Blake Timm, left, and Duncan Stewart were among the volunteers who assisted with the Rotary Club of Forest Grove’s 90th road cleanup since affiliating with the Washington County Adopt-A-Road program in 1992. Photo by Andrea Stewart.

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

This Week – At Pacific University: We will return to Pacific University for our weekly meeting this Wednesday. We hope to see you at noon in the Boxer Pause room in the University Center. We will have a club assembly, honor our Youth Citizens of the Month from Banks High School and hear a poem that our Rotary Youth Exchange inbound student, Fareeha Nayebare, has prepared for the upcoming One Rotary Conference.

No Meeting On Apr. 24: With the upcoming One Rotary Conference, we will not have a weekly meeting on Wednesday, April 24.

Satellite Club Meeting: The April Satellite Club meeting will take place on Thursday, April 18, 6:30 p.m., at Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew Street, Forest Grove. All Rotarians are invited to attend.

Labyrinth Work Party – This Wednesday: 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 this Wednesday from 1-3 p.m. If you are able to assist, please consider bringing gloves and a wire brush to help us freshen up the labyrinth’s bricks.

Road Cleanup Work Party: Once again, many hands made quick work for our semi-annual road cleanup on Saturday. It took just an hour to pick up along the club’s adopted stretches of road: Gales Creek Road between Thatcher Road and Forest Gale Drive and Thatcher Road between Gales Creek Road and David Hill Road.

This marked the 90th time that the Rotary Club of Forest Grove has conducted a cleanup dating back to the start of the club’s involvement with the Washington County Adopt-A-Road Program in September 1992.

Thank you to the following Rotarians, Interactors and friends who served: Jim Crisp, Blake Timm, Emma Gayle, Irene Barbour-Weiss, Blue Barbour-Weiss, Fareeha Nayebare, Jim Cain, Paul Waterstreet, Andrea Stewart, Tim Orr, Claire Agner, Diana Waterstreet, Angel Daniel-Cervantes and Emma Zvho.

A special thank you to Paul Waterstreet and Andrew Stewart for their work to coordinate these cleanup opportunities for the club.

Steak Feed – Save The Date: Mark your calendars for Friday, June 14, for our annual Steak Feed at Pacific University. This is one of our two biggest fundraisers of the year, with proceeds benefitting our involvement in the Rotary Youth Exchange program. All club members are expected to take part in this great community event. More details, and tickets to sell, are coming soon.

March Madness TRF Fundraiser: The madness has ended and now it’s time for the Paul Harris points to be given out. Thank you to all of our participants in our annual March Madness Fundraiser, which raised $170 for The Rotary Foundation. Thanks to club matching points, each participant will receive Paul Harris points for their full donation while the first, second and third place finishers received matching points. Congratulations to the winners!

Men’s Bracket (11 Participants)
First Place: Dave Parker (55 Paul Harris points)
Second Place: Janet Peters (33 Paul Harris points)
Third Place: Doug Thompson (22 Paul Harris points)

Women’s Bracket (6 Participants)
First Place: Doug Thompson (30 Paul Harris points)
Second Place: Paul Waterstreet (18 Paul Harris points)
Third Place: Janet Peters (12 Paul Harris points)

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. 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.

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, April 23 via Zoom.

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.

Habitat For Humanity Service Project – May 22: On Wednesday, May 22, our club will be partnering for a service opportunity with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. We will be conducting a painting project. More details about this project will be coming 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
District 5100 Newsletter: Click Here To View The Monthly District 5100 Newsletter

Last Week’s Program: Jim Moore
Our program last week was Jim Moore, professor of political science and director of political outreach for the Tom McCall Center for Civic Engagement at Pacific University. Moore presented a riveting update on state and federal politics on the presidential primaries and heading into the general election this November. Moore’s comments centered on the presidential election being largely a referendum on the character of the candidates, women’s reproductive rights, and immigration matters.

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

Labyrinth Cleanup Project, 1-3 p.m.
Labyrinth Adjacent To Old College Hall along College Way

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

Tues., Apr. 23: Concours Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Apr. 24: No Meeting

Wed., May 1: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Seth Berdahl, Forest Grove Running Club

Wed., May 22: Service Project With West Tuality Habitat For Humanity, 12-3 p.m.

Fri., June 14: Steak Feed, 5-8 p.m.
University Center, Pacific University

Sun., July 21: Concours d’Elegance
Pacific University Campus