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

Meeting Location Change – RSVP For Lunch!: For the next two weeks (Wed., Mar. 1 and Wed., Mar. 8), we will meet in the Grove Room at the Forest Grove School District offices, 1728 Main Street.

For our Mar. 1 meeting, lunch will be catered by Kama’aina and is a choice between pulled pork or chicken teriyaki bowls. For our Mar. 8 meeting, Sundial Bakery will cater and will be offering a soba noodle salad with shredded chicken, veggies and mini egg rolls.

In order to provide for final numbers for catering, members for this Wednesday’s meeting need to RSVP to President Janet Peters by Sunday, Feb. 26.

End of Zoom Meetings: With more people attending weekly meetings in person and with continual technical and audio quality problems in our meeting space at Pacific University, the decision has been made to end the Zoom option for weekly meetings. With changes to Pacific University’s COVID policies (vaccination is no longer required to be one campus), we hope to see more people attending in person.

Lunch Cost Increase: Since the start of 2023, Bon Appetit has increased the amount charged to the club for lunches. Effective immediately, the club charge for weekly lunches will be $9 per person. Please contact President Janet if you have any questions.

New Member Orientation: Our next New Member Orientation meeting will be held on Wednesday, Mar. 1, 6:30 p.m., at Wauna Credit Union, 3532 Pacific Ave. All new members who have not yet attended an orientation should plan on attending. All club members are welcome as well as anybody you might know who might be interested in becoming part of Rotary.

Steak Sale – Pickup Mar. 3: Thank you to everyone who stepped up and sold steaks, or purchased some, for our latest Steak Sale. Proceeds from the sale will go to support our ongoing community outreach programs. Steaks can be picked up on Friday, Mar. 3 at Jeff Duyck’s warehouse located along 19th Avenue in Forest Grove between Main and Ash streets. The time for pickup will be emailed to club members this week. Please plan to bring money at that time with checks payable to the Rotary Club of Forest Grove. Contact Janet Peters with any questions.

Crab Feed – Save The Date!: This year’s Crab Feed will be on Wednesday, Mar. 29. This annual event allows us to come together as a club, enjoy fellowship and honor those members who have become Paul Harris Fellows or have reached their next Paul Harris Fellow level. We will not have a noon meeting on Mar. 29.

The crab dinner, which will include hot soup, salad, bread, a half-pound of crab and beverages, will be $45. A vegetarian option will be available for $25. Crab will also be available for purchase by the pound at market price.

Use the links below to pre-order your tickets!
Regular Crab Feed Ticket, $45
Crab Feed To-Go Meal, $42
Crab Feed Vegetarian Meal Ticket, $25

For questions, or if you want to be involved on the planning committee, please contact Julia Kollar.

In addition, Parri Van Dyke is once again putting together a silent auction and a dessert dash with proceeds to benefit The Rotary Foundation. We are looking for specific items such as weekend getaways, wine and wine tastings, hosted dinner and themed gift baskets…or maybe you have an idea of something to donate! If you would like to donate, please contact Parri.

NOTE: Payments for both the silent auction and the dessert dash must be paid for on the evening of the event. We will not be billing members for purchases this year.

Rotary Scholarships – Applications Open: Applications are now open for the 2023 Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarship Program. The program provides one-time scholarships to graduating seniors that reside in the Forest Grove, Banks or Gaston school district attendance areas. The awards may be used towards tuition of any college or vocational school in the United States.

The Scholarship Program is made possible by proceeds from our annual Concours d’Elegance car show.

Applications are due by midnight on Apr. 6, 2023. For more details and a link to the application, Click Here. For questions, please contact Scholarship Committee chair Sharon Olmstead, sharon.olmstead8571@gmail.com.

In addition to our annual scholarship program, our club maintains an endowed scholarship program at Pacific University that provides tuition funding to students from the local area. On Wednesday, our club presented a check to Pacific University for $14,865 as our annual donation to our scholarships to the university.

ShelterBox Appeal – Syria & Turkey Earthquake: Turkey and northwest Syria were struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake early on Mon., Feb. 6. Minutes later, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake followed by a third 7.5-magnitude earthquake ravaged the same region.

Thousands of people have lost their lives and thousands more have been injured and made homeless.

Powerful aftershocks have continued across the region. The devastation is immense, with thousands of buildings damaged or destroyed. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the disaster was the worst the country had seen since 1939 when the Erzincan earthquake in eastern Turkey killed nearly 33,000 people.

The priority is search and rescue as first responders desperately try to save people trapped beneath the rubble. ShelterBox has been actively monitoring the situation and is deploying an assessment team to the region this week to determine what is needed and if we can support the humanitarian shelter needs.

This devasting earthquake will only make matters worse for the Syrian people, who have already faced years of displacement due to conflict and trauma. Without homes, freezing temperatures will put lives at risk. The emergency shelters, blankets and warm winter clothing ShelterBox provides could make the difference between life and death.

ShelterBox has been working in Syria since 2011, providing life-saving aid to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the civil war. In addition to Syria, ShelterBox has responded to the impact of earthquakes in Turkey, most notably following the 2011 Van earthquake.

