Area Governor Blake Timm and our President-Elect Andrea Stewart along with Bartt Brick (Hillsboro president-elect) and Tom Freitag (Beaverton president-Elect) at the Pacific Northwest Presidents-Elect Learning Seminar.

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

This Week: We hope you join us this week for our weekly meeting on Wednesday in the Boxer Pause Room in the University Center at Pacific University. This week’s program will be Edith Velazquez of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation.

Upcoming Meetings: Our meeting on Wednesday, Mar. 5, will take place in the Grove Room at the Forest Grove School District offices. The remainder of our March meetings, with the exception of the Crab Feed, will take place at Pacific University. We will not have a meeting on Wednesday, Mar. 26.

Pacific Northwest PELS: Our club was well represented last weekend at Rotary’s Pacific Northwest President-Elect Learning Seminar (PELS, formerly PETS). Our president-elect, Andrea Stewart, completed her final official training before her president’s year begins on July 1. Thank you, Andrea, for taking the time to help lead our club into the future!

Our club was also represented by District Governor Jeannine Murrell, who apprenticed to take over as the PELS registrar next year. Area Governor Blake Timm, along with the rest of District 5100’s area governors, attended to provide support in the overall execution of the event.

Crab Feed – Save The Date: This year’s Crab Feed is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 19, 5:30 p.m. The evening event serves as our club’s chance to honor our new Paul Harris Fellows and those who have given generously to The Rotary Foundation.

Tickets will be $45 for crab dinner or $25 for a dinner without crab. Crab meat to go will be available for $45 per pound and steaks to will be available for $20 for a pack of two steaks. Orders must be received by Friday, Mar. 14. We hope to see everyone there for a fun evening of fellowship and food and to celebrate our giving to The Rotary Foundation!

For more information, or if you want to help out with the planning committee, please contact Crab Feed Committee chair Julia Kollar.

Purchase your Crab Feed tickets now at the following links:
Crab Feed Dinner | Crab Feed Dinner (No Crab) | 1 Lb. Crab Meat To Go | Steaks To Go

RYLA Applications Now Open: Our club, and others within District 5100, are now accepting applications for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program. This one-week leadership event, designed for young adults ages 21-32, takes place July 12-18 at the Menucha Retreat Center in Corbett. In order to complete the required applications, we need to have our applicants determined by Saturday, Mar. 1.

RYLA takes place every July and brings together dozens of young adults from every stage of life, from current college students to those just starting life after college and those with a family and solid career. Working together, participants learn from world-class speakers and activities during the week, and explore and strengthen their ideas of leadership and community.

We have one club member who has already expressed interest in attending RYLA, but we have sponsored more attendees in the past. If you know of someone that would be interested and would benefit from RYLA, please contact Andrea Stewart.

Save The Date – Steak Feed: Make sure to mark Friday, June 6 on your calendar for our annual Steak Feed at Pacific University. This is one of our two big fundraisers of the year with proceeds from the evening benefitting our involvement in the Rotary Youth Exchange program. This is an all hands on deck event and we need all of our members to be there and make the event a great success.

As in past years, we will have tickets for club members to sell coming up in a few weeks. Tickets will be $25 and will include a choice New York steak, salad, rolls, beans, drinks and dessert. For more information, contact Steak Feed chair Geoff Faris.

Concours Sponsorships: The Concours Committee is actively procuring sponsors for the 2025 show, which takes place on Sunday, July 20. If you know of a business or individual that might be interested in sponsoring our signature event, please contact Janet Peters at 503-679-6479 or rjlc4peters@msn.com, or Amy Tracewell at 541-844-9467 or amy.tracewell@pacificu.edu.

Pickleball Evenings – Presented By Rotary: The Rotary Club of Forest Grove is helping to sponsor indoor pickleball Monday through Thursday evenings at the Forest Grove National Guard Armory, 2950 Taylor Way. Coordinated by Rotarian Steven Barnard, the evenings run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. There is a $5 fee to help cover facility rental. Players of all ages and ability levels are welcome with reserved courts for beginners and intermediate-level players.

Proceeds from the pickleball evenings go to cover facility rental for the armory, but also to help fund the Forest Grove School District Community Alternative Learning Center’s (CALC) Career & Technical Education (CTE) Fridays. At our Jan. 29 meeting, our club presented a $5,000 check to Tim Graham, principal of CALC, to benefit the program.

For more information on the pickleball evenings, please contact Steven at 443-454-5177 or sbarnard@fgsd.k12.or.us.

Have A Program Idea? Let Hector Know!: Do you have an idea for a program presentation that you would like to see at our meetings? Let our incoming program director, Hector Mendez-Colberg know as he is setting up the schedule for 2025.

