If you didn’t make it to this week’s Rotary Club of Forest Grove meeting, below is an overview of what you missed.

Announcements
Rotarians At Work Day: Thank you to everyone who came out for our Rotarians at Work Day on Sat., Apr. 27. We spent our time in our McDougall Memorial Garden, weeding, cleaning and planting flowers for the upcoming season. Club members who participates were Geoff Faris, Greg Nemchick, Julia Kollar, Chuck Pritchard, Coni Ingram, Janet Peters, Paul Waterstreet, Jim Crisp, Doug Thompson, Tom Raabe, Bryce Baker, Jeannine Murrell, Pamelajean Myers, Lucas Welliver, Bob Nixon and Blake Timm.

Steak Feed Is Coming: We are closing in our annual Rotary Steak Feed fundraiser, which takes place on Fri., June 7 on the Pacific University campus. We need all hands on deck for this fundraising event, which is specifically focused on our participation in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.

Each Rotarian is asked to sell 10 tickets to the event. Tickets will be distributed at this week’s Wednesday meeting. All remaining ticket packets will be mailed to members. For more information or questions, contact Geoff Faris.

Rotary Selected For Civic Engagement Award: Our Rotary Club was nominated by the administration at Neil Armstrong Middle School to receive recognition during the Community Collaboration Celebration presented by the Pacific University McCall Center for Civic Engagement. The awards ceremony will take this Tuesday, Apr. 30, from 4-6 p.m. in the University Center on the Pacific campus. All are invited.

Save The Date – Spring Fling: Our annual Spring Fling social dinner (formerly the President’s Dinner) is scheduled for Fri., May 10, at the home of John Crosley in Forest Grove. More details coming soon!

Save The Date – End Of Year Celebration: Our annual End of Year Banquet and awards celebration is scheduled for Wed., June 19, 6 p.m., at Prime Time. Please plan on joining us in celebrating the past year for our club, to recognize fellow Rotarians for their service and for the official passing of the president’s gavel from Blake Timm to Tim Pearson. There will be no noon meeting that day.

Get Your Concours Polo Shirt: We are taking orders for Concours d’Elegance polo shirts. We ask all club members to wear these blue polo shirts for both the Steak Feed and the Concours d’Elegnace. If you are a newer member, you likely do not have one. Shirts cost $21.50. A women’s cut shirt is available for $26.50.

We will have a shirt sign-up at our Wednesday meetings until Wed., May 15. If you are a Satellite Club member, or will not be attending Wednesday meetings before that date, please contact Blake Timm with your shirt size and preference of cut.

Be The Inspiration Award: This week’s Be The Inspiration award was presented by Pete Van Dyke to Greg Nemchick. Congratulations Greg!

Rotary Foundation Update: We are well on our way to meeting our Rotary Foundation giving goals! To date, club members have contributed a total of $8,107 towards The Rotary Foundation towards our annual goal of $9,000 (this does not include Crab Feed silent auction proceeds). We have surpassed our PolioPlus goal of $1,500 with $2,238 raised to date. Thank you!

Bites Fundraiser For Rotary Foundation: Plan on eating out at Bites Restaurant in Forest Grove on Tues., May 7. A portion of what Rotarians spend at the restaurant that night will be donated to The Rotary Foundation. Come out, enjoy a good deal, support local business and support The Rotary Foundation.

RYLA Applications Being Accepted: Our club is looking for one more applicant to send to this year’s District 5100 RYLA, July 13-19 at Camp Meucha in the Columbia River Gorge. Designed for young professionals ages 18-29, the purpose of RYLA is to recognize young leaders and provide them with an opportunity to expand their perceptions and ideals. The application deadline is May 31. Participants are accepted in the order they are received, so timing is critical. If you know of a potential applicant, please have them contact Loren Waltz. More information on RYLA is available at ryladistrict5100.org.

 District Conference: Mark your calendars for May 17-19 for the District 5100 Conference, which will take place at the Riverhouse on the Deschutes in Bend. More details about this year’s conference are available at https://www.district5100conf.org/.

Peace Village: Our club and the Forest Grove Rotary Daybreak Club have both received District 5100 Matching Grants to help towards our club’s joint Peace Village project. The camp, which will target middle school students in teaching skills in conflict resolution, media literacy, connections with nature and mindfulness, will take place in August. The project is a joint between our Rotary Club and the Forest Grove Daybreak Rotary Club. If you are interested in learning more or getting involved in the planning process, see Loren Waltz, or Howard Sullivan. To learn more about Peace Village, Visit Their Website.

 Have A Program Idea?: If you have an idea for a program or would like to present something yourself, let our program chair, Julia Kollar, know. She will also have a program planning board at meetings so you can see what is on deck and what dates may be available.

Last Week’s Program – Virginia Ohler, West Tuality Habitat for Humanity
For the second consecutive week, we had the pleasure of one of our own club members presenting our program. Last week, Virginia Ohler presented on West Tuality Habitat for Humanity. Virginia is the organization’s executive director and many club members have been involved in the leadership for Habitat for many years.

Virginia talked about the current builds going on within the Forest Grove community and also introduced the club to Habitat’s repair program, which allows the organization to serve its full service area of Western Washington County. Virginia also went into detail about how the program works financially for families who are accepted into the program above and beyond the “man hours” required for families to take possession of homes.

Habitat for Humanity is always in need of volunteers, whether helping on a build site or working in the ReStore, which is a significant source of revenue for the program. To learn more, visit their website at westtualityhabitat.org.

Next Week’s Duty Roster: Make note of your assignment!
Greeters: Ed Becker & Ron Brandt
Thought for the Day: Blake Timm
Rototeller Article: John Crosley
Raffle Prize: Howard Sullivan

Club Calendar
Wed., May 1: Weekly Meeting, Noon, Pacific University
Program: Caroline Lobdell, Interesting Cases of Land Use Lawsuits
Fri., May 10: Spring Fling, Home of John Crosley
Fri., June 7: Steak Feed, 5-8 p.m., University Center, Pacific University
Wed., June 19: End of Year Celebration, Prime Time
Sun., July 21: Concours d’Elegance, Pacific University Campus