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

Steak Feed – Thank You!: We did it! Thank you to all of you who helped make our 64th annual Rotary Steak Feed a success! Despite the rainy weather, we had a steady line of customers throughout the three hours of the event and a lot of satisfied diners. More about the financial success of the event, which directly benefits our involvement in the Rotary Youth Exchange program, will be available in the coming weeks.

A big thank you to the Steak Feed chair, Geoff Faris, for all of his hard work to make the event run smoothly after a three-year absence. A special thank you as well to the staff at Bon Appétit and Pacific University for their assistance.

You can views photos from the Steak Feed, taken by our own Hector Mendez-Colberg, on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

End Of Year Celebration: For the first time in three years, we will gather as a club for a special evening of celebrating the Rotary Year. This year’s Rotary End of Year President’s Celebration will take place on Wed., June 22, 6-8 p.m., at Prime Time, 4450 Pacific Ave. The dinner will be at Prime Time and consist of roast sirloin, lemon herbed roasted chicken, cheese tortellini with vegetables, salad, sides, and bread rolls. Meals are $30 per person and family and friends are welcome!

Since this is our first year-end celebration in three years, we will be getting together to not only acknowledge all that we have accomplished this year but to also honor our two immediate past presidents who, because of COVID, we were unable to acknowledge in person.

Please RSVP at the following the link below before Sunday, June 19: http://evite.me/UUukB6Q6YG. There will be no noon meeting on June 22.

Memorial Service For Jerry Hoerber: A celebration of life service for our friend and fellow Rotarian, Jerry Hoerber, has been scheduled for Saturday, June 18, 1 p.m., at the Forest Grove United Methodist Church, 1726 Cedar Street. Jerry was a member of our club for 33 years and passed away on January 13.

Service Opportunities For Club Members
B Street Cleanup: Tim Orr is working with the Forest Grove Foundation on the coordination of cleanup of a homeless campsite along Gales Creek and B Street (near the recently demolished City of Forest Grove Light & Power building). The cleanup will take place on Saturday, July 9. The group would like to have an additional 10 people to assist with the effort.

If you are interested, please contact Tim at 503-702-5773 or timothyd47@yahoo.com.

Summer Meals Program: Volunteers are needed to assist with the Forest Grove School District’s Summer Meals program, which runs from June 20 to August 26. Meals are served to kids Monday through Friday from 12 to 12:30 p.m. at a variety of locations, including Rogers Park, Lincoln Park, Bard Park and the Rose Grove Mobile Home Park.

Each site needs three volunteers each day: one that can pick up meals from one of the base kitchens at a local school and two others to help serve the meals. At last one of the volunteers each day needs to have an Oregon food handlers permit. Our own Parri Van Dyke will be assisting at Rogers Park on Tuesday.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Kelly Daily at kelly.daily@comcast.net.

Concours Update: We are under two months away from the 2022 Concours d’Elegance. Our annual car show, which raises funds for our club’s Scholarship Program, will take place on Sunday, July 17, on the campus of Pacific University. This year’s theme is a celebration of Jaguar. In addition, the show will showcase a salute to British Excellence with feature classes for MG, Triumph and Lotus.

Here are a few updates from the Concours committee:

Registration: Registration for this year’s Concours is now open. Let’s get as many cars out on the show field to help celebrate our return! There is a suggested entry donation of $25 per car. More details on entry classes and the registration link can be found at https://forestgroveconcours.org/enter.

Sponsorships: Tim Pearson has a goal of 100 sponsors for the show. “That’s going to be a stretch but I think it is doable,” Tim said, but he needs the help of club members to make it happen. A copy of the sponsorship flyer is Linked Here. If you have sponsorship questions or a lead, please contact Tim at 503-998-8616 or TimPearsonPC@gmail.com. The deadline for advertising in the event program is this week!

Vineyard Concert: The Concours weekend will begin this year with “The Celebration of our Senses,” a vineyard, dinner and beverage tasting event that will take place on Friday, July 15 at Elk Cove Vineyard. BossaPDX, a dynamic Brazilian jazz and bossa nova group, will provide the concert entertainment.

Tickets are $90 per person and limited to 200 people. Tickets include the concert, dinner and beverage tastings. Additional beverages will be available for purchase.

Other Events: The rest of the weekend’s events include the vineyard tour on Saturday, July 16, the Evening Of Elegance dinner on Saturday night and, of course, the show on Sunday, July 16.

For more information on the show, visit forestgroveconcours.org, or contact show chairman Ryan Garcia at rypgarcia@gmail.com.

