If you didn’t make it to our last Rotary Club of Forest Grove meeting, here’s what you missed…

Online Meetings Continue: 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

Thank You Rotary Club of Camarillo!: We want to say thank you again to the Rotary Club of Camarillo, California, for inviting our club to take part in a combined meeting with them last Wednesday. Our club members enjoyed being able to take part in a different club’s meeting and especially enjoyed the program (see below).

District Governor Visit This Week: Be sure to join us for next week’s Zoom meeting, which will mark the official visit by our District 5100 Governor, Jo Crenshaw. Join us as Jo talks about her life in Rotary and her visions and goals for the district during the 2020-21 Rotary Year.

Wreath Sale For Hope For the Holidays: To raise funds for our upcoming Hope for the Holidays service project, Janet Peters is coordinating a sale of holiday wreaths for the club. We will offer 20-inch wreaths, which are being made by Rotarian Melinda Fischer, with cones and decorative red bow for $28. Half of the costs of the wreaths will come back to the club to help fund Hope for the Holidays.

Orders must be received by Friday, November 6. Wreaths will be available for pickup and delivery around Saturday, Nov. 28. For additional information, contact Janet Peters.

Road Cleanup Scheduled: Our next semi-annual clean up of Gales Creek and Thatcher Roads is scheduled for Saturday, October 17, beginning at 8:30 a.m. We will meet at the Oregon Department of Forestry offices at 801 Gales Creek Road. If you plan on attending, please contact Andrea Stewart.

For over 25 years, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove has participated in Washington County’s Adopt-A-Road Program. Our club has adopted Gales Creek Road from Thatcher Road to Forest Gale Drive and Thatcher Road from Gales Creek Road to David Hill Road.

Rotary Citation Earned Again: Once again, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove the prestigious Rotary Citation for the club’s work during the 2019-20 Rotary year. The Rotary Citation is an award designed to recognize continued growth and engagement of Rotary clubs. Clubs must meet certain benchmarks related to membership growth Rotary Foundation giving, service and community engagement.

A total of 23 clubs in District 5100 earned the Rotary Citation. Our club earned the citation with gold distinction, one of 11 in the district to receive that level of distinction of higher. A sincere congratulations to Past President Tim Pearson and all club members for the work they did to earn the Rotary Citation once again!

Dues Assistance Program: The Covid-19 Pandemic and related economic restrictions have affected everyone. Recognizing that some members have been more severely affected than others, the Club is offering assistance with quarterly Club Dues.  If you are interested in assistance with next quarter’s dues, please contact Julia Kollar or Lucas Welliver by October 15, 2020.  Initially, the help will be limited to two quarters of Club Dues. The assistance will be funded by donations from other Club members, so please contact Julia or Lucas if you are interested in contributing to this program. Any remaining funds raised for this purpose at the end of the Rotary Year (6/30/2021) will be paid to the Forest Grove Rotary Foundation for general charitable purposes.

Rotary Foundation Giving Update: Giving to The Rotary Foundation by members of the Rotary Club of Forest is at a total of $4,227 for the 2020-2021 Rotary year (as of September 30). For the foundation’s Annual Fund, we are currently at $3,557 our goal of $9,500. Meeting our annual fund goals is important as a club so we can receive our district matching grants, which help programs such as “Hope for the Holidays.” For Polio Plus, we’ve donated $669.53 vs. a goal of $3,000. Thank you all for your generous donations.

We would like to encourage every Rotarian to donate to The Rotary Foundation. Please see the Every Rotarian Every Year Brochure regarding ways to contribute. The brochure includes information on Rotary Direct, where you can make automatic donations on a fixed schedule. If you do not know your Rotary identification number you can find it on DacDB or contact Mike Yakos so you can receive your Paul Harris points when making a donation.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee: The newly-formed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee held its second meeting in September. At the meeting, we discussed how to best develop and survey our club to better understand our own views around diversity, equity and inclusion. We developed a draft survey which we will send around to various stakeholders for input. You can watch a recording of the meeting on the club’s YouTube page.

Additionally, we discussed the work ahead of us which includes educational programs, a possible reading and resource list as we as further developing our committee’s mission statement. Email Howard Sullivan or Amy Tracewell if you would like to be involved.

McDougall Garden: The McDougall Garden, near the big flagpole, is looking good. But just like any garden, weeds will pop up. Rotarians are welcomed and encouraged to stop by and pull a weed or two, even if it is just for a few minutes. Many hands make for light work.

Dick Johnston Memorial Fund: The family of our late friend, Dick Johnston, have established a memorial with the Foundation of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove to go towards the club’s scholarship program. Donations by check can be sent to the club at PO Box 125, Forest Grove, OR 97116. Donations to the fund are also being online through the club’s Square Payment Page.

Daybreak Club Bicycle Project: Our friends at the Forest Grove Daybreak Club are looking for bikes to donate to WashcoBikes, a non-profit organization that refurbishes bikes and distributes them to residents in Washington County. If you have a bike to donate, please contact Mitch Taylor at 503-314-0766.

