The site plan for the proposed Tuality Plains Outpost was presented during our meeting at the farm of Lyle Speisschaert.

If you did not make it to our last Rotary Club of Forest Grove meeting, here is what you missed…

This Week – Golf Tournament: Our annual golf tournament (rescheduled from August) will take place next week this Wednesday at the Sunset Grove Golf Course, 41615 NW Osterman Rd., Forest Grove. Join us at noon for a barbeque lunch and our regular weekly meeting. The golf portion of the day, complete with all of Tim Schauermann’s unique rules and hijinks, will commence at 1 p.m.

If you are playing in the tournament, do not forget to bring plenty of cash for string. The more string you buy, the more yardage you can shorten off your holes and the better the chance to win and receive some “fabulous” prizes. All proceeds from the tournament will benefit The Rotary Foundation.

October Meetings: Our weekly meetings during the month of October will take place in the Fellowship Hall of the Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way, across the street from Pacific University.

Oktoberfest: Thank you to Rotarians Dallas Roark, Nataliah Colbert and Cole Thursam for putting together and running our carnival booth at Saturday’s Forest Grove Oktoberfest. The booth featured a rock, paper and scissors contest with entrants donating to one of three club service outreaches.

Road Cleanup – Oct. 14: Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 14 for our semi-annual road cleanup service project. The project will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Oregon Department of Forestry offices, 801 Gales Creek Road. The cleanup project involves our adopted road segments as part of Washington County’s Adopt-A-Road Program: Gales Creek Road from Thatcher Road to Forest Gale Drive and Thatcher Road from Gales Creek Road to David Hill Road.

October 14 is also Pacific University homecoming weekend! Rotarians (and friends) who participate in the cleanup will receive a general admission ticket to that day’s football game between Pacific and Lewis & Clark (kickoff at 4 p.m.). For more information or questions about the road cleanup, please contact Andrea Stewart.

Maui Wildlife Relief – Your Help Is Needed: August 9, 2023 was a tragic day for Rotarians, families and friends on the Island of Maui. The fires across the island have changed lives forever. Our sympathy, thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted.

As people of action, we can take immediate action. As we come together to recover and rebuild, we need to support each other. We need to Create Hope for Maui.

Through our Rotary District 5000 Foundation, a relief fund has been established. Foundation President Dave Hamil and Treasurer Sharon Amano will handle all donations. The Rotary District 5000 Foundation is a 501c3 organization and all donations are considered charitable.

A committee will be organized shortly to find the greatest needs for distribution of monies. Monies will be used to make the largest impact based on needs and will be sustainable. A single fund will be the most helpful over time to provide the greatest significant benefits.

Please consider donating to this special fund. Click Here To Donate To The Rotary District 5000 Foundation Maui Fire Relief Fund.

Stay safe, take care and mahalo as we Create Hope for Maui.

Mark Merriam
Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu
District Governor, Rotary District 5000

Concours d’Elegance Committee: If you are interested in getting further involved with the Concours d’Elegance, our annual car show, the steering committee is always looking for volunteers to prepare for the show throughout the year. For more information, contact Tom Raabe at 503-704-1200 or rotarytomr@gmail.com or Geoff Johnston at 503-939-7868 or gamsma@comcast.net.

Fun Run For Family Justice Center: The Family Justice Center of Washington County, which presented to our club earlier in 2023, is holding a fundraising Run For Hope on Sunday, Oct. 8. The five-kilometer race will begin and end at Hare Field in Hillsboro. The run and walk is free of charge but donations are suggested to help the center’s charge to serve survivors of domestic violence in our community. For more information or to register, Click Here.

Ride For Rotary: Rotary District 3181 is reaching out Rotarians for motorcycle ride/drive event in India to promote international fellowship and exchange of Rotary views. With proceeds benefitting The Rotary Foundation, the first seven editions of the ride raised over $150,000 for the foundation. This year’s event runs from Jan. 5 to 20, 2024. Registration is due by Sept. 30. To learn more or to register, visit rideforrotary.com.

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 (over 100 videos to date) are archived on our club’s YouTube page. Visit https://bit.ly/fgrotaryprograms.

Service Opportunities For Club Members
Do You Know Of Service Opportunities?: Are you aware of service opportunities in our area that our members might be interested in? We can advertise those here! This space is not limited to club-sponsored activities but to any service opportunity in the community. To promote the service activity, please send a detailed description of the project, the date and time, contact information and a link to register to Rototeller editor Blake Timm, blakertimm@gmail.com.

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.

During the summer, the Food Pantry is open Mondays from 2-3:30 p.m. The pantry will be closed on July 24 and Sept. 4. The pantry is located along Nichols Lane between the football field and the Basinski Center. Click Here for more information on the FGHS Food Pantry and on other resources for those experiencing food insecurity.

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.

Rotary Basics
The exciting world of Rotary can be a little complicated and complex. We are highlighting some of the history and function of Rotary in this Rotary Basics section. We will also present a term from our Rotary Glossary in an attempt to demystify some of the terms and acronyms that may have you wondering. Whether a new Rotarian or a veteran to the club, we hope you will find this informative.

The Rotary Foundation

The Rotary Foundation was the brainchild of Rotary International President Arch Klumph, who in 1917 proposed to the convention of the National Association of Rotary Clubs the establishment of an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” The Rotary Club of Kansas City made the first donation of $26.50. In 1928, when the foundation had grown to $5,000, was formally named and a Board of Trustees was created.

