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

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

March Madness Fundraiser: It certainly was madness this year for everyone who participated in our March Madness pool to benefit The Rotary Foundation. Thank you to our 18 club members that participated and raised $360 for the foundation!

Congratulations to Jim Crisp, who was this year’s winner and will receive 180 Paul Harris points. Ryan Garcia and Loren Waltz tied for second while Tim Pearson and Lucas Welliver tied for fourth.

What was Jim’s secret, outside of picking Baylor to win? It was filling out three brackets to give him a better chance of winning!

Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting: This month’s Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club meeting is scheduled this Thursday, April 15 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will take place at Blackdog Bar & Grill, 2835 Pacific Ave., Forest Grove. The room will be limited 18 people with first priority for Satellite Club members. If you plan on attending, please RSVP to Michael Yakos.

Concours Postponed For 2021: Due to events outside of our control, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove and the Concours d’Elegance steering committee has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2021 Forest Grove Concours d’ Elegance. Car owners who submitted an entry application will not be charged any fees and will be contacted soon. We are looking ahead to the next event on July 17, 2022. What follows is the announcement sent out to entrants and posted on the Concours website.

With heavy hearts, the Steering Committee of the Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2021 field show to 2022. We are working to schedule a cars and coffee and tour on Sunday, July 18, 2021. More details to be communicated later.

This is a tough decision, but after consulting with advisors and long-time supporters, we felt it is the best decision at this time. The current uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic made securing a location extremely difficult for an event of our size. After a heroic effort by the Steering Committee to support large-show alternatives, we decided to refocus our energies toward the future.

The Concours is made possible by collector car owners, Rotary Club volunteers, and sponsors from the community. Many of these supporters and volunteers are focused on staying safe and navigating their businesses during these uncertain times. This includes Pacific University whose event support staff has undertaken the unprecedented task of running on-campus vaccination clinics with an unspecified end date.

Each year, the net proceeds from the Concours d’Elegance fund scholarships and community service projects. The Forest Grove Rotary Club has returned more than $1 million to the community, including direct support of various non-profit organizations, service projects, and scholarships to hundreds of Washington County high school students heading to Pacific University and other institutions of higher education. The local community still depends on this support.

We appreciate the Steering Committee’s hard work, volunteers who donate their time, the enthusiasm of the car owners, and the many sponsors that support our event.

We hope you are safe through these uncertain times, and we appreciate your continued support for 2022. We will see you on Sunday, July 17, 2022.

For more information on the Concours d’Elegance, visit forestgroveconcours.org.

Club Giving Goals Met: Despite the pandemic, our club has come through with its contributions to The Rotary Foundation! We have met our club goal of $9,500 towards the foundation’s Annual Fund and $3,500 towards the PolioPlus Fund. As of April 12, our club has contributed $10.492 towards the Annual Fund and $3,685 towards PolioPlus. Thank you to all of our members for your support of Rotary’s mission around the world.

Remember that you can always check the progress towards our club’s goals online on Rotary Club Central. You must have a registered account on the Rotary website to access Rotary Club Central.

To date, District 5100 ranks No. 1 in Rotary in Polio Plus contributions and No. 2 in Rotary’s total fundraising statistics. Worldwide, however, Rotary is being in fundraising totals compared to this time last year.

Board of Directors Elections: Be watching your inbox soon for first-round balloting to name three new members to the club’s Board of Directors. The new members will replace Ryan Garcia, Michelle Thomas and Paul Waterstreet, all of who are completing their three-year terms.

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.

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.

FGHS Community Food Pantry: Even with schools closed, the need for resources at the Forest Grove High School Community 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. There is a particular need for dish soap and laundry soap.

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. The pantry will remain open on Mondays over the Winter Break.

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.

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.

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 Spring Training Event: There is one more week of the District 5100 Spring Training Event (formerly District Training Assembly) coming up! You can still sign up for the virtual training event on Saturday, Apr. 17. The sessions are geared towards anyone interested in learning more about the inner-workings of Rotary or has desire to take on a leadership position in the future.

The speaker will be Mitty Chang, president and CEO of Candeavor, a digital marketing and web development agency, ad a very-involved Rotarian.

Check Out The Schedule: Apr. 17

Attending the Spring Training Event is free to Rotarians but advance registration is required. You can sign up for the event by logging into DacDB and completing the registration form.

District 5100 Conference: Registration is now open for the District 5100 Conference, “Wandering Through New Doors.” This year’s virtual event will take place on Saturday, May 1. This year’s event will include a number of inspirational speaker, headlined by New York Times bestselling author and motivational speaker Andy Andrews and Jordan Harrison, who will present on how the right words said to right people at the right time can facilitate change.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping us physically distant, it’s more important than ever to focus on the strength and opportunity that comes with opening new doors of opportunities. The District 5100 Conference will educate, connect, inspire and offer virtual fellowship.

The event is free but pre-registration is required. Visit rotary5100.com to register and learn more.