Rotary Phone Tree: Thank you to everyone who has made our Rotary Phone Tree such a success in caring for our members. 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. For more information or questions, or if your information on the Phone Tree is not correct, contact Paul Waterstreet.

FGHS Community Food Pantry: Even with schools closed, the need for resources at the Forest Grove High School Community Food Pantry continues. The pantry continues to need the following items to serve the community that is depending on it…

Food: Pasta, Canned Sauces, Tortillas, Rice, Beans, Canned Fruit, Jelly, Peanut Butter, Boxed Milk, Canned Vegetables, Bread, Applesauce, Granola Bars, Fruit Snacks, Macaroni & Cheese, Tuna, Crackers, Maseca and Vegetable Oil.

Hygiene Items: Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, Tampons/Pads, Toothbrushes, Toothpaste, Deodorant, Hair Brushes, Toilet Paper.

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.

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.

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
McMinnville Sunrise Rotary Wine Raffle: The Rotary Club of McMinnville Sunrise is holding its annual wine raffle. Five winners will be drawn and will receive some of 84 different bottles from Methven Family Vineyards, Durant Vineyards, Stoller Family Estate, Redhawk Winery, Bjornson Winery, Chehalem Wines, White Rose Estate and Laurel Ridge Winery.

Proceeds from the raffle benefit the club’s non-profit projects and scholarships for students attending Chemeketa Community College. Tickets are $5 each, five for $20 or 25 for $100. The drawing will be held on October 28. Purchase Tickets On The McMinnville Sunrise Rotary Website.

Save The Dates: The annual District 5100 Training Assembly is scheduled for the weekend of April 17 and 18. The exact date, location and delivery method is to be determined. The annual District 5100 Conference is scheduled for April 29 through May 2 at the Vancouver Hilton.

Around The Rotary international World
New Leadership Courses Online: As part of Rotary’s new partnership with Toastmasters International, six new leadership courses have been developed to expand leadership and communciation skills. These online modules, along with many others to expand your knowledge of Rotary, can be accessed for free by Rotary members at rotary.org/learn. (NOTE: You must login to the Rotary.org website to have access to the learning center.)

Last Week’s Program: Evan Hilgerman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mars Rover

During our joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Camarillo, we received an engaging presentation from Evan Hilgerman, who is an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on an overview of NASA’s Mars Rover program. Evan is currently part of the team responsible for the operation and driving of the Mars Rover Curiosity.

Where did our current mindset of Mars come from? First maps of Mars developed by Percival Lowell in the early 1900s. He mapped out canals on the planet and he thought that they were mapped out by an alien life form. That theory stuck around through the 1960s until the explorer ship Mariner went to Mars. It found that Mars was a desolate planet that is not good for habitation.

It is believed that three billion years ago, over a third of Mars was covered with a global ocean, much like Earth is believed to have been. One of the attractive factors of traveling to Mars is that the rocks on the planet’s surface are three billion years old. That could provide clues as to how the Earth was at that time.

Evan pointed out that the purpose of the rovers is not to find life on Mars. They do not have equipment to be able to investigate that. Instead, the rovers are designed to investigate if the planet is habitable by Earth standards.

The JPL Mars rover has a “rocker bogey” suspension system with six wheels and a pair of pivot points on each side that allows the rover to easily move over large rocks. The rover has multiple cameras that allow people at the JPL to drive the rover and for research.

People think that people use a joystick or something like an Xbox controller to drive the rover. The rover is driven using sequencing software, generating computer code that the rover understands to give the rover its instructions for the day. When instructions are coded, they are computer-simulated before being sent to the rover.

When Mars is at its furthest point from the Earth, it takes 22 minutes at light speed for a signal to reach the planet. From satellite dishes on Earth, instructions will be sent to the rover. Those are sent during the Mars “morning.” At the end of the day, the rover transmits data back to Earth describing its actions from the day.

In addition to talking about the build and operation of the rover Curiosity, Evan talked about the build of the rover Perseverance, which is on its way to Mars right now. The biggest scientific change on Perseverance is in its sample caching system, which will be able to collect rock core samples drilled by a robotic arm and return those to Earth. Perseverance will land on Mars on February 18, 2021.

To learn more about the Mars rovers, you can visit mars.nasa.gov. Evan also maintains his own non-JPL affiliated website dedicated to sharing stories from scientists, researchers and engineers making discoveries in the field at exploreandobserve.com.

Club Calendar
All Club Activities Are On Zoom Unless Otherwise Noted
Wed., Oct. 14: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Official Visit – District Governor Jo Crenshaw
Sat., Oct. 17: Road Cleanup, 8:30 a.m.
Oregon Department of Forestry Office, 801 Gales Creek Rd.
Wed., Oct. 21: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: To Be Announced
Wed., Oct. 28: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: To Be Announced