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

Service Opportunity With Habitat For Humanity: Our club has a service opportunity coming up with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity helping to do site preparation on the organization’s newest build site on 23rd Avenue between D and E Streets. The event will take place on Saturday, September 25, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

We would like to have as many Rotarians as possible take part in this service opportunity. If you would like to attend, please contact President Bryce.

Caused-Based Satellite Club: The charter ceremony for the new cause-based satellite club, scheduled for this coming Sunday, has been postponed. A new date will be announced soon. More information on this new component of our club, and its international service project with Gardens of Hope during our club’s weekly meeting on Wednesday, September 29.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Survey: Members are asked over the next couple of weeks to take our club’s annual diversity, equity and inclusion survey. The survey is designed to help better understand the club’s perspectives about these issues. We hope to use the aggregated data to compare to last year’s survey and to help our club further develop. We hope to have as many club members as possible complete the survey by the end of September.

Click Here To Take The Survey

Forest Grove High School Football Pictures: With the long-awaited return of high school football, our club is again sponsoring photos of Forest Grove High School senior players to be displayed at local businesses. The photos are designed to be displayed for the season at which time they will be given to the seniors and their families.

The club is still looking for 12 sponsors who buy a photo and have it displayed in their business. If you are interested in participating, please contact Lucas Welliver.

A Note On Zoom Meetings: With the ongoing surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19 I have made the decision to move our meetings back to Zoom for the time being.

This isn’t the decision I wanted to make. I would love nothing more than to return to normal with all of you, singing, embracing, and eating together. But the world is not ready for normal yet. Delta spreads so much more easily than past variants, and this last week we’ve had a higher number of cases in our community than ever before. Masks are being required even for outdoor events and the CDC is recommending against all large gatherings. We must do our part to halt the spread further and keep our community members as safe as possible. Club leadership will continue to monitor the situation, and we will reinstate our in-person meetings again as soon as it is safe to do so.

As always I appreciate your feedback and questions, and I look forward to seeing you at our home away from home on Zoom this Wednesday.

Yours in Rotary Service,
Bryce Baker

Rotaract Liaison Needed: The club is looking for a member that could act as our liaison with the Pacific University Rotaract Club. If you are interested or would like to learn more about the role, please contact President Bryce.

ShelterBox HERO Club: Once again, our club has been recognized by ShelterBox USA as a ShelterBox Bronze Level HERO Club! The recognition signifies our club’s continued commitment to donate $1,000 per year to ShelterBox over a three-year period. We are truly grateful for the commitment of our members to continue to give to ShelterBox’s ongoing disaster relief efforts all over the world.

ShelterBox is an official Rotary partner. You can learn more about what the organization is doing around the world by Visiting The ShelterBox Website. Our own ShelterBox ambassadors, Jeannine Murrell and Pamelajean Myers, gave a program to the club on the organization in June, which can be Viewed Here.

Online Dues Payments: Our club is now equipped to process 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.

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.

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
That’s My Jam On Facebook Live: For an in-depth on some of latest taking place in District 5100, watch the “That’s My Jam Live” video on the District 5100 Facebook. District Governor Jim Boyle talks about what our clubs are doing. It also includes our own Jeannine Murrell! View The Video Here

If you are interested in taking part, visit the Post On The Rotary District 5100 Facebook Page and click the Interested button. You will receive a notification when the video goes live.

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.

Around Rotary International
Board Of Directors Strengthens Rotary’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statement: At its June meeting, the RI Board of Directors, with guidance from the DEI Taskforce, took additional steps to ensure our organization values and lives the principals of diversity, equity and inclusion by revisiting and strengthening Rotary’s 2019 DEI statement. The result is a new Commitment to Diversity Equity and Inclusion adopted in June 2021:

At Rotary, we understand that cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.

We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds, across age, ethnicity, race, color, disability, learning style, religion, faith, socioeconomic status, culture, marital status, languages spoken, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity as well as differences in ideas, thoughts, values, and beliefs.

Recognizing that individuals from certain groups have historically experienced barriers to membership, participation, and leadership, we commit to advancing equity in all aspects of Rotary, including in our community partnerships, so that each person has the necessary access to resources, opportunities, networks, and support to thrive.

We believe that all people hold visible and invisible qualities that inherently make them unique, and we strive to create an inclusive culture where each person knows they are valued and belong.

In line with our value of integrity, we are committed to being honest and transparent about where we are in our DEI journey as an organization, and to continuing to learn and do better.

The Board of Directors convened the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Taskforce in 2020 and tasked it with assessing the current state of DEI within Rotary and developing a comprehensive plan of action with achievable, measurable, and meaningful outcomes for Rotary. This plan is currently in development and will be presented to the Board of Directors in October 2021.

Additionally, the Board agreed to:

• Provide DEI training for incoming, current, and past RI officers
• Promote the Rotary Code of Conduct
• Establish protocols to report Code of Conduct violations

More information about these decisions, and our ongoing focus on DEI, will be available on rotary.org/dei in the coming weeks.

The Board thanks the taskforce for its ongoing commitment to creating a more just, open, and welcoming Rotary experience during this past year. The taskforce’s work is critical to the organization’s long-term success. The Board also extended the work of the DEI Taskforce through June 2023.

If you witness or experience someone acting in a way that violates Rotary’s DEI statement, email DEI.Inquiries@rotary.org.

Last Week’s Program: Andy Andrews, Living With Intentional Purpose

Click Here To View The Complete Program

At Wednesday’s monthly evening meeting, we watched a presentation given during May’s District 5100 Virtual Conference by Andy Andrews. A nationally-known motivational speaker and author, Andrews is the author of The Traveler’s Gift, The Bottom of the Pool – Thinking Beyond Your Boundaries To Achieve Extraordinary Results, The Noticer and Just Jones.

During his presentation, Andrews spoke on his life’s journey from homelessness to becoming a best-selling author. He talks about the lessons he learned along the way and how it inspired him to live with intentional purpose. He talks about “The Seven Decisions” that led him to that place.

Rather than provide you the summary of his presentation, we encourage you to watch it and be inspired!

Club Calendar
Meetings Are On Zoom Unless Noted

Wed., Sept. 22: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Mariana Valenzuela, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Sat., Sept. 23: Habitat For Humanity Service Project, 9.a.m-Noon
23rd Avenue between D and E Streets.

Wed., Sept. 29: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Claudia Yakos, ESPY Collective

Wed., Oct. 6: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Ryan Garcia’s Trip To Italy

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