Plenty of fun was had by Rotarians and guests at the Rotary Club of Forest Grove’s annual crab feed, held on April 3, 2024.

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

This Week – At Forest Grove School District: We hope that you will make plans to join us this Wednesday in the Grove Room at the Forest Grove School District offices, 1728 Main St., Forest Grove. This week’s program will be Pacific University Political Science Professor Jim Moore.

Upcoming Meetings: On Wednesday, Apr. 17, we will return to the Boxer Pause Room in the University Center at Pacific University. We will have no meeting on Wednesday, Apr. 24.

Exceptional Giving Feted At Crab Feed: An evening of fun, fellowship and giving to The Rotary Foundation were the orders of the evening as the Rotary Club of Forest Grove held its annual Crab Feed on Wednesday, April 3.

Rotarians and their guests were treated to an evening of wonderful food, wine and fellowship. The evening also brought in over $2,200 in contributions to The Rotary Foundation between a silent auction and a dessert dash.

The annual event also serves as the club’s recognition of those who have established a tradition of giving to the foundation. A total of 14 Rotarians and friends were recognized as Paul Harris Fellows. The award acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation. Eight other Rotarians were honored for reaching their next level of Paul Harris Fellow recognition.

Rotarian Tom Raabe was recognized by District 5100 for reaching Major Donor status. Rotarian and incoming District 5100 Governor Jeannine Murrell was recognized for becoming part of the Bequest Society.

Michael Yakos, foundation chair for the club, recognized the outstanding giving that club members have made to The Rotary Foundation. The club has already surpassed it’s $9,500 fundraising goal for the foundation with $11,600 raised. The club is also near its $3,000 fundraising goal for PolioPlus. Our club’s giving currently ranks 12th among District 5100 clubs and leads all Western Region clubs.

Our club extends a big thank you to the Crab Feed Committee, chaired by Julia Kollar and Jeff Duyck, for their incredible work in putting on a great event. We also say thank you to students from Forest Grove High School’s Future Farmers of America chapter for working as servers for the event.

Scholarship Deadline Approaching: The application period is now open for our 2024 Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarship Program. The program is open to graduating high schools that reside in the Forest Grove, Banks and Gaston school district attendance areas. These scholarships are made largely responsible by proceeds raised through our annual Concours d’Elegance car show. The one-time scholarships help pay for the first year of college or vocational school in the United States.

This year, applications for the program will only be accepted through the Going Merry website, which helps administer scholarship programs for a number or organizations in the U.S. Instructions on how to use the website and application instructions are available on our Rotary Scholarship Web Page.

The deadline for applications is Apr. 11, 2024. For questions, please contact Scholarship Committee chair Sharon Olmstead via email, sharon.olmstead8571@gmail.com.

Garden Committee – Work On Labyrinth: The Garden Committee is putting together a group to do some maintenance work on the labyrinth on the grounds of the Pacific University. Located along College Way near Old College Hall, the labyrinth was a project spearheaded by the club in memory of Rotarian and former Pacific University president Faith Gabelnick.

The work party will take place at the labyrinth on Wednesday, Apr. 17, from 1-3 p.m. We are looking for up to 10 volunteers to assist with the effort. If you are able to help, please let President Amy know.

Road Cleanup Work Party: Our first road cleanup work party of 2024 is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, 8:30 a.m. We will meet at the Oregon Department of Forestry Offices, 801 Gales Creek Road. We will conduct our semi-annual cleanup of our adopted road segments, Gales Creek Road between Thatcher Road and Forest Gale Drive and Thatcher Road between Gales Creek Road and David Hill Road. Many hands make for quick work, so please make sure to join us.

For questions or to RSVP to take part, please contact Andrea Stewart or Paul Watestreet.

RYLA Applications Now Open: Our club is now accepting nominations and applications for District 5100 RYLA, which takes place July 13-19 at the Menucha Retreat & Conference Center in the Columbia River Gorge. Open to individuals ages 19-32, RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is a weeklong intensive leadership experience providing inspiration and practical skills for developing young leaders. Many who have attended RYLA said it was a transformational experience in their lives.

Dependent on interest, our club usually pays for one or two people to attend RYLA annually. The application deadline for the 2024 RYLA is May 31.

