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

Club Announcements
Hope For The Holidays: Before you know it, it will be time for one of our club’s most anticipated service projects, Hope For The Holidays. We have been approved for a $2,500 matching grant from District 5100 for the project. Coupled with a $1,000 grant from Walmart, we are well on our way. We will begin our club fundraising for the program at our November 6 meeting.

For those who are new to the club, Hope For the Holidays is an annual project where we provide money, through a store gift card, to under-privledged families to help make the holiday season a bit brighter. We identify families with the help of local school district, Habitat for Humanity and other local groups. On our shopping night (date announced soon), Rotarians assist families in making their purchases.

Holiday Light Parade: We are once again planning to have a float in the annual Forest Grove Holiday Light Parade, which takes place on Saturday, Dec. 7. Tara Cirlincione is once again leading this up and will have additional details soon.

Rotaract Career Development Workshop: The Pacific University Rotaract Club will be holding a Career Development Workshop for its membership on Thurs., Nov. 14, from 7-8 p.m. at the university. They are looking for members from our club who are willing to give a 5-minute talk about their career and then meet with students in one-on-one sessions to discuss your career path.

The club is particularly interested in members that have careers as an optometrist, physical therapist, registered nurse, engineer, teacher, police officer, doctor, social worker as well as professions in the tech sector, healthcare administration and business. If you are interested in able to attend, please contact either Elenar Rasos or Alesha Casayuran.

Blue Badges Awarded: We awarded another Blue Badge on Wednesday as Kerri Willis received hers after fulfilling all of her new member obligations. We look forward to your continued contributions to the club, Kerri!

Speaking Of New Members: We have new members who are stepping right up to take on leadership roles in the club. Chris Barron is doing a great job as our song leader and Kerri Willis has agreed to lead our RYLA committee after having attended over summer. Thank you both!

Committee Assignments: A list of committee assignments for the club was sent out last week by President Tim Pearson. If you would like to be on a specific committee, or do not see your name on a committee list, let Tim know.

Honoring Veterans: We would like to invite veterans to join us for our Wed., Nov. 13 meeting as a way to honor them for their service to our country’s armed forces. The club will provide lunch for those veterans. If you will be bringing a veteran with you, please President Tim know by Wed., Nov. 6.

November 20 Meeting: Instead of meeting the Boxer Pause for our Wednesday, Nov. 20, we will instead meet at the Ridgewalker Mail Room Event Center, 1822 21st Ave., Forest Grove.

Holiday Meetings: The club will “go dark” (Rotary term for not hold a meeting) on the following upcoming Wednesdays: November 27 (in observance of Thanksgiving), December 25 (Christmas Day) and January 1 (New Year’s Day).

Concours d’Elegance Update: Court Carrier presented to the club on some of the ideas about trying to expand activities around the Concours weekend in an effect to bring more people to town from a tourism perspective. He is looking for individuals interested in helping develop and initiate activities that will complement Concours, but not conflict from the event, which is our largest fundraising activity. If you have ideas, or are interested in being part of a committee, please contact Court at 971-404-7864 or ccarrieriv@gmail.com.

 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.

Next Week’s Duty Roster: Make note of your assignment!
Greeters: John Schrag & Gail Sheelar
Thought for the Day: Tom Raabe
Rototeller Article: Mark Nakajima
Raffle Prize: Ken Cunningham

Last Week’s Program: Lauren Quinsland, Forest Grove Police Department
The Forest Grove Police Department provided our program for the second time in three weeks. This week, Lauren Quinsland, the department’s community outreach specialist, presented a program on scams and how to be aware of when you might be experiencing a scam.

Lauren discussed some of the more common scams that are out there, such as IRS and utility scams, grandparent/family scams, social security scams, computer support scams, phishing scams (emails that say to have to update your account information) and prize scams, among others.

Lauren provided some tips on ways to be aware and look out for when you are being scammed.

•  If someone calls identifying themselves as a government agent, be aware of how specific they are speaking. If they using acronyms (IRS instead of Internal Revenue Service), it might be a scam.

• Government agencies will never ask for money by phone, they will do so by letter through the mail. Likewise, the police will never call for payment in lieu of threatening arrest. If the police are going to arrest you, they will just show up at your door.

• If someone identifies themselves as a local law enforcement officer and you suspect it is a scam, ask for their badge number. Law enforcement officers in Oregon do not have badge numbers.

• On emails and online offers that look too good to be true, pay particular attention to the email address or the website address. It may look like it is coming from Amazon, but the address may simply only have the word Amazon in it and take you to a scam look-alike site.

• Do not be afraid to ask lots of questions to determine if you are being scammed. In many case, if you ask many questions the scammer will simply give up.

• If you believe you are a victim of a scam, contact the Forest Grove Police Department non-emergency dispatch at 503-629-0111.

Club Calendar
Wed., Nov. 6: Weekly Meeting, Noon, Pacific University
Program: Kevin Barton, Washington County District Attorney
Tues., Nov. 12: Concours d’Elegance Meeting, 7 p.m., Forest Grove Chamber
Wed., Nov. 13: Weekly Meeting, Noon, Pacific University
Program: Nathanael Andreini, Washington Country Museum
Thurs., Nov. 14: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m., Moore & Welliver Lawyers
Thurs., Nov. 14: Rotaract Career Development Workshop, 7 p.m., Pacific University