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

Memorial Service For Jerry Hoerber: A celebration of life service for our friend and fellow Rotarian, Jerry Hoerber, has been scheduled for Saturday, June 18, 1 p.m., at the Forest Grove United Methodist Church, 1726 Cedar Street. Jerry was a member of our club for 33 years and passed away on January 13.

All three of our club members that we have lost this year, Jerry Hoerber, Bob Nixon and Joe Post, we honored over the weekend during the District 5100 One Rotary Conference in Seaside.

Steak Feed: We are less than a month away from the return of our annual Steak Feed! The 64th edition of this annual community event takes place on Friday, June 10, 5-8 p.m., at the University Center at Pacific University.

Tickets are $25 each and includes a choice New York steak, salad, baked potato, rolls, beverages and dessert. Proceeds from the event go to our club’s involvement in the Rotary Youth Exchange program (which will also restart this year). It is the expectation that all Rotarians try to sell at least 10 tickets to the event. If you sell more, that is great! Tickets can also be purchased locally at Ace Hardware, Van Dyke Appliance and the Forest Grove/Cornelius Chamber of Commerce.

The Steak Feed is an “all-hands-on-deck” event, with all members expected to participate and help on the day of the event. A list of committee assignments is included with the ticket mailing and is Linked Here. Rotarians should contact their committee chairs over the next two weeks to secure their shifts.

For more information or questions, please contact Geoff Faris.

What Is Rotary Youth Exchange?: Newer members of Rotary may not know that Rotary International has a robust Youth Exchange program, providing the opportunity for high school-aged students the chance to study in another country. The Rotary Youth Exchange program was suspended for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic but will return for the 2022-23 academic year.

Traditionally, our club has sponsored both an outbound student (going from our area to another country) and an inbound student (from another country to our club) each year. We have identified our outbound student for next year and will have information about her in an upcoming edition of the Rototeller.

For more information on the Rotary Youth Exchange program, visit the District 5100 Rotary Youth Exchange Website or contact our club’s committee chair, Melinda Fischer.

Garden Planting Party: Thank you to our Rotarians who got out between the raindrops on Saturday, May 14 to work on our McDougall Garden! The work included replanting, cleaning up the garden and the start of spreading some mulch. Coming out to assist were Bryce Baker, Geoff Faris, Melinda Fischer, Greg Nemchick, Jim Cain, Jim Crisp, Carl Heisler and Janet Peters.

Concours Update: Planning for the 2022 Concours d’Elegance is well under way. Our annual car show, which raises funds for our club’s Scholarship Program, will take place on Sunday, July 17, on the campus of Pacific University. This year’s theme is a celebration of Jaguar. In addition, the show will showcase a salute to British Excellence with feature classes for MG, Triumph and Lotus.

Here are a few updates from the Concours committee:

Registration: Registration for this year’s Concours is now open. Let’s get as many cars out on the show field to help celebrate our return! There is a suggested entry donation of $25 per car. More details on entry classes and the registration link can be found at https://forestgroveconcours.org/enter.

Sponsorships: Tim Pearson has a goal of 100 sponsors for the show. “That’s going to be a stretch but I think it is doable,” Tim said, but he needs the help of club members to make it happen. A copy of the sponsorship flyer is Linked Here. If you have sponsorship questions or a lead, please contact Tim at 503-998-8616 or TimPearsonPC@gmail.com.

Concours Events: The Concours Committee is moving forward with a Friday night concert event to start the weekend. The concert will take place on July 15 at Elk Cove Vineyards near Gaston. Capacity will be limited to 200 people. More details will be coming soon.

The Evening of Excellence dinner will take place at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course on the evening of Sat., July 16.

For more information on the show, visit forestgroveconcours.org, or contact show chairman Ryan Garcia at rypgarcia@gmail.com.

As our club’s primary fundraiser for the year, the Concours is an “all hands on deck” event with all club members expected to volunteer.

Donations For Ukrainian Relief: As part of Rotary International’s efforts to provide relief the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the Rotary Club of Forest Grove is collecting donations for the effort. Rotary International has created a specific channel for donors through Rotary’s Disaster Response Fund.

Our club is offering a $1,500 match for contributions made by club members towards the humanitarian response (President Bryce has said that the match could be more if our club raises more). To date, our club has raised over $1,250 for humanitarian relief.

Contributions can be made at any club meeting. If you have questions about the effort or the match, please contact President Bryce Baker.

To date, District 5100 has raised an impressive $140,000 for Ukrainian relief efforts, which will be channeled to Rotary’s Disaster Response Fund’s channel for Ukrainian relief. Learn More About Rotary’s Efforts

Online Dues Payments: Our club is now equipped to process dues payments online! We can now process credit card or debit card payments for quarterly dues. Information on how to pay online will be included with quarterly billings that will be coming to your mailbox or email inbox.