Our emergency team is working closely with partners to monitor the situation and understand what support is needed in the aftermath of today’s earthquakes.

Your donation makes the life-saving work of ShelterBox possible. Your gift today will help families made homeless by conflict or disaster– wherever the need is greatest. Donate At This Link.

Rotaract/Interact Liaisons Needed: We are in need of club liaisons that would like to be involved with both the Rotaract Club at Pacific University and with the Interact Club at Forest Grove High School. Both clubs are connected to our Rotary club and aim to provide service opportunities to students. If you are interested, or would like more information on what the role entails, please contact President Janet.

Concours Sponsorship Opportunities: The Concours d’Elegance Committee is well underway with procuring sponsorships for our 2023 show, which will take place on Sunday, July 16. There is plenty of sponsorship opportunities for both businesses and individuals for starting as low as $350. How important is sponsorships? Most of the profit that comes from Concours, which helps pay for our service outreach and funds our Scholarship Program, comes from sponsorships.

Click Here To Download The Sponsorship Flyer, which describes a number of the show’s sponsor opportunities. For more information or to help secure a sponsorship, please contact Tim Pearson at 503-998-8616 or timpearsonpc@gmail.com or Andrea Stewart at 503-357-1427 or astewart@pacificu.edu.

Youth Exchange Update: While we are looking forward to our continued involvement with the Rotary Youth Exchange program, the way our club will be involved during the 2023-24 Rotary year will be different.

We recently received word that the person that had been selected to be our outbound exchange student has withdrawn for personal reasons. Instead of not being able to participate in the program this year, our club is looking to be involved with the program through a program called “The Power Of One.”

“The Power Of One,” program, which is powered by Rotary Youth Exchange, helps to open to door to African students through one-way exchanges. In past years, District 5100 has been involved with this program through exchanges with clubs in The Dalles and Monmouth-Independence.

Be watching for more updates as we pursue being involved this year through this exciting program!

Concours Concert Event – Help Wanted: The Concours Committee has given the green light to go ahead with another concert event linked to the annual show. The concert is tentatively scheduled for Friday, July 14 with the Concours taking place on Sunday, July 16. If you are interested in helping plan and execute the concert event, please contact Court Carrier at 971-404-7864 or ccarrieriv@gmail.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
Elks Backpack Program: The Elks Backpack Program, which provides food for youth in the Forest Grove School District experiencing food insecurity, is looking for 50 new or gently used backpacks for the program. If you have backpacks to donate, please bring those to a future meeting and we will get them to the appropriate people.

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 on Mondays from 4-6 p.m. The pantry is now open in its new site in the building along Nichols Lane between the football field and the Basinski Center.

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.

Additionally, Rotarian Gwen Hullinger has put together an Amazon wish list of items that can be purchased and donated. Click Here To View That List.

Around District 5100
Rotary Direct Matching Points Available: District 5100 is offering three Jubitz Rotary Foundation (TRF) recognition point offers this year in conjunction with this year’s Spring Training Assembly.

The one-time offer provides for 250 TRF Recognition Points for joining Rotary Direct or for increasing giving through Rotary Direct or 500 TRF Recognition Points for joining the Paul Harris Society.

Rotarians can take advantage of this offer to complete their own Paul Harris Fellow or to recognize someone significant their life.

Here’s How It Works:

• Sign up for Rotary Direct, which required a minimum monthly contribution of $10 or more to the TRF Annual Fund – SHARE.
• Increase current Rotary Direct giving by increasing by a minimum of $100 per year to the Annual Fund – SHARE.
• Sign up for the Paul Harris Society (PHS) through Rotary Direct with a minimum monthly contribution of $85 or more to the Annual Fund – SHARE.

Spring Training registration will open on Mar. 1. Your completed Rotary Direct form must be submitted to the Foundation Table at Spring Training on Sat., Apr. 22 Click Here For The Rotary Direct Form.

This year, you do not have to attend Spring Training to turn in your Rotary Direct form. A member from your club can submit the form for you or you may also send it to the District 5100 Office, 6700 SW 105th Ave., Suite 313, Beaverton, OR 97008, or by email to office@district5100.org. Mailed applications must be received by Apr. 18, 2023.

Thank you to Rotarian Al Jubitz for his gracious support in allowing the use of his TRF points and thank you all donors who believe in Rotary’s work, both locally and globally.

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

Around Rotary International
John Hewko Reflects On A Year Of War In Ukraine: Today is the one-year anniversary of the tragic war in Ukraine. It’s a war that never should have started. And it’s a conflict that has evolved into a non-stop humanitarian catastrophe because the Russia strategy is now to inflict as much pain on the civilian population of Ukraine as possible.

For a peace-based, humanitarian organization like Rotary, this type of conflict is heartbreaking. Yesterday was our 118^th anniversary, and throughout our history, Rotary has always stood on the side of promoting peace and rebuilding from the ashes of destruction. Peace is a central goal of Rotary, and we work tirelessly to help avoid and stop armed conflicts. Our focus is on helping people in need and creating the conditions for lasting peace.

