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

Mobility Assistance: If you have mobility issues and would like assistance on the Pacific University campus to get to and from parking areas to our meeting location, please contact Amy Tracewell at 541-844-9467 or amy.tracewell@pacificu.edu at least one day before our scheduled meeting. She will work to make sure you can make it to the University Center. Please give one day’s notice for assistance.

Wreath Sales Underway: We have started our annual wreath sale, which will benefit our club’s many community service outreaches. We will have 20-inch wreaths available for $30 and 28-inch wreaths available for $40. The wreaths will be produced locally by Fischer Greens, owned and operated by Rotarian Melinda Fischer.

Orders are due on Friday, Nov. 4 with wreaths delivered on Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26.

Rotarians: Please get out and sell to your family and friends! Orders can be submitted to President Janet.

Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting: This month’s Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting will take place this Thursday, Oct. 20, at Casa Lola Kitchen de Mexico, 148 N. 20th Ave., Cornelius. As part of the meeting, there will be discussion about a service opportunity coming up later in the month. If you plan on attending, please contact Melinda Fischer.

McDougall Garden Party: Even though it still feels more like summer than fall, it is time to do the fall cleanup on our McDougall Garden (located near the big flagpole between Pacific and 19th Avenues). We will have a cleanup party this Saturday morning, at 9 a.m. Many hands make for quick work! For more information, please contact Geoff Faris.

Road Cleanup: We had an exceptional turnout for our semiannual clean-up of Gales Creek and Thatcher Roads. The effort took just 90 minutes thanks to the 11 Rotarians and friends and 10 Pacific University Rotaractors that showed up! Thank you to Rotarians and friends Tim Orr, Bryce Baker, Jim Crisp, Cari Atzen, Greg Nemchick, Janet Peters, Rus Peters, Piper Stewart, Pamelajean Myers and Seth Berdahl. We also thank Rotaractors Elvis Amaro, Sophia Otshlea, Logan Miyasaki, Jillian Nguyen, Lindsey Boluug, Amber Victoria Paguirigan, Valentina Casac-Klescova, Grace Herr, Maile Andrada and Blessie Corotan.

And, of course, a big thank you to Andrea Stewart and Paul Waterstreet for coordinating this longtime volunteer effort for the club!

Blue Badges Earned: Our congratulations to Evelyn & Tim Orr, who have earned their Blue Badges, signifying that they have completed all of the required new member items to become full members in good standing. Those requirements included obtaining 20 signatures in their Red Badge to Blue Badge books, serving as a greeter at a meeting and attending a New Member Orientation meeting.

Paul Harris Fellow Award: It was the goal of our late friend and Rotarian, Jerry Hoerber, to present a Paul Harris Fellow to each of his children and their spouses. At our Oct. 5 meeting, we were able to make a special Paul Harris Fellow presentation to John Waglarz. John is the husband of Jerry’s daughter, Lynn, to make this dream a reality.

Accepting the Paul Harris Fellow on behalf of John was Lynn, who was present with her mother and Jerry’s wife, Margaret. We are grateful that we all were able to see this part of Jerry’s Rotary dreams become reality.

Concours Update: The Concours Committee has given the green light to go ahead with another concert event linked to the annual show. The concert is tentatively scheduled for Friday, July 14 with the Concours taking place on Sunday, July 16. If you are interested in helping plan and execute the concert event, please contact Court Carrier.

Youth Exchange Updates – Host Families Still Needed: For the first time since 2020, our involvement in Youth Exchange is back! Our outbound exchange student, Blue Barbour-Weiss, will leave for Ecuador on Aug. 25. We wish her all of the best on her journey this year!

Our inbound exchange student, Juan, arrived from Ecuador on Aug. 20. For the first four months of his exchange, Juan will stay with the Barbour-Weiss family. We will hear from Juan and learn more about him during our meeting on Wed., Nov. 9.

Host families are still needed that can host Juan during the winter (December through March) and the spring (March through June). If your family is interested, and for information on the requirements for hosting, please contact Youth Exchange Committee chair Melinda Fischer.

Additionally, our outbound student for the 2022-23 Rotary year has been selected! We will have information on our new outbound in a future issue.

Steaks Still Available: We still have packs of steaks available for purchase left over from June’s Steak Feed. The packs of two raw choice steaks from Columbia Empire Farms are available for $20 per pack. If you are interested, please contact President Janet.

New Member Orientations: Our club held the first of four scheduled new member orientation sessions on Wednesday, September 7, ahead of the club’s potluck social. The other orientations are scheduled for December 7, March 1 and June 1. Watch the Rototeller for times and locations. All Rotarians are welcome to take part. If you know of someone who you believe might be interested in joining us, this is a perfect opportunity to introduce them to our club.

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.

Service Opportunities For Club Members
Holiday In The Grove: The City Club of Forest Grove has approached our club asking if we might be willing to conduct an activity as part of the annual Holiday in the Grove celebration on Saturday, Dec. 3. If you are interested in leading this for the club, please let President Janet know.

There are also volunteer opportunities that will be available both during the daytime event and the Holiday Light Parade that evening. You can up for a volunteer shift by Clicking Here.

Additionally, President Janet is gauging if there is interest in the club putting a float in this year’s Holiday Light Parade. If you are interested in spearheading this for the club, please let her know.

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 4-6 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.