With the transition to billing with Quickbooks, some members may not have received their quarterly invoice. If you did not, please contact treasurer Lucas Welliver.

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 4-5:30 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.

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
District 5100 End Human Trafficking Now Cell Phone Drive: Phones are often taken as evidence when sex trafficked victims are rescued, which leaves them vulnerable and without communication between law enforcement and service providers. Donated smartphones help bridge this gap! The District 5100 End Sex Trafficking Committee is collecting phones that can be used to be given to victims through Bridging The Gap – Oregon.

Bridging The Gap – Oregon exists to help meet the needs of the sexually exploited through a collaborative effort among community partners.

Phones bust be Verizon unlocked iPhone 6s or compatible Android-type phones compatible with a 5G network. Verizon gift cards are also welcomed to cover the cost of phone service. All donations are tax deductible.

If you want to schedule drop off or pick up of phones and/or cards at a different time, please contact Dana Clark at rotaryendsextrafficking@gmail.com.

Around Rotary International
Rotary Commits To Vaccinating The Vulnerable At The Second Global COVID-19 Summit: Rotary’s strength in local communities and experience fighting polio can help get people who are still vulnerable vaccinated against COVID-19, Nigeria PolioPlus Chair Dr. Tunji Funsho said at a global summit about the pandemic that brought together heads of state, health officials, and philanthropic leaders.

The virtual summit on 12 May, hosted by Belize, Germany, Indonesia, Senegal, and the United States, sought to build on the goals of the first summit in September, including vaccinating more people, distributing more tests and treatments to high-risk countries, expanding the number of public health workers, and increasing funding for pandemic preparedness.

At a session focused on getting vaccines to the most vulnerable, Funsho spoke about Rotary’s work in bringing polio to the brink of eradication and how the global immunization infrastructure can be used in the global COVID-19 response.

“Our local Rotary clubs can conduct social mobilization to communicate the benefits of immunizations and our person-to-person and door-to-door strategies can achieve extraordinary results when it comes to vaccine hesitancy,” Funsho told the summit participants. “We are currently applying these same tactics to Rotary’s COVID response in Nigeria and other African countries.”

Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 requires the same sustained effort and commitment Rotary has demonstrated for decades in fighting polio, Funsho said. “We are positioned and ready to join, in partnership with others, to bring these resources and talents to vaccinate the world against COVID-19.”

Global leaders at the summit committed about $3.2 billion in new funding to fight the pandemic. The total funding now includes nearly $2.5 billion for immediate response to the pandemic, and $962 million in commitments to a World Bank fund for pandemic preparedness and global health security.

Watch Funsho’s summit remarks.

Last Week’s Program: Mary Jo Morelli, Friends of Historic Forest Grove

Click Here To Watch The Full Program

Mary Jo Morelli of the Friends of Historic Forest Grove joined us at our meeting last week to provide an update on the organization’s upcoming activities and to talk about how she became involved in historic preservation locally.

Mary Jo has been involved with FHFG for most of its existence. Founded in 1989, the organization was formed because the City of Forest Grove’s Landmarks Board could not raise the funds for the recognition of historic structures. The organization is now involved in the active preservation of history in Forest Grove, including the A.T. Smith House and the Old Train Station Museum.

It is the A.T. Smith House that has been Mary Jo’s primary focus with FHFG for the last 20 years. She first became involved in the effort to preserve the home in 1991, when she saw an article on the property in The Oregonian. She soon discovered that Metro was looking at the property, located south of town, for the site of a waste transfer station.

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, Mary Jo learned that federal funding could not be used to diminish structures that have been placed on the register. Because of this, the waster transfer station was instead placed along B Street.

The episode started the work to preserve the A.T. Smith House. Friends of Historic Forest Grove eventually used a combination of private contributions and grants to purchase the house in 2005. The home was paid off and the debt retired in 2009. In 2012, FHFG worked with an adjacent landowner to purchase 3.2 acres of land next to the house, which provides for direct access to Elm Street. They also helped the city to acquire the land as park property.

Upcoming events for FHFG include a series of open garden events, including one in the Blooming area (near Forest Hills Golf Course) on June 26 and at the Gales Creek Schoolhouse on July 27, a Mimosa and Muffins Forest Grove Garden event on August 13 and a Cemetery Tour on October 8.

For more information, please visit fhfg.org.

Club Calendar
Wed., May 25: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Brenna Fulks, Forest Grove Festival Street Plan

Wed., June 1: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Jim Moore, Pacific University, “Politics in the age of climate change.”

Wed., June 8: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Rotary Scholarship Recipients

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

Fri., June 10: Steak Feed, 5 p.m.
Pacific University Campus

Sun., July 17: Concours d’Elegance
Pacific University Campus