If you didn’t make it to our last Rotary Club of Forest Grove meeting, here’s what you missed…

Online Meetings: We will continue to meet virtually using the Zoom Meeting platform for the foreseeable future. Our meetings will begin at our normal meeting time, Noon on Wednesday. All Rotarians are welcome and participating will count towards meeting attendance. Here are the login details…

Direct Link: https://zoom.us/j/183084884
Meeting ID: 183 084 884

To join by phone, dial 669-900-6833 or 346-248-7799 and enter the meeting ID number when prompted.

Zoom App Downloads
Zoom Cloud Meeting App For Android
Zoom Cloud Meeting App For iPhone
Download Zoom Meeting App For Desktop

Steak Sale – Last Call: The deadline for getting your orders in for the latest club Steak Sale is this Sunday! As with our past sales, we are offering packs of two Columbia Empire Meats sirloin steaks for $15 per pack. Proceeds from the steak sale will benefit our club’s service outreaches and our annual Scholarship Program.

Please submit your orders to President Julia Kollar. Steaks will be available for pick up on Thursday, June 17.

Over the last year, our club has netted over $13,500 from the steak sales that we have done over the last year. These funds are helping to offset proceeds we normally receive from the Steak Feed and the Concours d’Elegance, both of which are not happening again this year due to the pandemic. Thank you to everyone who has made these sales such a success, especially Jeff Duyck, Julia Kollar, Lucas Welliver and Marge Johnston.

Thirsty Thursday: Our next Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club event will take this Thursday, June 17, 6:30 p.m., at the home of Stan & Corinne Reasoner, 2525 12th Ave. This will be a potluck with barbequed meat and drinks by the Reasoners. If you plan on attending, please RSVP to the Reasoners.

Club president-elect Bryce Baker will attend the meeting and will lead of discussion about goals and visions for both the entire club and how the Satellite Club can contribute.

Classics On Main Event: With the 2021 Concours d’Elegance unable to happen, the Concours Committee has decided a host a smaller event on Main Street on Sunday, July 18. The invitation-only event will feature up to 85 former class winners and judges. Following the event, a group of 50 cars will take an invitation-only tour that will end at the Brothers Museum in Salem.

The Concours Committee will need help from club members with set-up, car-spotting, a Rotary information booth and more. If you are able and interested in volunteering for the event, sign up at the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0448a9aa22a5f94-july.

As part of the event, hospitality chair Michelle Thomas has succeeded in getting local legend Maggie Pike to produce her famous Maggie’s Buns for the event. There is a need for volunteers to assist with making the buns the morning of the event at the Forest Grove Senior & Community Center. If you are interested, please contact Michelle.

Due to logistical challenges surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no Concours d’Elegance in 2021. Click Here To Read The Full Announcement.

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. Our club is currently contributing $1,000 per month of toiletry items, cleaning supplies and feminine hygiene products.

Distribution events for these items take place on the first Monday of each month. If you are interested in assisting with the next distribution event, please contact President Julia or Michael Yakos.

The Food Pantry is open on Mondays from 2- 4 p.m. Donations are accepted on-site on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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.

Rotary Citation – We Did It Again!: Exciting news our club. President Julia Kollar was notified last week that the Rotary Club of Forest Grove has received the Rotary Citation for the 10th consecutive year! The Rotary Citation is based on goals set by the Rotary International President to evaluate benchmarks in increasing club membership, developing sustainable service projects, giving to The Rotary Foundation and building awareness of Rotary in our community.

To receive the Rotary Citation, clubs must set and meet 13 goals out of a possible 25 available goals. The 2020-21 Goals Can Be Viewed Here.

Congratulations to President Julia, our leadership team and the entire club for another job well done!

Rotary Foundation Giving Update: Part of receiving the Rotary Citation means that our club has met its goals for fundraising for The Rotary Foundation. As of May 30, club members have contributed $11,262 to the foundation’s Annual Fund and $3,985 towards PolioPlus. Thank you to all of you for your continued contributions!

If you are interested in knowing where you are at on your contributions or believe that you may be close to your next Paul Harris Fellow level, please contact foundation chair Michael Yakos.

If you are interested in starting or increasing a regular contribution to The Rotary Foundation, Rotary Direct is a great way to make that happen. The online portal allows you to make a one-time donation or set up monthly or semi-annual contributions. To learn more r to set up your recurring donation, visit https://my.rotary.org/en/donate.

Presidential Rotation Update: Due to an exciting new work opportunity, Josh Shinoda will be unable to fulfill the position of president of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove for the 2022-23 Rotary year. While we are sad that Josh will not fill that role, we are excited to announce that Janet Peters has accepted that role.

The presidential rotation for the next three years is…

2021-22: Bryce Baker
2022-23 Janet Peters
2023-24: Amy Tracewell

Rotary Phone Tree: Attached to this week’s Rototeller is a new version of the Rotary Phone Tree. Tree toppers will utilize the new list starting this week. If you have questions, or if your information on the Phone Tree is not correct, contact Paul Waterstreet at 503-888-7185 or h20st2@juno.com.