Around District 5100
Imagine Rotary Raffle To End Polio: In January, Rotary International President Jennifer Jones sent a package to each district governor-elect with some important Rotary information and a little Rotary swag. Also included was a signed print of an original painting by her brother, Darren Jones, an accomplished artist in the Chicago area. With the print came a request to use the print to help raise funds to help Rotary finish the fight to end polio.

District 5100 has decided to have a raffle for the print. Tickets are $21.55 each ($20 per ticket plus a $1.55 handling charge. We are limited by the state of Oregon to sell only 464 tickets. When all are sold, the district will be able to donate $9,280 towards Rotary’s flight to End Polio.

The raffle drawing will be held on Oct. 27 at 12:50 p.m., during the week of World Polio Day. Anyone who purchases a ticket will receive a Zoom link to witness the drawing. The district will continue to sell tickets until all are sold out or on Oct. 27 at 12:45 p.m., whichever comes first.

For details and to purchase your raffle tickets, visit https://myevent.com/imaginerotaryraffle.

District 5100 Newsletter: Click Here To View The Monthly District 5100 Newsletter

Around Rotary International
District 6960 Hurricane Ian Relief Fund: Hurricane Ian caused significant damage to property and loss of life to many in Florida. District 6960 has established a relief fund for those wanting to support the work of Rotary clubs in that district working to deal with the devastation to their area.

Much like the wildfires of 2020 that ravaged parts of District 5100, donations of time and money by Rotarians can truly make a difference in the recovery from this storm.

For more information, or to make a donation, visit rotaryfl.org.

Rotarian Anton Zeilinger Wins Nobel Prize in Physics: Anton Zeilinger, a member of the Rotary Club of Wien-West in Austria, was among three physicists who were announced as the winners of the Nobel Prize in physics on 4 October for their experiments in quantum mechanics. Their research laid the groundwork for rapidly developing new applications in computing and cryptography.

Zeilinger, a professor at the University of Vienna, shared the award with French physicist Alain Aspect and U.S. physicist John F. Clauser. Their experiments explored quantum entanglement, a phenomenon that occurs when two particles behave as a single unit, even when separated. The three scientists will share the prize of nearly US$900,000.

“I’m still kind of shocked, but it’s a very positive shock,” Zeilinger told reporters in Stockholm, Sweden, shortly after learning that he won. “I was actually very surprised to get the call.”

He also acknowledged the contributions of more than 100 students who had worked for him over the years. He advised young people, “Do what you find interesting, and don’t care too much about possible applications.”

The Nobel Prizes are announced every October and November by committees in Sweden and Norway for groundbreaking contributions in chemistry, economic sciences, literature, peace work, physics, and physiology or medicine. In December, Zeilinger and the other laureates will accept their award in Stockholm.

Zeilinger has been a Rotary member since 2001.

Last Week’s Program: Rise To Shine Education Foundation

NOTE: Due to technical issues, we were unable to have our program with Rise To Shine Education Foundation on Wednesday. We are presenting some of the PowerPoint presentation here and we hope to try again with this program later in the Rotary year.

Emily Bakitah of Rise To Shine Education Foundation and Larry Strobel of the Rotary Club of Newberg worked together to provide the presentation about the history of the foundation and its goals.

The Rise To Shine Education Foundation was founded out of Emily’s experience trying to continue her education in Kenya. When her mother passed away in 2000, Emily’s older sister took on the role of providing for her family while Emily supported her by helping with the younger siblings. At some point, the girls dropped out of school because they could not raise the money to pay the small fees that were required.

Having come from a community where women and young girls depended greatly on ‘sex to fish’ to earn money, Emily dodged the bullet when her family caught the attention of a local Catholic priest, who offered to sponsor Emily to attend a boarding school. Following her secondary school years, Emily’s uncle paid for her to attend Strathmore University in Nairobi. She has earned a degree in commerce, done CPA studies and is working towards her master’s degree in public policy and management.

Emily founded Rise To Shine Education to support needy and vulnerable children in accessing quality education for a brighter future. Since its founding in 2012, Rise To Shine has helped over 500 children achieve the goal of attending school by providing scholarships.

Secondary education in Kenya is not provided by the government and attending a secondary school requires tuition. Rise To Shine identifies the neediest children and uses as much funds as possible to help as many children as possible, regardless of gender, race, religion, culture or ethnic background. Approximately 40 percent of the students supported by Rise To Shine are girls.

By providing this education, Rise To Shine mentors children to empower and transform their lives. It also helps those children heal their scars and encourages those children to become role models, global leaders and to inspire future generations.

It costs US$600 per year to sponsor a child. In order to create a sustainable model where children have the confidence that they will be returning to school without having their studies interrupted or delayed, they seek to get a four-year guarantee of sponsorship for a child.

To learn more about the program, visit rtsef.org.

Club Calendar
Wed., Oct. 19: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Jeannine Murrell, Rotary District 5100

Thurs., Oct. 20: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
Via Zoom

Thurs., Oct. 20: Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Casa Lola Kitchen de Mexico, 148 N. 20th Ave., Cornelius

Sat., Oct. 22: McDougall Garden Cleanup Party, 9 a.m.
McDougall Garden, between Pacific and 19th Avenues, Near Big Flagpole

Wed., Oct. 26: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Joe Kurmaskie, Washington County Bikes