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

In-Person Meetings!: Our club is beginning the process of moving from the Zoom meetings that we have known since March 2020 to meeting in-person. It has been a long wait and we are looking forward to seeing everyone face-to-face again!

This week’s Rotary Club of Forest Grove will be this Wednesday as we meet for our annual golf tournament at Sunset Grove Golf Course. The barbeque lunch and short program will begin at noon. Golf will begin at 1 p.m. RSVPs were due to Tim Schauermann last Wednesday. If you have additional questions, please contact Tim.

Our next in-person meeting will be on Wednesday, August 18, when we will have the first of our combined evening meetings with the noon club and the satellite club. The meeting will take place at the home of Pete & Parri Van Dyke, 1336 Rosearden Drive, and will begin at 6:30 p.m. The Van Dykes will provide pulled pork and other members are asked to bring a side dish or dessert. The program will be our president, Bryce Baker, who will talk about his journey through Rotary and our goals and visions for the 2021-22 Rotary Year.

The location of our August 25 and September 1 meetings is yet to be determined. It is the intent of the club to start regularly in person at Pacific University in September. The club is also looking into how to make the meetings hybrid, allowing people to continue to attend online. Details on the hybrid aspect of the meetings is forthcoming.

More Golf Tournament: If you are participating in the golf portion of Wednesday’s meetings, there will be string to purchase with the proceeds benefitting The Rotary Foundation. The more string you buy, the better chance your team has to win. And, if you haven’t heard, the Daybreak Club will be sending a team to the tournament for a little friendly competition between local Rotary clubs. So come on out, have some fun, and let’s not let Daybreak beat us!

Classics On Main: Thank you to all Rotarians who came out to support the Concours Classics On Main event on Sunday, July 18. The participants were quite pleased with the event, which featured nearly 60 classic cars along Main Street and 21st Avenue. A number of cars left Forest Grove around 10:30 a.m. and toured to Salem and the Brothers Museum. According to Jim Crisp, it looks like the event netted approximately $3,500. Thank you all!

Online Dues Payments: Our club is now equipped to take dues payments online! We can now process credit card or debit card payments for quarterly dues. Information on how to pay online was sent out with the quarterly billing that went out earlier in July.

With the transition to billing with Quickbooks, some members may not have received their quarterly invoice. If you did not, please contact treasurer Lucas Welliver.

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. Our club is currently contributing $1,000 per month of toiletry items, cleaning supplies and feminine hygiene products.

Distribution events for these items take place on the first Monday of each month. If you are interested in assisting with the next distribution event, please contact President Julia or Michael Yakos.

The Food Pantry is open on Mondays from 2- 4 p.m. Donations are accepted on-site on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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.

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.

Rotary Phone Tree: Keep up the good work on the Rotary phone tree, helping to check in our members and keep them up to date on the happenings in the club. If you have questions about the phone tree, 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.

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 are archived on our club’s YouTube page. Visit https://bit.ly/fgrotaryprograms.

Around District 5100
Save The Date: District 5100 Rotary One Conference: Mark your calendars for May 19-22 as District 5100 will present its first combined Spring Training Event and annual conference in Seaside. The combined conference will provide Rotary training opportunities, inspirational speakers and a celebration of what is hoped to be a great year in District 5100.

Rotary Essential Enrichment Learning Update (by Barb Jones): Welcome to a new Rotary year and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. By way of introduction, I am Barb Jones, immediate past president of the Tigard Breakfast Club in District 5100 and with quick succession the new chairperson for the ROTARY ESSENTIAL ENRICHMENT LEARNING (R.E.E.L.) program.

I am taking over the reins from Rob Sachs who has skillfully guided this program for our district. Effective July 1, 2021 Rob is now the Assistant Governor for the Columbia River Region and will continue as a member of our District 5100 Learning & Development Committee. I have big shoes to fill but am so excited to have the opportunity to work with District 5100 Rotarians to help them envision their leadership development through this exceptional online learning program.

I enrolled in the R.E.E.L. Course Plan not long after its inception in October 2019. As president-elect, I was looking for ways to increase my Rotary knowledge prior to my year leading my club. I read an article in the District 5100 monthly online newsletter about this new leadership development program. I signed onto My Rotary account and was able to enroll, complete, and track the 11 Basic and at least one Elective/Leadership R.E.E.L. courses, in my case the President Elect course.

My goal was to complete the courses prior to attending the President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) in Seattle in February 2020. I found the courses to be structured into short modules, which I could easily do in the evenings and on the weekends as my time allowed. I was able to complete the courses and when I did attend PETS I felt so much better prepared since I had covered many of the topics in my online training through the R.E.E.L. Course Plan. I was also able to download many current Rotary resources, which were very beneficial in my year of leadership with my club.

While other Rotary Districts direct their members to enroll in courses from the My Learning Center, only District 5100 (at this time) has the support of Rotary International staff to embed our structured R.E.E.L. Course Plan into every District 5100 Rotarians’ MY LEARNING – My Dashboard.

