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

Crab Feed – Next Week!: Our annual Crab Feed is coming up on Wednesday, Mar. 29. Be sure to join for a night of fellowship and fun as well as our annual recognition of our Paul Harris Fellows. If you have been awarded a Paul Harris Fellow, please wear your pins and/or medals.

The evening begins with social time at 5:30 p.m. with dinner served at 6:30 p.m. We will not have a noon meeting on Mar. 29.

Tickets must be purchased by Thursday, Mar. 23 so that the Crab Feed Committee can order the right amount of crab.

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 Meat To Go, $30
Crab Feed Vegetarian Meal Ticket, $25

For questions, please contact Julia Kollar.

We will once again be holding a silent auction and dessert auction with proceeds benefitting The Rotary Foundation. There is still time to add a donation to either. Please contact Parri VanDyke by no later than Wednesday if you have an item to donate.

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.

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.

Portland Auto Swap Meet: The Concours d’Elegance Committee is in need of volunteers to man the Concours booth at the Portland Auto Swap Meet at the Portland Expo Center on Friday, Mar. 31 and Sat., Apr. 1. There are openings for three-hour shifts at the show, beginning each day at 9 a.m. If you are interested in helping out, please contact Jim Crisp.

Concours Polo Shirts: For the first time in many years, the club is producing updated Concours d’Elegance polo shirts. Club members typically wear these shirts on Concours day and at our club promotional functions, such as the Steak Feed. The new polo shirts will be the navy blue that we have had in past years and feature the updated Concours d’Elegance logo and our club logo.

Orders are being taken now with both men’s and women’s sizes available. Men’s shirts will cost around $25 and women’s sizes will be around $35. If you are interested in purchasing a shirt (cost between $25 and $30), please contact Tim Pearson.

Concours Concert Details: The Concours d’Elegance will once again feature a Friday night vineyard concert. The event will take place on Friday, July 14. Court Carrier is looking for assistance on identifying potential caterers and musical performers for the evening concert, which will be held at a local winery. If you have possible leads or want to be involved with the planning committee, contact Court.

Rotarians At Work Day – Save The Date: Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 6, which will be our annual Rotarians at Work Day. The Community Service Committee is working on identifying two to three projects for Rotarians to be involved with that day. A sign-up sheet will be circulated next week.

RYLA Applications Open: The application period is now open for the annual Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). Held annually, RYLA is week-long intensive leadership camp that is open to youth and young professionals ages 19 to 32. The program has been described as a life-changing professional experience for many participants, many of whom also become Rotarians.

Our club annually sponsors one to two RYLA participants, all of which attend on scholarships provided by District 5100 clubs. This year’s RYLA will take place July 8-14 at the Menucha Retreat Center in Corbett, just east of the Portland metro area.

If you know a youth who might benefit from attending RYLA, have them visit ryladistrict5100.org. The website includes a link to the online application form.

For questions, please contact our club’s RYLA chair, Andrea Stewart, at 503-357-1427 or astewart@pacificu.edu.

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.

Youth Exchange Update: Back in January, we learned that our selected outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student had withdrawn from the program for personal reason. Since then, our club has officially applied to host an African exchange student in a one-way exchange through the “Power of One” program.

The club should find out which student we are hosting in the next weeks. It is a high likelihood that our student will come from Algeria or Tanzania.

The “Power Of One” program has asked our club to participate in a level of funding called Enhanced Plus, where the host district pays for health insurance, clothing assistance, Rotary sponsored trips and provide a monthly stipend. Students and their families are responsible for airfare and visa and interview costs.

District 5100 is very supportive of the “Power of One” program and will support our club with additional funding should our club not be able to come up with the necessary funds.

This is an exciting opportunity for our club to continue its tradition of involvement with Rotary Youth Exchange for this year. Be watching for more details soon.

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.

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 Spring Training Event Registration Open: Registration is now open for the 2023 Rotary Spring Training Event (formerly District Training Assembly). This year’s event takes place at Sherwood High School at Sat., Apr. 22.

This year’s lineup will have some wonderful workshops and training opportunities as well as a new concept called “Birds of a Feather” for attendees to participate in.

There will also be post-training activities, so bring your family and plan on staying after the event. Langers Entertainment Center, the premier family entertainment center in Sherwood, has offered Rotary space to fellowship after the training, complete with snacks and a $25 game card for every attendee. You can bowl, climb the rock wall, play laser tag, do the rope challenge course and much more.

The Rotary Spring Training Event is more than a training. It is time to connect and enjoy fellowship with your fellow District 5100 Rotarians as, together, we create hope in the world.

A registration link was emailed out to all Rotarians and can also be accessed through DacDB. Click Here To View The Schedule Of Classes & Events.

If you want additional information, please contact DGE Renee Brouse at rbrouseymca@hotmail.com.

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
Rotary Members Weave A Global Web Of Giving For Ukraine: On 26 January in Odesa, Mykola Stebljanko spent the day under attack. A barrage of missiles killed 11 people and destroyed critical infrastructure around Ukraine, including in the city where Stebljanko lives.

