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

This Week: Be sure to join us this Wednesday in the Boxer Pause room in the University Center at Pacific University. We will be joined by Sara Schaffner, who will introduce us to Open Door Housing Shelters and the work they do in our area.

With the university being closed, this week is a catered lunch. Orders were due on Dec. 2. If you did not order lunch, you are still welcome to attend and provide your own meal.

Going Dark For The Holidays: In observance of the holidays, we will not hold weekly meetings on Wed., Dec. 25 or Wed., Jan. 1. Our first meeting in 2025 will take place on Wed., Jan. 8 in the Boxer Pause.

Satellite Club/Thirsty Thursday Meeting: Our final Satellite Club meeting of 2024 takes place this Thursday, Dec. 19, 6:30 p.m., at Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St. All Rotarians and friends are welcome to enjoy an evening of fellowship.

Catered Meals For January 8 Meeting: Our meeting on Wed., Jan. 8 will be a catered meal, and we must have a head count to the caterer well in advance for planning purposes. The deadline for meal orders is this Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 5 p.m. Please email Claire Agner, bcnca39@frontier.com, to submit your order. We will also have catered meals (with advance sign up required) for our meetings on Jan. 15 and Jan. 22.

Hope For The Holidays – Mon., Dec. 23: This year’s Hope For The Holidays food distribution will take place on Monday, Dec. 23, 4 p.m. at the Forest Grove High School Food Pantry. This is the closest that we have ever been able to have our project to Christmas. The plan once again is to provide holiday groceries to 100 needy families.

There are plenty of volunteer opportunities both at the actual event and preparing the boxes the day of the event. For more information, or to find out how you can participate with the logistics for the project, please contact Parri Van Dyke.

Thank you to all of our Rotarians who participated in the wreath sale in November, which raised approximately $1,600 for Hope For The Holidays.

Rototeller Publication Schedule: Expect to receive the Rototeller in your email inbox ahead of Christmas. After that, we will go on hiatus until the weekend of January 4-5.

Youth Citizens Of The Month: Last Wednesday, we were proud to honor our December Youth Citizens of the Month from the Banks School District. Our congratulations to Julia Rizzo of Banks High School and Tony Rosales Vargas of Banks Middle School! Both honorees received a certificate and a $50 gift card to Frye’s Action Athletics.

Troop 213 Christmas Tree Sales: Our chartered Scouting America Troop 213 is once again having their annual Christmas tree stand in the parking lot of Ballad Town Center (Safeway). The tree stand opened on Saturday and run through Dec. 23 or when trees sell out. The troop will have around 400 trees available for purchase. This is the troop’s major fundraiser for the year and primarily assists scouts in being able to attend summer camps.

The Rotary Club of Forest Grove has been the charter organization for Troop 213 for decades. If you can, please support the troop this holiday season.

Rotary Foundation Giving Update: We are not only well on our way to our Rotary Foundation giving goals, we are surpassing them! Michael Yakos, club Rotary Foundation chair, reported that our club has already surpassed its $7,500 goal for the annual fund with contributions of $7,974! For PolioPlus, we have already raised $1,738 of our goal of $3,000.

To date, our totals include 34 members who meet eligibility for Every Rotarian Every Year (contributions of at least $25 in a Rotary year) and 16 sustaining members (contributions of $100 in a Rotary year).

Contributions to The Rotary Foundation are important for our club’s eligibility for district designated grants and for our district’s ability to leverage grant funding. To learn more about The Rotary Foundation or to give, please contact Michael.

Rototeller – Help Wanted: Blake Timm, the editor of the Rototeller, is looking for a club member who would be interested in helping fill in to take notes at meetings on an occasional basis. With his increased duties as area governor and work, he is having to miss more Wednesdays than he did in the past. The job would entail taking notes about any club announcements and a five to six-paragraph recap of that week’s program. Please contact Blake for more information.

