pickle Ball Group Facebook page.

Outbound Youth Exchange Applications Still Open: Our club is still looking for its 2027-28 Rotary Youth Exchange outbound student. Opportunities are available for both long-term and short-term exchanges for the upcoming Rotary year.

For more information, and to fill out an application, please visit the Rotary Youth Exchange page on the Rotary Club of Forest Grove website.

Looking For Our Next Treasurer And Bookkeeper: After years of service as treasurer for our club, Sharon Olmstead is looking to find her replacement so that she can move forward in her Rotary journey. The treasurer manages the finances of the club and ensures that the club is in compliance with state, federal and Rotary International financial responsibilities. The finances of the Foundation of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove are handled by our fundraising treasurer.

Additionally, the club is looking to identify a new bookkeeper. Julie Schmidlkofer, who has served the club in that role for many years, is reducing her client load as she moves towards retirement.

The treasurer is a club officer and must be a member of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove. The bookkeeper is a hired position and that person does not need to be a member of the club. If you have interest in either position, or know someone who might be, please contact Sharon.

Membership Committee: The club’s Membership Committee meets the second and fourth Tuesday, 4 p.m., in the conference room at the Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce. Its next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 13. For more information, or to get involved, please contact Evelyn Orr or Bruce Cummings.

Service Opportunities
Share Your Volunteer Opportunity With The Club: 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.

Volunteers Needed For ORRC Autumn Leaves Race: The Oregon Road Runners Club is looking for volunteers to assist in the operation of its Autumn Leaves 30-kilometer, 50-kilometer and 50-mile races on Saturday, Oct. 24, at Champoeg State Park near Newberg.

Volunteer openings include race day check-in, parking attendants, kitchen and aid station workers, course monitors, timing assistants, and take-down/cleanup. All volunteers receive a $50 towards entry to a future ORRC race (you do not have to be an ORRC member).

For more information on volunteer opportunities, or to sign-up, visit the race’s Volunteer Sign-Up Page online. For additional questions, email the race directors at autumnleaves@oregonroadrunnersclub.org. 

West Tuality Habitat For Humanity: West Tuality Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers to assist both with construction projects at its Countryman Estates build site on 23rd Avenue and at Habitat’s ReStore. The construction site is open most Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The ReStore is looking for both single volunteers and pairs of volunteers Monday through Saturday.

If you are interested in volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, please visit their online Volunteer Application. You can also visit Habitat’s Website for more details on the opportunities available. If you are already registered as a volunteer with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity, visit their Volunteer Calendar to see what shifts are currently available.

Questions? Please email volunteer@westualityhabitat.org or call 503-359-8459.

Centro Cultural Volunteer Opportunities: Centro Cultural, located in Cornelius, is in need of volunteers for some ongoing projects.

Centro Mercado Volunteer: Centro Cultural’s Mercado is a free food pantry set up like a grocery store, providing the community a welcoming and dignified space to get free, fresh and local food. Volunteers are needed during the Mercado’s open hours, Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m., and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., to help staff and maintain the pantry. The Mercado is located at 1216 E. Baseline St., Cornelius. Visit SignUp Genius To Register & See Available Shifts.

Volunteers for Centro Cultural must sign-up for opportunities through SignUp Genius and must be pre-approved before the event. Walk-up volunteers are no longer allowed by the organization. Information on how to register can be found on those pages or by contacting Evelyn Orr, eorr@centrocultural.org.

Rotary Basics
A Brief History Of Women In Rotary
For most of its history, Rotary deprived itself of the service of women. It would take decades of work, and a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, for Rotary to allow women to make the world’s best service organization even better.

Women made their first forays into Rotary in 1911, when an all-women’s club formed in Minneapolis. A second all-women’s club existed in Duluth, Minnesota between 1911 and 1917. While discussions about allowing women to join continued through the 1910s, the 1921 convention voted to change the Rotary International Standard Club Constitution to exclude women, adding the line to Article, Section III, stating, “A Rotary Club shall be comprised of men…”

In 1924, Margarette Golding founded the Inner Wheel Club in Manchester, England, after a proposal to create a women’s Rotary Club there was turned down. Inner Wheel was founded specifically for the wives of male Rotarians. Inner Wheel still exists, boasting 103,000 members in 100 countries. The club stopped requiring that their spouse be a member of Rotary in 2012.

