We inducted our newest members at last week’s meeting. From left: Tim Graham, Steven Barnard, Membership Chair Evelyn Orr, President Amy Tracewell, Javin Frelin and Cole Thursam.

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

This Week – At Pacific University: The Rotary Club of Forest Grove is back to meeting in the Boxer Pause in the University Center at Pacific University. The room is located on the main level of the UC, through the dining commons. As we have in past meetings at Pacific, we will take our meals through the main dining commons. Join us this week as we will hear from our inbound Youth Exchange student, Fareeha Nayebare.

Welcome Javin & Steven: At last week’s meeting, we were proud to welcome our two newest members of the Rotary Club of Forest Grove, Steven Barnard and Javin Frelin. Steven is a teacher at the Forest Grove School District’s Community Alternative Learning Center and was sponsored for membership by Tim Graham. Javin is a real estate broker with John L. Scott Market Center and was sponsored for membership by Cole Thursam. We hope to have bios on both Steven and Javin posted on the club website soon.

Crab Feed: Mark your calendars! Our annual Crab Feed social event will take place on Wednesday, Apr. 3 at the Forest Grove Senior & Community Center. Join us for an evening of fellowship and recognition of our Paul Harris Fellows. This will be an evening event and there will be no noon meeting that day.

Tickets for the Crab Feed can be ordered now. Prices for Crab Feed tickets, and the appropriate links for ordering, are as follows:

Regular Crab Feed Ticket – $45 per person: https://bit.ly/3IcbXOC
Vegetarian Or Children’s Meal – $25 per person: https://bit.ly/3wwZRNA
One Pound Crab Meat To Go – $35 per pound: https://bit.ly/3SWpi2s
Two Pack Of Steak – $20 per pack: https://bit.ly/3T9nncd
Red/White Wine – $10 per bottle: https://bit.ly/3TeqpuP

If you are interested in being involved in the planning and execution of this year event, please contact Julia.

Silent Auction At The Crab Feed: At this year’s Crab Feed, we will once again be conducting a silent auction with all proceeds benefitting The Rotary Foundation. The committee is looking again for items such as themed baskets, weekend getaways, gift cards or experiences. In past years, the silent auction has been very successful in helping us meet our club’s annual Rotary Foundation giving goals.

If you would like to make a donation, please contact Parri Van Dyke, vandykeparri@gmail.com. Thank you to Parri and Evelyn Orr, who are coordinating the silent auction.

Scholarship Applications Open: The application period is now open for our 2024 Rotary Club of Forest Grove Scholarship Program. The program is open to graduating high schools that reside in the Forest Grove, Banks and Gaston school district attendance areas. These scholarships are made largely responsible by proceeds raised through our annual Concours d’Elegance car show. The one-time scholarships help pay for the first year of college or vocational school in the United States.

This year, applications for the program will only be accepted through the Going Merry website, which helps administer scholarship programs for a number or organizations in the U.S. Instructions on how to use the website and application instructions are available on our Rotary Scholarship Web Page.

The deadline for applications is Apr. 11, 2024. For questions, please contact Scholarship Committee chair Sharon Olmstead via email, sharon.olmstead8571@gmail.com.

Forest Grove HS Interact Club: Our inbound Youth Exchange student, Fareeha Nayebare, has restarted the Interact Club at Forest Grove High School! Meetings take place on Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. All Rotarians are welcome. The club is currently preparing for a service project with the high school’s Food Pantry. For questions, please talk with Fareeha at our meetings.

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.

Concours News
2024 Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance, presented by the Rotary Club of Forest Grove
Sunday, July 21 on Pacific University’s Forest Grove Campus

Concours Website | Enter A Car | 2024 Concours Weekend Schedule

Concours Committee Meetings: The Concours d’Elegance Committee is starting the planning for our 50th show on July 21, 2024. If interested in getting further involved with the Concours, the steering committee is always looking for volunteers to prepare for the show throughout the year. For more information, contact Tom Raabe at 503-704-1200 or rotarytomr@gmail.com or Geoff Johnston at 503-939-7868 or gamsma@comcast.net.

The next meeting of the Concours Committee will be Tuesday, Mar. 12 via Zoom.

February Meeting: Click Here To View The Notes From February’s Concours Meeting

Sponsorships: Sponsorships go a long way to increasing the profit of the Concours, which goes to fund our scholarship program and our club’s other outreach activities. To learn more about available sponsorships, Click Here to contact Tim Pearson at 503-998-8616 or timpearsonpc@gmail.com.

Polo Shirts: We still have a number of our club Concours polo shirts available for new members or club members who did not get one last year. The blue shirts have the Concours logo on the front and the club logo on the sleeve and are the work shirts we wear during the event. Shirts are $30 each. If you would like a shirt, please contact Tim Pearson.