The goal of the phone tree is to reach out and check on every member of the club to make sure they are doing all right and to provide updates on club announcements and activities (Hint: You have a great list to draw from here). The plan is for the tree to be activated every Tuesday. The idea is that for each person to call the next one on the list. The last person on the list should call the team captain to make sure the list is complete.

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 are archived on our club’s YouTube page. Visit https://bit.ly/fgrotaryprograms.

Around District 5100
Save The Date – 2022 District 5100 Conference & Training: Rotarians are asked to save May 19, 2022 on their calendars. This will be the date for District 5100’s combined Spring Training Event and annual District Conference. The combined event will be held in Seaside. Watch for more details as we move into the 2021-22 Rotary year.

Around Rotary International
Rotary Reaffirms Its Commitment To End Polio: When Rotary helped found the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; Rotary made a commitment to ensure that no child or family should live in fear of polio again. Rotary has joined with our worldwide agencies to deliver a new strategy that will help deliver on this promise of a polio-free world.

“More than 19 million people are walking today who would have otherwise been paralyzed by polio, thanks to the incredible progress we’ve made in protecting children with polio vaccines since 1988,” said Mike McGovern, chair of Rotary International’s PolioPlus Committee. When Rotary helped found the GPEI, we made a commitment to ensure that no child or family should live in fear of polio ever again. We are committed to delivering on this promise and urge governments and donors to help us achieve a polio-free world.” Read More

Rotary Responds To COVID-19: Rotary is taking action in response to the pandemic as our clubs support COVID-19 vaccination and continued prevention efforts around the world.

Tapping into decades of experience in bringing polio to the brink of eradication, Rotary members worldwide are helping health authorities communicate lifesaving information about COVID-19 and vaccination, combatting misinformation, supporting fair and equal access to vaccines, and curbing the spread of the virus by donating protective gear and other supplies to clinics and hospitals that are under strain. Read About How Rotary Has Been Responding & Supporting

Last Week’s Program: Sharon Olmstead, Club Scholarship Committee

Click Here To Watch The Complete Program

The COVID-19 pandemic has done little to slow the work of our Scholarship Committee. Rotarian Sharon Olmstead, the chair of the committee, presented a program documenting the history of the program and an update on its work during the 2020-21 Rotary year.

The Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarship Program began in 1972 with proceeds netted from the annual Concours d’Elegance. The intent of the program has always been to help pay for tuition for local students to attain a higher education. In the past, 60 percent of the scholarship proceeds was earmarked for students planning to attend Pacific University with 40 percent going towards students attending other schools. Today, that ratio is reversed with 40 percent earmarked for students planning to attend Pacific.

In 2017, our club started an endowed scholarship fund at Pacific with an initial seed donation of $25,000. The endowment fund will provide a perpetual scholarship opportunity for students choosing to attend Pacific from Forest Grove, Banks and Gaston. At the end of 2020 fiscal year, the endowment was worth $32,135. Right now, the club is allowing the endowment to grow to be able to provide for larger scholarship awards in the future.

The Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarship Program is open to graduating seniors that reside in the Forest Grove, Gaston and Banks school attendance areas. Eligible students can include home-school students and students that attend other high schools provided that they live in one of the three attendance areas.

The 2021 version of the scholarship program looked a lot different than in year’s past. With school being conducted online for the majority of the year, many students were not able to work in person with guidance counselors, which is the primary way the scholarship program is promoted. This year, only 14 applicants applied to the program. Eight applicants were from Forest Grove High School, five were from Banks and one from Gaston. Of those applicants, none plan to attend Pacific University.

The program also adjusted the application deadline to an earlier date in April and, for the first time, the entire application process was moved online.

This year, the club awarded a total of eight scholarships with awards ranging from $500 to $2,000. A total of $12,000 in scholarships were awarded. With no Concours being held in 2020 or 2021, this year’s scholarships were funded from the club’s rainy day fund and from proceeds from our steak sales.

This year’s Rotary Club of Forest Grove scholarship recipients are:

Robert Wardell, Forest Grove HS – Planning to attend Duke University
Elizabeth Lohrer, Forest Grove HS – Planning to attend Lewis & Clark College
Kaylyn Brennan, Forest Grove HS – Planning to attend University of Oregon
Emily Andrade-Gonzalez, Forest Grove HS – Planning to attend University of Oregon
Amanda Rebsom, Forest Grove HS – Planning to attend Portland Community College
Cade Buchanan, Banks HS – Planning to attend Oregon State University
Camila Narvaez, Banks HS – Planning to attend Portland State University
Lillia Schoegje, Banks HS – Planning to attend Oregon State University

Club Calendar
All Meetings Are On Zoom Unless Noted

Wed., June 16: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Tom Cook, Attic To The Classroom Program

Thurs., June 17: Thirsty Thursday/Satellite Club Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
Home of Stan & Corinne Reasoner, 2525 12th Ave.

Wed., June 23: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: End of the Year Program

Wed., June 30: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Program: Jeannine Murrell & Pamelajean Myers, ShelterBox Update