As our club’s primary fundraiser for the year, the Concours is an “all hands on deck” event with all club members expected to volunteer.

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 will be included with quarterly billings that will be coming to your mailbox or email inbox.

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 4-5:30 p.m. The pantry is now open in its new site in the building along Nichols Lane between the football field and the Basinski Center.

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
District 5100 Rotary Foundation Update: An update on our District Grant for Emergency Ukraine Refuge Aid through the Polish Rotary Club of Biala Podlaska. At
last count, donations from 44 Rotary clubs from District 5100 with District Grant matching funds of $29,085 totaled more than $145,000. Many thanks to Rotarian Kris Akins and the Rotary Club of Portland Metropolitan for driving this District Grant. A second trip is planned in the fall to deliver the balance of funds.

What Can Your $100 Contribution to The Rotary Foundation Do?
Your $100 contribution to The Rotary Foundation can help provide textbooks for one elementary school in Zambia, provide a hearing aid for a deaf child in Pakistan, buy de-worming tablets for 112 children in the Philippines, pay for cataract operations for three blind people in India, or provide 230 blankets for the elderly in the winter months of Korea. Will you commit today to donating $100 or more per year to The Rotary Foundation and start making a difference in people’s lives.

Thank you for your continued support of The Rotary Foundation.

Around Rotary International
Creating Lasting, Positive Change: As part of the recent Rotary International Convention in Houston, RI General Secretary John Hewko provided his annual presentation on Rotary’s work over the last year and how members have responded to not only the continuing COVID-19 pandemic but so many other things.

John’s opening remarks are here. We encourage you to read his full report on the Rotary International Website.

When we started this Rotary year on 1 July 2021, we were focused on COVID-19, in particular on increasing access to vaccinations. We may not have expected that nearly a year later, we’d still be living through the pandemic, as well as facing humanitarian crises, a war in Ukraine, and environmental disasters.

In response, our members have taken action and connected with each other and with our communities to make the world a better place. And the staff of Rotary International has assisted at every step, providing resources, tools, and support to help us increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and better adapt to the changing world around us.

We’re about to announce the recipient of our second Programs of Scale grant. We continue our commitment to creating environments where peace can flourish. We introduced a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Code of Conduct and supported clubs as they adopted innovative models that can adapt to the needs of current and future members. And support for The Rotary Foundation remains strong, thanks to our generous donors and successful events like World Polio Day, World Immunization Week, and Giving Tuesday.

People of action are needed as never before. I’m grateful we have 1.4 million change-makers who are ready to make a difference.

Last Week’s Program: Sharon Olmstead, Rotary Scholarship Program

Click Here To Watch The Full Program

Wednesday’s meeting provided our club a chance to honor our 2022 Rotary Club of Scholarship winners. A total of 13 graduating seniors from Forest Grove, Banks and Gaston high schools were awarded a total of $8,500 worth of scholarships. Five of those recipients joined us at our meeting.

Watch Recipient Introductions
Read The Scholarship Award Announcement

As part of the presentation, Scholarship Committee chair Sharon Olmstead provided a historical overview of the program and where the program stands emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The scholarship program has existed since the club began the Concours d’Elegance in 1972. While guidelines have changed from year to year, the intent of the program has always been to help pay tuition for local students to attain a higher education.

• The primary beneficiary of proceeds from the Concours is the scholarship program. While the percentages have changed over the years, today 40 percent of the amount raised for scholarships each year goes to students attending Pacific University. The other 60 percent goes to students attending other colleges.

• Eligible students must reside in the Forest Grove, Banks and Gaston high school attendance areas. The program is inclusive of students attending private high schools or being homeschooled provided they reside within district boundaries.

• In 2017, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove began an endowed scholarship program at Pacific University in addition to the funds distributed annually. The purpose of the endowed scholarship is to perpetually provide funds to local students who intend to attend Pacific University. At the end of 2020, the endowed scholarship was worth over $32,000.

• In 2022, there were 33 applications for the Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarship program. This is up from the 14 applicants in 2021. Of the 33, 29 applicants attended Forest Grove High School, three attended Banks High School and one attended Gaston High School. One will attend Pacific University. From those 33 applications, 13 received scholarships in amounts varying from $250 to $1,000.

Club Calendar
Wed., June 15: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Karine Kadyan, Washington County Parks

Thurs., June 16: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
Via Zoom

Wed., June 23: End Of Year President’s Celebration, 6 p.m.
Prime Time, 4450 Pacific Ave.
   No Noon Meeting On June 23

Wed., June 29: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Ryan Garcia, Concours d’Elegance

Sun., July 17: Concours d’Elegance
Pacific University Campus