Portland Swap Meet – Volunteers Needed: We will once again be promoting the Concours at the Portland Swap Meet, Apr. 5-7 at the Portland Expo Center. We will be looking for Rotarians to fill two-hour shifts to promote the show, hand out flyers and man our booth. If you are interested in volunteering, or have questions, please contact Tom Raabe or Jim Crisp.

Service Opportunities For Club Members
Do You Know Of Service Opportunities?: Are you aware of service opportunities in our area that our members might be interested in? We can advertise those here! This space is not limited to club-sponsored activities but to any service opportunity in the community. To promote the service activity, please send a detailed description of the project, the date and time, contact information and a link to register to Rototeller editor Blake Timm, blakertimm@gmail.com.

Upcoming Habitat For Humanity Service Project: The club is working with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity for a joint service project in May. We will have more details on this service opportunity soon.

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 Mondays from 4-5:30 p.m. The pantry is located along Nichols Lane between the football field and the Basinski Center. Click Here for more information on the FGHS Food Pantry and on other resources for those experiencing food insecurity.

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.

Around District 5100
Registration Now Open For Rotary One Conference: Make your plans now to attend the One Rotary Conference, District 5100’s combined training assembly and annual conference. This year’s conference runs from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28 at the Best Western Hood River Inn in Hood River. This is a wonderful opportunity to not only learn more about Rotary, but to connect with Rotarians from all across the District.

The annual conference includes district training sessions on both Friday and Saturday. Friday evening features a barbeque dinner buffet and the annual Youth Exchange Talent Show (which will feature our Youth Exchange inbound student, Fareeha Nayeabre), a dinner event on Saturday and the annual awards ceremony and passing of the district governor banner on Sunday.

As our own Jeannine Murrell will be receiving the banner in advance of her district governor year, we would like to see as many members of our club as possible attend the conference to support her!

A link to register for the conference, along with the schedule of events and a link for hotel reservations at the Rotary rate, can be found at This DacDB Link (you must log in to DacDB to access). Registration closes on Apr. 9.

Rotary Friendship Exchange Hosts Needed: Eight Rotarians from District 3261 in northeast India will be visiting District 5100 for a Rotary Friendship Exchange this June. The District is looking for Rotarians who can provide accommodations for our guests, which include four couples. They are looking for housing and possibly drivers who can help them travel between areas. It would be a bonus if meals and sightseeing is involved.

Our Friendship Exchange guests will be based in the Portland Metro Area from June 4-6, in Eastern Oregon (Pendleton) for four days and finally in Greater Clark County for four days.

If you would like more information or are interested in hosting, please contact District Friendship Exchange Chair Dennis Wickham via email, wickhamdj@comcast.net, or Rotarian Shantu Shah, shantu.shah@gmail.com.

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

Last Week’s Program: Farmer’s Day/Dan Lewis,Northwest Seed Company

Last week, we brought back a long-time Rotary Club of Forest Grove tradition with the celebration of Farmer’s Day. We were proud to welcome a number of local farmers to our meeting and treat them to lunch as a thank you for all that they do for our community.

We were happy to welcome as our program Dan Lewis of Northwest Seed Company. Over the last 21 years, Northwest seed has been the only Pioneer Seed representative in western Oregon. Dan presented on the process of growing corn.

While corn is grown for food for human consumption, corn is primarily grown for silage to feed to dairy cows. Over the last 10 years, advances in shorter, maturing corn hybrids have made corn a profitable venture for farmers.

Many years, there is not enough growing season to get corn dry enough in the field. The moisture needed to dry corn should be a maximum of 15%. There is often too high of humidity in late September and early October to dry corn fully. The new ultra-short season hybrids of corn available to plant now can dry in the field, but there is a lower yield potential.

Dan went over some of the economics related to corn. Yields typically range from 175 to 300 bushels per acre with a price typically $1.50 to $2 over the CBOT price. The planting date and hybrid maturity are the biggest drivers in yield potential, but water and fertility play a role as well.

There are continuous flow dryers that can help increase the yield of corn. Northwest Seed has a continuous flow dryer built in 2022 that allows the company to increase grain storage and sell grain through the winter.

Club Calendar
Wed., Feb. 28: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Fareeha Nayebare

Wed., Mar. 6: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Grove Room, Forest Grove School District Office, 1728 Main St.
Program: District Governor Renee Brouse

Tues., Mar. 12: Concours Committee Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Mar. 13: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Club Assembly

Thurs., Mar. 14: Executive Board Meeting, 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Mar, 20: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause, University Center, Pacific University
Program: To Be Announced

Wed., Apr. 3: Crab Feed
Forest Grove Senior & Community Center
Evening Meeting. There will be no noon meeting on Apr. 3