Special Note: Many members of our club, led by Claudia Yakos, are putting lots of time and effort into making this a great event. Thank you for all who are adding a special Forest Grove touch to the district conference.

Around Rotary International
Rotary Webinar – DEI Series: Rotary International is offering a Zoom webinar on April 29 on Building Strong Intergenerational Relationships as part of an ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion series.

Generational diversity is one of Rotary’s competitive advantages. Few organizations span generations and build personal connections the way we do. Yet we also can find ourselves segmented by age groups and unable or unwilling to challenge our biases about people of other ages. According to a study by consulting network Deloitte, 70% of survey respondents from around the world say that leading multigenerational organizations is important or very important for their success over the next 12 to 18 months, but only 10% say they’re very ready to do so.

In this webinar, we will hear from a variety of Rotary Program participants who have built strong intergenerational relationships, and:

-Empower young leaders to act on issues they are passionate about

-Build awareness of the biases that create tension between the generations

-Recognize that everyone, no matter how old or young, has something to teach and something to learn

The webinar is free to attend but registration is required. Click Here To Register.

2021 Rotary Convention Goes Virtual: For the second straight year, the Rotary International Convention will be a virtual event. While this means, unfortunately, that Rotarians will not get together in Taipei, it does mean that any Rotarian in the world will have the chance again to experience the convention’s terrific programming.

Unlike the 2020 convention, there will be a nominal charge for the 2021 virtual convention. Event registration will open in mid-April and will include a promotional fee of $49 for 21 days, with an increase afterward to $65. The cost of each preconvention event is $20. Both the convention and preconvention events include access to the online House of Friendship.

More information will be posted soon at convention.rotary.org.

Last Week’s Program: Brian Monihan, The Future Of Local Newspapers

Click View To View The Complete Program

Brian Monihan, vice president of Pamplin Media Group and the owners of the Forest Grove News-Times, joined us on Wednesday. Brian, a member of the Rotary Club of Lake Oswego, presented on The Future of Local Newspapers.

Brian is no stranger to Forest Grove. He started his newspaper career with the News-Times and was the paper’s publisher from 1991 to 2001. He credits Forest Grove with truly shaping his career and made specific mention of a number of Rotarians who helped him along in his journey.

A big topic of discussion these days is what is the media’s role in the community? When asked about that, he has to remind people that many people still read newspapers. Pamplin Media is the largest printer of newspapers in the state. The goal of the group is to provide news through as many sources as possible.

How does the media serve the community? It’s really about community service and finding ways to serve the community. Part of that role is being a community watchdog and holding elected officials accountable. It is also about celebrating community milestones, such as graduations and state championships. It is also about promoting local events, such as the Concours d’Elegance. The local is also about being a community cheerleader through such avenues as shop local campaigns. It is what unites a community.

The media also serves the community be presenting a community’s living history. The Forest Grove News-Times has been around for 135 years. A former Rotarian, Hugh McGilvra, was the publisher for nearly 60 years. You can pull any issue of the News-Times and it will provide a snapshot of what has happening in the community at any one time.

One thing that is making the media industry harder is that there are so many sources to get news and information online. With more choices for local media, it weakens the local media or causes it to go away. It hurts the tried and true traditional media. Major dailies such as the Eugene Register-Guard, The Oregonian and the Bend Bulletin have also seen staff and production slashed due to a combination of reduced ad revenue and COVID impacts.

Brian went through the evolution of local papers in the area, which included The Oregonian’s purchase and eventual closure of the Hillsboro Argus and the purchase by Dr. Robert Pamplin, Jr., of Community Newspapers, which owned the News-Times, and other small local papers to form the Pamplin Media Group. Since then, The Oregonian has shifted to a digital first approach, changed the size of the paper to a subway size and reduced the number of print dates.

Community newspapers continue to form much of the landscape of the newspaper industry. Community newspapers, including non-dailies, small to mid-sized dailies and ethnic newspapers, account for over 90 percent of the industry.

What happens if the News-Times goes out of business? Who will report on what happens at city hall and with the school board? Who will publicize hometown heroes and celebrate local accomplishments? If they can do a better job of telling the local story, it makes the community stronger. Researchers from the Univ. of Chicago and Notre Dame in 2018 found that when a local newspaper closes, municipal borrowing costs, and therefore local taxes, go up. The study finds that “lenders depend on local reporting to judge the value of government projects.” Additionally, a weakened media cannot serve as effectively as the community watchdog as in the past. Communities have a greater likelihood of being victims of corruption. Communities also become more polarized without the presence of a robust local media.

Club Calendar
Wed., Apr. 14: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Virginia Ohler, West Tuality Habitat for Humanity

Thurs., April 15: Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Blackdog Bar & Grill, 2835 19th Ave., Forest Grove

Wed., Apr. 21: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Gale Castillo, Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber

Wednesday, Apr. 28: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Dr. Jim Moore, President Biden’s First 100 Days