But now, the people of Ukraine are trapped in a humanitarian and refugee crisis at a scale not seen in Europe since the Second World War.

This conflict also hits me on a personal level. My parents are from Ukraine. They came to the United States in 1949 after having spent four years in a refugee camp in southern Germany. I grew up speaking Ukrainian at home, and my wife, Marga, and I lived in Ukraine from 1991 to 1996. In 1991-1992, I was privileged enough to play a small role in preparing the initial draft of Ukraine’s post-Soviet constitution and participating in the working groups that were developing the initial Ukrainian post-independence legislative initiatives. I still have a great deal of family, friends, and former colleagues there.

It’s impossible for me to turn away from the daily pain being inflicted on Ukrainians. Civilians are being forced to live without water, electricity, and heat in the winter. Missiles and bombs are blowing up hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, and train stations full of refugees.

There are tens of thousands of dead and wounded soldiers on both sides; tens of thousands of killed or injured civilians; and hundreds of billions of dollars in destroyed civilian infrastructure. The war has plagued Ukraine with mass looting, summary executions, sexual assault, torture chambers, mass graves, and more atrocities.

Rotary has responded to this crisis, just as we continue to do for crises around the world, including the devastating flooding in Pakistan, and earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria. There are many ways that people can help out and donate in times of great humanitarian need, but when you donate to Rotary, you can be assured of something unique – on the ground assistance and direction from people who know best where those funds can be best used. Giving to Rotary humanitarian response efforts ensures making a real impact in a timely manner.

So far, we have raised $15 million in our Ukraine Disaster Response Fund and we are anecdotally hearing about the millions of dollars of additional aid that Rotary clubs and districts are sending directly to Ukraine and its neighboring countries.

These funds are going directly to projects that alleviate suffering and assist Ukrainian refugees, both within the borders of Ukraine and in neighboring countries. Our efforts in Ukraine have made such a huge impact that Rotary has actually increased its membership in that country since the war began.

Our work cannot and will not end here. We must continue tirelessly so that Ukrainian reconstruction can begin after the war is over.

Not only will Ukraine’s infrastructure need to be rebuilt, but government corruption must be rooted out. Ukraine needs a real chance to join the European Union and to thrive as a fully independent democracy. But for Ukraine to reach these milestones, there must be peace. This is where Rotary can play a great role — the process of healing the wounds between the Ukrainian and Russian people and working toward a true and lasting peace in the world.

Donate to the Rotary Foundation Ukraine Disaster Response Fund and other disaster relief funds we have established. There is still much work to be done and we need your continued financial support to make that happen.

John Hewko is the secretary general of Rotary International.

Last Week’s Program: Lonnie Winkler, Timber Beasts BB Gun Club

Click Here To Watch The Full Program

Lonnie Winkler, a coach with the Timber Beasts BB Club, joins us to Introduce the club to the club and the program it provides to give youth and opportunity to experience shooting sports. Our club has supported the Timber Beasts in past years with youth funding grants.

The Timber Beasts are currently the only youth BB gun program on the West Coast. There were approximately a dozen clubs across the west about 30 years ago but now the Timer Beasts are the only one left. They have been an active club for approximately 50 years.

The Timber Beasts goal is to provide to as many young people as possible a positive shooting experience with an emphasis of safety. Before anyone can get on a range, they must go through a six-week gun safety program. The safety program covers hunting and safety responsibilities, control, muzzle control, etc. Once in the extended program, safety is a weekly part of the program.

The Timber Beasts have three ranges set up at the Knights of Pythias lodge in downtown Forest Grove (above Bank of the West). The three can accommodate up to 50 people at a time. When the club is in season, practices take place once per week each Tuesday for 11 to 15 weeks.

The shooters with the highest average of that 15-week span comprise a five-person team to that travel to the Daisy BB Air Nationals in Rogers, Arkansas. Last year, the Timber Beasts came in 10th out of 70-plus teams.

The gun of choice for the Timber Beasts is the Daisy Evante Champion BB rifle, considered to be the most accurate BB gun in the world. Single shot air BB gun. Goes 300 feet per second. It is muzzle loaded, which means it only can handle one BB at a time.

At the end of the 15 weeks, the club holds a banquet to recognize students. From time to time, the club will invite embers of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to come in and shoot against members of the team.

Club Calendar
Wed., Mar. 1: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Grove Room, Forest Grove School District Offices, 1728 Main St., Forest Grove
Program: Tina Reynolds, GG’s House

Wed., Mar. 1: New Member Orientation Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Wauna Credit Union, 3532 Pacific Ave.

Wed., Mar. 8: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Grove Room, Forest Grove School District Offices, 1728 Main St., Forest Grove
Program: Peter Brandom, City Manager, City of Cornelius

Thurs., Mar. 9: Executive Board Meeting, 7 p.m.
Via Zoom

Fri., June 9: Steak Feed, 5-8 p.m.
Pacific University Campus

Sun., July 16: Concours d’Elegance
Pacific University Campus