Have A Program Idea? Let Hector Know!: Do you have an idea for a program presentation that you would like to see at our meetings? Let our incoming program director, Hector Mendez-Colberg know as he is setting up the schedule for 2025.

Laurin Is Ready For Ski Season!: Our inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student, Laurin von Orelli, is preparing to compete for the Forest Grove High School ski team after a fun season competing for the Vikings’ cross country team. To compete as part of the ski team, however, he needs to purchase a season pass to Mount Hood Meadows. The cost of the annual pass is $750. He is willing to do work for Rotarians to raise money for the pass. If you are interested in putting to Laurin to work, or to make a donation, please contact Laurin directly at one of our meetings or contact Youth Exchange Committee chair Melinda Fischer.

Pickleball Evenings – Presented By Rotary: The Rotary Club of Forest Grove is helping to sponsor indoor pickleball Monday through Thursday evenings at the Forest Grove National Guard Armory, 2950 Taylor Way. Coordinated by Rotarian Steven Barnard, the evenings run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. There is a $5 fee to help cover facility rental. Players of all ages and ability levels are welcome with reserved courts for beginners and intermediate-level players.

For more information on the pickleball evenings, please contact Steven at 443-454-5177 or sbarnard@fgsd.k12.or.us.

Greeters Are Back: President Lucas is bringing back the role of having greeters at our weekly meetings. This role will not be pre-assigned. Instead, the ninth and 10th Rotarians showing up a meeting each week will serve as greeters. Please be prepared to take on that responsibility and let President Lucas know if you have any questions.

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.

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 Leadership Opportunities: Running a successful organization requires that we plan for succession, and then continue to invest in future leaders. District 5100 is always looking for those Rotarians who would like to advance in Rotary leadership. Some positions require some past leadership experience. For more information, please contact the District Office.

Area Governor: This is a one-year term, renewable for up to three years. You would be working with the Governor Team every step of the way as the direct support to the clubs in a specific region of our District. Prior experience as a club president is required. 

Your training in leadership will be carried out at the district level and supplemented by Rotary Zone and RI online training. There is a modest expense account to help offset costs in the District budget for the Area Governor.

Youth Exchange Webmaster: To maintain, manage the content and keep the webpage current. The web address is: www.youthexchange5100.org.

District Diversity, Equality, & Inclusion Committee: This committee is working on facilitating with clubs the RI DEI policies and real-life applications for Rotarians and clubs. They meet once a month. The Chair is Chase Morinaka: https://rotarydistrict5100.org/committees/

Youth Exchange Administrative Assistant to the Secretary: Work with the committee on a number of communication channels with youth, families and the committee. For a detailed understanding of the needs and time commitment please contact the YEX Secretary Marie Johnson.

If you are interested in any of these positions of District Leadership, please reach out to your Area Governor, or the Governor Team.

Last Week’s Program: Forest Grove High School Department
The spirit of the season was alive at last Wednesday’s meeting as we hosted the Forest Grove High School Music Department for our annual holiday concert. We were treated to musical selections performed by the school’s Chorale and orchestra, band and mariachi ensembles.

The meeting was also our annual get together with our friends from the Forest Grove Daybreak Rotary Club, who joined us for the concert and fellowship. At the end of the presentation, our club presented a $500 check to the music program and the Daybreak club presented a $1,000. The proceeds will be used to help provide scholarships to the department’s annual retreat at Menucha, which takes place in February.

If you were unable to attend, a sampling of the performance can be found on our Facebook Page.

Club Calendar
Wed., Dec. 18: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Sara Schaffner, Open Door Housing Shelters

Thurs., Dec. 19: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
Via Zoom

Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Zesti Food Carts, 2131 Yew St., Forest Grove

Mon., Dec. 23: Hope For The Holidays Service Project, 4 p.m.
Forest Grove High School

Wed., Dec. 25 & Wed., Jan. 1: No Meeting – Happy Holidays!

Wed., Jan. 8: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: To Be Announced