As a standardized program, R.E.E.L. introduces new and long-time Rotarians and Rotaractors to the basics of Rotary and many other areas of interest. R.E.E.L. is also beneficial to current and potential club officers and club committee members to envision the possibilities and opportunities to participate in service above self. As I become more familiar with my new position I will be offering my availability to work with your club and assistant governor on how to access R.E.E.L. and track one’s progress toward completion.

Around Rotary International
2023-24 Rotary International President-Nominee Selected: Gordon R. McInally, a member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2023-24. He will be declared the president-nominee on 1 October if no challenging candidates have been suggested.

McInally lauded Rotary’s ability to adapt technologically during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the approach should continue and be combined with the best of our past practices as Rotary seeks to grow and increase engagement.

“We have learned there is a willingness within communities to care for one another,” he says, “and we must ensure that we encourage people who have recently embraced the concept of volunteering to join us to allow them to continue giving service.”

McInally says that senior leaders’ ability to communicate directly with club members online will be one positive legacy of the changes Rotary has had to make. But, he adds, “face-to-face meetings remain important, as they encourage greater interaction.”

The best way to increase membership is engagement, according to McInally. To better support clubs, he says, Rotary International, regional leaders, and district teams all need to engage with them. Engagement through social media will reinforce Rotary’s brand and showcase the opportunities that come with it. And, he says, engagement with governments, corporations, and other organizations will lead to meaningful partnerships.

With better engagement, McInally says, “We will grow Rotary both by way of membership and in our ability to provide meaningful service.”

He adds, “Membership is the lifeblood of our organization. I would encourage the use of the flexibility now available to establish new-style clubs that would appeal to a different demographic.”

McInally, a graduate of dental surgery at the University of Dundee, owned and operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh. He was the chair of the British Paedodontic Society and has held various academic positions. He has also served as a Presbytery elder, chair of Queensferry Parish Congregational Board, and commissioner to the church’s general assembly.

A Rotary member since 1984, McInally has been president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. He has also served Rotary International as a director and as member or chair of several committees. He is currently an adviser to the 2022 Houston Convention Committee and vice chair of the Operations Review Committee.

McInally and his wife, Heather, are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation. They are also members of the Bequest Society.

To learn more about McInally, read his interview and vision statement, which outline his goals for Rotary.

Last Week’s Program: Narce Rodriguez, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Click Here To Watch The Complete Program

At Wednesday’s Zoom meeting, we were happy to welcome Narce Rodriguez, the vice president for student affairs and the chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer for Pacific University. She joined the club to have a discussion on the DEI efforts taking place within our club.

Rodriguez has been involved with higher education for 30 years. Prior to coming to Pacific, she served 15 years at Portland Community College as the dean of student development. She is a member of Forest Grove School District board and has recently been appointed as a member of the Oregon School Boards Association.

Rodriguez was made aware of our club’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee with a goal of educating members further on DEI issues. She was asked to bring her personal and professional point of view. She is curious about what the club needs and wants in terms of DEI topics.

Diversity begins with engaging with each other. We are all in a different space with different knowledge and understanding about the meaning of diversity. Where are we in terms of DEI and where do we want to go?

She wondered what Rotary clubs are doing both locally and nationally to further DEI. She was excited about our club’s longevity and what they touch in the community. She noticed that other Rotary Clubs have a DEI statement explaining their club’s stance on DEI issues. Where are we at? Where do we want to go?

Diversity work is about cultural humility, Rodriguez said. It is practicing diversity in our everyday lives. Rodriguez said she has a lot to learn about diversity, especially in terms of the LGBTQ+ community. It is okay to admit that you will mess up. As we learn more about diversity, we need room to educate and learn.

Rodriguez discussed a couple of ideas of tying community involvement to holidays promoting service. The state of Oregon recognized Juneteenth as a holiday at the same time it was recognized as a federal holiday. When she came to Pacific, she talked with others about what the university was going to do to recognize the holiday. MLK Day. Find ways to partner with Pacific to develop service opportunities on MLK Day for community work.

The presentation switched to a conversation about what the Rotary Club of Forest Grove is interested in and feels like it needs in terms of DEI. As president, Bryce Baker feels it should be a priority to make the club look and feel more like the community it is in. What changes can we make to encourage more diverse membership.

Club Calendar
All Meetings Are On Zoom Unless Noted

Wed., Aug. 11: Weekly Meeting & Golf Tournament, Noon
Sunset Grove Golf Course, 41615 NW Osterman Rd., Forest Grove

Thurs., Aug, 12: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.

Wed., Aug. 18: Joint Noon Club/Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Home of Pete & Parri Van Dyke, 1336 Rosearden Dr.

Wed., Aug. 25: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Location TBD
Program: Mark Kittelson, Hagg Lake

Wed., Sept. 1: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Location TBD
Program To Be Announced