At the 1950 RI Convention, the Ahemdabad Club of India proposed that the word “male” be dropped from Article III of the Standard Club Constitution. The proposal was soundly defeated. Between 1946 and 1977, there were several unsuccessful attempts to allow admission of women.

In 1977, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, admitted Mary Lou Elliott, Donna Bogart and Rosemary Freitag as members. On March 27, 1978, RI terminated the club’s charter. Duarte renamed itself the “Ex Rotary Club of Duarte” and filed suit against RI in California Superior Court. Duarte lost its case, but in a subsequent appeal, the California Court of Appeal ruled that Duarte could not discriminate based on gender.

In 1986, the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in 1987, ruled 7-0 to affirm the California Court of Appeal ruling. Duarte’s charter was reinstated and, on June 23, 1987, the club inducted Dr. Sylvia Whitlock as the first female president of a Rotary club. Rotary International followed suit in 1989, when the Council on Legislation voted to change the RI constitution and bylaws to permit the admission of women.

Today, approximately 24% of Rotary members are women, translating to more than 277,000 members worldwide. However, even with the growth of women in Rotary, it took 23 years for Rotary International to have its first woman president, Jennifer Jones, in the 2022-23 Rotary year. The second, Stephanie Urchick, served in the 2024-25 Rotary year.

Today, 27 of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove’s 64 members are female, comprising 42% of the club’s membership. Roma Gallinger served as the club’s first female president in 1995-96. A total of eight women have served as president, including three in the last five years.

Laurie Carlson of the Rotary Club of East Portland, served as District 5100’s first female district governor in 2000-01. To date, 13 women have served as district governor, including our own Jeannine Murrell (2024-25) and current District Governor Renee Fontenot.

Information for this article was sourced primarily from Women and Rotary: A Potted History, on the Rotary Global History Fellowship website.

Rotary Glossary
Council on Legislation: The Council on Legislation is Rotary International’s legislative parliament that meets every three reviews to review, debate and vote on proposed changes to Rotary’s governing documents. The last Council on Legislation was held in April 2025 in Chicago and considered 83 pieces of legislation.

Around District 5100
World Polio Day Is Coming Up (from this week’s District Newsbyte): Rotary’s commitment to ending polio remains one of the most extraordinary examples of what sustained service can accomplish.

Across our district, clubs are finding creative—and fun—ways to raise awareness and support the effort to End Polio Now. And if your club hasn’t planned something yet, there is still time. It can be a fundraiser, a service activity, a social event, or even something incorporated into a regular club meeting.

Here are a couple of ideas already being used by clubs.

Left-Center-Right
Last week, the Rotary Club of Astoria turned the dice game Left-Center-Right into a quick in-meeting fun(d)raiser.

It is fast, easy to learn, and created plenty of laughter and friendly competition—all while raising money for a cause that matters. Sometimes simple really works.

Purple Pinkie Day
Rotarians recognize the purple pinkie as a symbol associated with polio immunization efforts.

Consider partnering with a local restaurant or gathering place for an evening of fellowship, fundraising, and awareness. Invite the community, wear your End Polio Now or Rotary shirts, bring some purple nail polish, and—for a dollar or two—paint a few pinkies purple.

It is an easy conversation starter and a wonderful opportunity to tell Rotary’s polio story to people who may not know it.

Polio Events Around Our District: Several larger events are happening this month:

Wilsonville — Pints for Polio, October 15
The Rotary Club of Wilsonville is hosting its annual Pints for Polio event at Wanker’s Corner Saloon & Café. There will be live music, and 10% of food and beverage sales will benefit End Polio Now.

Sherwood — “Eradication,” October 20
The Rotary Club of Sherwood is teaming up with BearKat Brewing for a special community event supporting the global effort to eradicate polio. BearKat Brewing will launch a limited-edition pumpkin ale called “Eradication,” with 100% of the sale proceeds from the special brew donated to Rotary’s polio eradication efforts.