Greeters Are Back: President Lucas is bringing back the role of having greeters at our weekly meetings. This role will not be pre-assigned. Instead, the ninth and 10th Rotarians showing up a meeting each week will serve as greeters. Please be prepared to take on that responsibility and let President Lucas know if you have any questions.

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.

CALC Volunteer Opportunities: Forest Grove School District’s Community Alternative Learning Center (CALC) has two volunteer opportunities for Rotarians and friends. The school is looking for volunteers to assist with interviewing students for mock job interviews. There will be another opportunity forthcoming on a victory garden that is being planted at school. Both opportunities will take place at a date to be determined.

If you are interested in either opportunity or if you have questions, please contact principal Tim Graham at 503-730-4490 or tgraham@fgsd.k12.or.us, or Steven Barnard at 443-454-5177 or sbarnard@fgsd.k12.or.us.

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
Forest Grove Members In District Roles: Did you know that we have a number of members of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove involved in various levels of District 5100 leadership! These members are continuing to dedicate their time to make our entire district stronger. You could be among them! If you are interested in learning more about how you can be involved at the district governor, contact anyone in the list below.

District Governor: Jeannine Murrell
Area Governor: Blake Timm
Rotary Expo Committee: Court Carrier, Bryce Baker
Awards Committee: Jeannine Murrell (vice chair)
Learning & Development Committee: Amy Tracewell (vice chair)
Nominating Committee: Tom Raabe, Bryce Baker
Public Image Committee: Blake Timm
District Youth Protection Officer: Lori Larson

District 5100 Spring Training – April 12: Mark your calendars for Saturday, Apr. 12, because its time for players to report to Rotary District 5100’s Spring Training — and it’s not just for the pros!

Whether you are a rookie or a seasoned player, this virtual event has required position-specific training and elective courses to help you knock your Rotary skills out of the park.

Swing by from anywhere and get ready to hit the ground running for a winning Rotary season. Don’t let this pitch pass you by — let’s make 2025 the championship year for your club! Stay tuned for registration info soon.

Last Week’s Program: Jim Geering & Patrick Wineman, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue

At last week’s meeting, we were treated to a fascinating program by Chief Jim Geering of Forest Grove Fire & Rescue and division chief Patrick Wineman.

Geering provided a presentation about the aid system that is in place that allows fire departments in different jurisdictions to help each other. Aid systems are created to ensure an automatically generated and pre-determined response will arrive to your emergency in the most efficient manner. It means when someone calls 911, the system ensures that you will have aid to your particular emergency within minutes.

There are three types of aid used by fire services. Automatic aid is made across jurisdictional boundaries without request. The response is made because the unit within the boundary is not available.

Closest unit/boundary drop is a contractual agreement to have a response made by the closest unit. This may include a response across jurisdictional boundaries because the unit is closest to the call for service.

Mutual aid is a contractual agreement to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries due to an emergency response that exceeds local resources, such as a disaster or a multiple-alarm fire. No department can do it on their own, whether Forest Grove or large departments like Los Angeles or New York.

Wineman was one of 22 firefighters that went with a trike force to California in January to help battle the Palisades Fire and presented about the experience for he and his team. Oregon sent 21 strike teams, 370 firefighting personnel and 105 pieces of fire apparatus to southern California to assist in fighting the wildfires around Los Angeles.

Washington County sent one strike team (Oregon Strike Team 7) with 22 firefighting personnel from several different departments, five type-1 fire engines and two chief officers. The team was deployed for 18 days. They received the call for deployment the same day the fire broke out and rolled out for southern California the next day.

Wineman said that Washington County has made that kind of call five times over the last 10 years, most recently last summer, and he was glad to return the service. The strike team deployed to the Palisades Fire to provide suppression and overhaul efforts, structure protection and fuels reduction. The team worked shifts of 24 hours on, 24 hours off.

Personnel packed for 14 to 21 days of service and each vehicle was equipped to be self-sustaining for 72 hours, including food and sleeping arrangements. Wineman said that he believes that the combination of the Palisades and Eaton fires was the most significant fire event since the Sept. 11 tragedy.

It will take the region years to recover from the destruction caused by both the Palisades and Eaton fires. Rotary District 5320 continues to solicit donations to its California Wildfire Disaster Relief Fund. Click Here if you wish to contribute to the fund.

Club Calendar
Wed., Feb. 26: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Edith Velazquez, Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation

Wed., Mar. 5: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Grove Room, Forest Grove School District Office, 1728 Main St.
Program: Robert Abbey, Read For A Cause

Wed., Mar. 12: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Youth Citizens of the Month – Banks

Thurs., Mar. 13: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Mar. 19: Crab Feed, 5:30 p.m.
No Noon Meeting On Mar. 19

Fri., June 6: Steak Feed, 5 p.m.
University Center, Pacific University

Fri., Jan. 18-Sun., July 20
Concours d’Elegance Weekend