Despite not having working electricity, Stebljanko – who publishes Rotariets, Rotary’s Ukrainian magazine – was determined to report on the situation and Rotary’s response to it. He was able to make a cell phone call to describe an experience he’s had several times during the past year of war.

“Sometimes we have time to go into the shelter, but sometimes there is no time — we’re just sitting in our apartment and waiting for the end,” he says. “Most of the targets are military or infrastructure objects. Not the buildings for civilians. But sometimes the missiles go to civilian buildings. We just decided, if it will be our building, that will be our destiny.”

Even under fire, Stebljanko, a member of the Rotary E-Club of Ukraine, wanted to let members around the world know how important their efforts were. In an interview, he spoke about how members established humanitarian hubs along the Ukrainian border to receive supplies and distribute them throughout the county.

In the city of Kharkiv, he noted, Rotary members who own a shopping center donated space to store supplies.

“They provided a whole underground level for the humanitarian hub,” Stebljanko says. “They provide aid each day to thousands of people. In the frontline cities, the Rotarians are real heroes. Despite their very complicated life, they try to continue to serve as Rotarians.”

Members inside Ukraine have had supplies to distribute partly because of the global network of Rotary members who have used disaster response grants to provide them. They have sent generators, medical supplies, emergency equipment, modular housing, and other provisions, as well as providing support for refugees.

The Rotary Foundation has awarded more than 300 disaster response grants, totaling nearly US$15 million, to help people affected by the war. More than 270 districts have sponsored grants. That’s more than half of all districts.

Some governors credit their involvement to Diana Nestorova, of the Rotary Club of Acton-Boxborough, Massachusetts, USA. She led an online workshop about disaster response grants for more than 500 people in September.

“I took it upon myself to go back to everybody I knew around the world and explain: ‘What is a disaster response grant? How can you apply for it? Why apply for it?'” she says. “I saw that what [I] could do was to educate.”

Districts in more than 50 countries have used these grants to help. Beyond the nearby countries in Europe, the districts are in Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, and the U.S, among others. Here are some of their diverse projects. Read More

Last Week’s Program: Rachel Schulz, Family Justice Center of Washington County

Click Here To Watch The Full Program

At last week’s meeting, we were joined by Rachel Schulz, the executive director for the Family Justice Center of Washington County. She joined us to discuss what abuse and violence is, how to identify patterns and to provide an overview on the services provided by the center for survivors.

What is violence and abuse? Abuse is defined as the cycles of physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions and behaviors that are used to control another person. In cycles of both violence and abuse, an abuser purposefully uses to give themselves power over the victim and keep the victim under their controls. Violence and abuse can come in many forms, but every one of them is dangerous.

Abuse can look like intimidation, isolation, coercion and threats, emotional manipulation, privilege and dominance, using loved ones, using basic needs and denying and blaming. Schulz also went over the four phases of the cycle: honeymoon, tension, explosion and remorse.

Warning signs of someone is who experiencing abuse include someone being overly jealous and possessive, moving a relationship too far too fast, blames others for their behaviors and action, using guilt, ignoring the other person’s wants or needs, swinging from hurtful to remorseful very fast, ignores or pushes boundaries, insults and constantly calling, texting and showing up. Those warning signs can grow into those patterns of abuse.

Sometimes it is thought that violence and abuse only happens between people that are romantically paired. It can happen between any two people. Schulz went over the definitions of domestic abuse, dating abuse, stalking, sexual abuse and assault, sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, child and elder abuse and family violence.

Schulz presented numbers of abuse and violence in our state. Oregon has higher than national average statistics in domestic violence, sexual trauma and child trauma. We see the downstream impacts now, including high drug use, involvement with criminal justice system, high needs for medical care, disrupted jobs and education.

In 2014, Washington County formed the Family Justice Center. Before 2014, many different agencies were trying to provide resources for abuse survivors. But Washington County is 850 square miles and that distance can make it difficult to access multiple agencies. The Family Justice Center does the work to provide services in one place rather than having survivors seek out those services on their own.

The Family Justice Center was founded on the principle that providers should work together for providers, not have survivors work to find resources. The collaboration helps to end trauma and the downstream impacts of abuse. Want to make sure that survivors in Washington County and beyond have the resources they need to move on and thrive.

Services include advocacy, safety planning, restraining orders, virtual court, emergency shelter, legal assistance, food, hygiene and clothing items, crime reporting and support, housing assistance and more.

In 2022, the Family Justice Center served 4,537 clients with 8,344 total services.

Club Calendar
Wed., Mar. 22: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Dr. Anne Hogan, Audiology & Diabetes

Wed., Mar. 29: Crab Feed, 5 p.m.
Forest Grove Senior & Community Center, 2037 Douglas Ave.
No Noon Meeting On Mar. 29

Wed., Apr. 5: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: To Be Announced

Sat., May 6: Rotarians at Work Day
Location & Time To Be Announced

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

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