If you know of someone who would be interested in attending RYLA, or perhaps are interested yourself, please contact our club’s RYLA chair, Andrea Stewart, at 503-352-2168 or astewart@pacificu.edu. To learn more about RYLA, visit the District 5100 RYLA Website. (NOTE: While there is an application link on the website, the application should not be filled out until an applicant has been approved by a club.)

Youth Exchange – One-Way Ukraine Exchange Opportunity: Our club’s Youth Exchange Committee is considering an opportunity to take part in a one-way exchange for a student from Ukraine. District 5100, along with other districts, are being asked to consider hosting a total of 10 students from Ukraine. So far, three have been placed. This is similar to the type of exchange that brought Fareeha Nayebare to us and would be in addition to our standard involvement in Youth Exchange, which is in process, and would require us to spend some additional funds to bring this student to the U.S.

Our Youth Exchange Committee would like to know the club’s interest in taking part in this one-way exchange. If you have thoughts, please contact our Youth Exchange Committee chair, Melinda Fischer.

Committee Reports: Over the next couple of months, the club board would like to receive written committee reports to discuss at their monthly meetings. The reports should be a brief summary of the committee’s recent activities. For the April board meetings, any reports should be sent to President Amy by Monday, Apr. 8.

Forest Grove HS Interact Club: Our inbound Youth Exchange student, Fareeha Nayebare, has restarted the Interact Club at Forest Grove High School! Meetings take place on Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. All Rotarians are welcome. The club is currently working on a service project with the high school’s Food Pantry. For questions, please talk with Fareeha at our meetings.

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

Concours News
2024 Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance, presented by the Rotary Club of Forest Grove
Sunday, July 21 on Pacific University’s Forest Grove Campus

Concours Website | Enter A Car | 2024 Concours Weekend Schedule

Concours Committee Meetings: The Concours d’Elegance Committee is starting the planning for our 50th show on July 21, 2024. If interested in getting further involved with the Concours, 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.

The next meeting of the Concours Committee will be Tuesday, Apr. 9 via Zoom.

Portland Swap Meet: Thank you to everyone who volunteered this last weekend to promote the Concours d’Elegance at the Portland Swap Meet. This continues to be a great opportunity to promote our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Sponsorships: Sponsorships go a long way to increasing the profit of the Concours, which goes to fund our scholarship program and our club’s other outreach activities. To learn more about available sponsorships, Click Here to contact Tim Pearson at 503-998-8616 or timpearsonpc@gmail.com.

Polo Shirts: We still have a number of our club Concours polo shirts available for new members or club members who did not get one last year. The blue shirts have the Concours logo on the front and the club logo on the sleeve and are the work shirts we wear during the event. Shirts are $30 each. If you would like a shirt, please contact Tim Pearson.

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.

Upcoming Habitat For Humanity Service Project: The club is working with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity for a joint service project in May. We will have more details on this service opportunity soon.

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 Mondays from 4-5:30 p.m. 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.

Around District 5100
Rotary One Conference – Registration Closes April 9: Make your plans now to attend the One Rotary Conference, District 5100’s combined training assembly and annual conference. This year’s conference runs from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28 at the Best Western Hood River Inn in Hood River. This is a wonderful opportunity to not only learn more about Rotary, but to connect with Rotarians from all across the District.

The annual conference includes district training sessions on both Friday and Saturday. Friday evening features a barbeque dinner buffet and the annual Youth Exchange Talent Show (which will feature our Youth Exchange inbound student, Fareeha Nayeabre), a dinner event on Saturday and the annual awards ceremony and passing of the district governor banner on Sunday.

As our own Jeannine Murrell will be receiving the banner in advance of her district governor year, we would like to see as many members of our club as possible attend the conference to support her!

A link to register for the conference, along with the schedule of events and a link for hotel reservations at the Rotary rate, can be found at This DacDB Link (you must log in to DacDB to access). Registration closes on Apr. 9. 

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

Club Calendar
Tues., Apr. 9: Hope For The Holidays Committee Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove

Tues., Apr. 9: Concours Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Apr. 10: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Grove Room, Forest Grove School District Office, 1728 Main St.
Program: Dr. Jim Moore, Pacific University

Thurs., Apr. 11: Executive Board Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Apr. 17: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Club Assembly

Thurs., Apr. 18: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Apr. 24: No Meeting