Salem Area — Bowl-io for Polio, October 20
Seven Rotary clubs in the Salem area are joining together to “Strike Out the Disease!” with Bowl-i-O for Polio. Expect bowling, karaoke, a raffle, food, fellowship, and plenty of Rotary spirit. Funds raised will support the PolioPlus campaign.

Every event—large or small—helps tell the story of Rotary’s commitment to a polio-free world.

Donations to the PolioPlus campaign and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are eligible for a 2-to-1 match from the Gates Foundation, tripling the impact of eligible contributions. Clubs and members can also consider designating a portion of their annual Foundation giving to the PolioPlus Fund.

Last Week’s Program — John White & Emily Harper, Green Grove Cohousing Community
At last week’s meeting, John White and Emily Harper presented to us on the Green Grove Cohousing Community, which is located along Thatcher Road northwest of Forest Grove.

Both White and Harper are active members of the community. White, a Professor Emeritus of Occupational Therapy at Pacific University, and his wife moved into the first completed for the community in 2018. Harper, who works for the City of Portland, and her family joined the community in 2021.

The Green Grove Cohousing Community began in 2012 when Brad & Linda Taylor were looking for such a community to be part of. The idea of hosting such a community on their land started developing in 2013 after their land along Thatcher Road was annexed into the City of Forest Grove. After three years of planning, the development of Green Grove began in 2015. The last home was completed in 2022.

The community includes 18 adults and five children that live on the property, along with 10 associate members who do not live in the community, but believe in and want to participate in the community. The community is comprised of nine homes on five acres of land along with a community house, a common shed, a large garden, a chicken coop, and common spaces for residents to gather.

White and Harper explained that cohousing is an intentional community, where people have their private homes, but regularly come together for community decision-making, meals, activities and to take care of common areas. White emphasized that it is not a commune, that the residents think independently, own their private homes, and do not pool finances. The goals of cohousing are to combat loneliness, which is an epidemic in the U.S., and to reduce the carbon footprint by combining communal resources.

Residents of Green Grove agree to six guiding values in living and making decisions together:

• Respect and care for other people and the natural world
• Appreciate the value each person brings to the community
• Cooperate in decision-making and conflict resolution
• Respect privacy, individual choice and diversity of opinion
• Inspire joy, creativity and personal growth
• Welcome connection to the larger community, city and region

Decisions within the community are made using an approach called sociocracy, where decisions are made in circles (another name for committees). People come up with an idea, make a proposal to the circle and, if agreed to, present to the community circle. Proposals are created collaboratively and consent is achieved when no one in a particular circle objects. White and Harper noted that consent doesn’t mean that there isn’t any objection, but that a proposal is good enough for now and safe enough to try.

Members of the community are expected to contribute at least six hours per month of work to run and maintain the community. This includes work parties to maintain the common areas or garden, administrative duties, learning and training, and helping and sharing resources. Community members also enjoy plenty of fun activities together, including happy hours, monthly potlucks, game nights, seasonal events, arts and crafts, and more.

You can learn more about the Green Grove Cohousing Community by visiting their website.

Club Calendar
Tues., Oct. 13: Membership Committee Meeting, 4 p.m.
Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce, 2417 Pacific Ave.

Wed., Oct. 14: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way
Program: Clark Mather, Northwest River Partners

Thurs., Oct. 15: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
Online

Thurs., Oct. 22: Board Meeting, 5:30 p.m.
John L. Scott Market Center, 1936 Pacific Ave.

Thurs., Oct. 22: Monthly Social, 6:30 p.m.
The Growler Garage, 1837 Pacific Ave.
There will be no weekly meeting on Wed., Oct. 21

Tues., Oct. 27: Membership Committee Meeting, 4 p.m.
Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce, 2417 Pacific Ave.

Wed., Oct. 28: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Claudia Yakos, Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce

Sun., Nov. 1: End Polio Now Potluck and Fundraiser, 4 p.m.
Waltz Brewing, 1900 A St.