In 1930, The Rotary Foundation made its first grant of $500 to the International Society for Crippled Children, founded by Rotarian Edgar F. Allen, now known as Easter Seals.

During the 2021-22 Rotary year, The Rotary Foundation provided $110 million in grant funding to 1,885 grant programs worldwide. That includes $76.9 million in funding to nearly 1,200 Global Grants in Rotary’s seven Areas of Focus: Basic education & literacy, community economic development, disease prevention & treatment, maternal & child health, peacebuilding & conflict resolution; water, sanitation & hygiene; and protecting the environment.

Learn more about The Rotary Foundation and how your dollars work worldwide on the Rotary Website.

From The Rotary Glossary
District Grant: District grants fund small-scale, short-term activities that address needs in a club’s community and communities abroad. District grant programs are administered by each respective Rotary district and can support humanitarian projects, scholarships, youth programs, vocational training teams and more.

Around District 5100
Vibrant Club Workshop: Club leaders (and anyone looking to help Rotary grow) should mark their calendars for Saturday, Sept. 30, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m., for District 5100’s Vibrant Club Workshop. The location for Western region clubs will be the Christ United Methodist Church, 12755 NW Dogwood, Portland. Designed to help clubs grow and become more educated about Rotary, the workshop will go over foundation work, public image, membership and much more. Click Here To Register

Board Leadership Training: District 5100 is offering a board leadership seminar this fall. This training is geared towards current club officers and board members but is open to any Rotarian who is interested in club or district leadership. The training is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21, with time and location to be determined. This three-hour long training will touch on financial stewardship, club goals, action plans, management and much more.

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

Around Rotary International
Rotary To Amplify Climate Action At COP28 In Dubai: As nations unite to fight the escalating climate crisis, Rotary is stepping forward to foster dialogue, drive partnerships, and highlight community-led solutions at the 2023 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai from 30 Nov. to 12 Dec.

Set against the backdrop of a world grappling with multifaceted environmental challenges, Rotary will emphasize the importance of collaborative community-driven action and will help facilitate discussions between climate experts and key opinion leaders from across the globe.

The Rotary delegation, led by Rotary International President Gordon McInally, Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Barry Rassin, and Rotary International General Secretary and CEO John Hewko, will manage a Pavilion in the UN-managed venue. Across the two weeks, Rotary will host 28 breakout sessions aligned with the COP28 thematic days.

“We aim to bring to the fore how community-driven organizations like Rotary can catalyze positive change and effectively tackle both the causes and impacts of climate change,” said McInally. “Our legacy is not just in the projects we initiate, but in the global collaborations we foster for a healthier planet.”

McInally will share his vision of Rotary’s role in addressing global mental health challenges during a Rotary-hosted panel that will explore solutions related to the intersection of climate change and mental health.

As a testament to Rotary’s global community presence and commitment to climate action, the Association of Rotary Clubs in UAE will showcase local environmental initiatives in the venue managed by the COP28 UAE Presidency.

Across the globe, Rotary members have pioneered a multitude of community-driven solutions that address environmental challenges, from Madagascar’s reforestation projects to organic farming practices in Taiwan and the preservation of mangrove forests worldwide. The Rotary Foundation, Rotary’s charitable arm that helps clubs work together to perform meaningful and impactful service, has committed more than US$23.7 million toward sustainable, community-based environmental projects and scholarships for professionals interested in pursuing careers related to the environment.

This story was originally published on the Rotary.org website.

Last Week’s Program: Howard Sullivan & Lyle Speisschaert, Tuality Plains Outpost

Last week’s meeting was held at the farm of Lyle Spiesschaert along Thatcher Road north of Forest Grove. Lyle and Rotarian Howard Sullivan presented on a plan to turn part of the Spiesschaert property into a natural park and living history museum, tentatively named the Tuality Plains Outpost.

Howard explained the purpose behind a living history museum, which would be to provide people a chance to see what life was like in the area for the people that called the land home before current generations. The name Tuality Plains Outpost references the historic names of the area when white settlers came to the area. Forest Grove was originally called West Tualatin Plains.

The Tuality Plains Outpost would occupy 28 acres of the Speisschaert property with a public entrance along Doubletree Street through neighborhoods on the south edge of the property. Plans for a pavilion with meeting space, natural areas with trails and the living history museum.

It is hoped that the Tuality Plains Outpost will create a sustainable and welcoming gathering place for Forest Grove and western Washington County. The living history museum would be designed for people to journey back in time and treasure the heritage of past generations. Both native populations and the first white settlers had to be conscious about taking care of the land. Tuality Plains Outpost, Howard said, would honor that by protecting open spaces and land as more of Forest Grove inside the urban growth boundary is developed.

The pavilion meets a desire to create a meeting place in western Washington County and replace some of what was lost by the redevelopment of the Washington County Fairgrounds, providing meeting spaces and restrooms. Plans also call for a natural amphitheater and open land for community gardens.

To learn more about the project, please contact Howard Sullivan.

Club Calendar
Wed., Sept. 27: Golf Tournament (rescheduled from August)
Lunch at noon, golf at 1 p.m.
Sunset Grove Golf Course, 41615 NW Osterman Rd, Forest Grove

Wed., Oct. 4: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way
Program: Chris Regilski, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

Wed., Oct. 11: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way
Program: Riley Stewart, RYLA

Thurs., Oct. 12: Executive Board Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Oct. 18: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Forest Grove United Church of Christ, 2032 College Way
Program: Club Assembly/Youth Citizens of the Month

Thurs., Oct. 19: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom