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

This Week’s Meeting: We hope you will join us on Wednesday at noon for our weekly meeting in the Boxer Pause room in the University Center at Pacific University. This week we will have a club assembly and will honor our November Youth Citizens of the Month from the Gaston School District.

Upcoming Meetings: The remainder of our meetings in November will be held in the Boxer Pause room in the University Center at Pacific University. As per our usual Thanksgiving week tradition, we will not hold a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

Wreath Sales: Thank you to all of our Rotarians and friends who took part in our annual wreath sale. Wreaths will be available for delivery on Friday, Nov. 29. Details on how deliveries will work in forthcoming. Please contact Janet Peters with questions.

All proceeds from the wreath sale will benefit our Hope For The Holidays service project, which provides holiday meals to families experiencing food insecurity in partnership with Forest Grove High School’s Food Pantry.

Hope For The Holidays – Mon., Dec. 23: This year’s Hope For The Holidays food distribution will take place on Monday, Dec. 23, 4 p.m. at the Forest Grove High School Food Pantry. This is the closest that we have ever been able to have our project to Christmas. The plan once again is to provide holiday meals to 100 needy families.

There will be volunteer opportunities both at the actual event and preparing the boxes the day of the event. For more information, or to find out how you can participate with the logistics for the project, please contact Parri Van Dyke.

Troop 213 Christmas Tree Sales: Our chartered Scouting America Troop 213 will once again have their annual Christmas tree stand in the parking lot of Ballad Town Center (Safeway). The tree stand will open on Saturday, Nov. 30, and run through Dec. 23 or when tree sells out. The troop will have around 400 trees available for purchase. This is the troop’s major fundraiser for the year and primarily assists scouts in being able to attend summer camps.

The Rotary Club of Forest Grove has been the charter organization for Troop 213 for decades. If you can, please support the troop this holiday season.

Pickleball Evenings – Presented By Rotary: The Rotary Club of Forest Grove is helping to sponsor indoor pickleball Monday through Thursday evenings at the Forest Grove Armory, 2950 Taylor Way. Coordinated by Rotarian Steven Barnard, the evenings run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. There is a $5 fee to help cover facility rental. Players of all ages and ability levels are welcome with reserved courts for beginners and intermediate-level players.

For more information on the pickleball evenings, please contact Steven at 443-454-5177 or sbarnard@fgsd.k12.or.us.

Hurricane Helene & Milton Relief Efforts: If you are interested in supporting relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, you can support relief efforts by direct donation to Rotary Zones 33 and 34.  Zones 33 and 34 include the Southeast coast (Florida up to Delaware) and the Caribbean.

Message from Zones 33 & 34 Rotary Director Patrick Eakes:
I appreciate your concern and prayers as communities across zones 33 and 34 try to survive the next few days before starting the long recovery following Hurricane Helene.

We have established a fund where those who would like to assist recovery efforts by making a donation can do so via online payment, mailed check, or wire transfer. Information to make a donation is at https://www.rizones33-34.org/disaster-relief/. Our zones’ organization is a 501(c)(3), so donations are generally tax-deductible. Donors should check with their tax advisors.

We are collecting these funds at a zone level. I will ask district leaders, in cooperation with club leaders, in the most affected areas to submit requests for funding to a group of seasoned leaders (many with significant disaster relief experience) who I will appoint. This group will make recommendations to me to approve grants that will support the efforts of volunteers by providing equipment, tools, storage, mobile storage, etc. Our hope is that our donations can amplify the efforts of volunteers, which seems like a solid Rotary type of approach. When we can, we will leverage district grants and RI disaster relief grants (if/when they become funded again) to further maximize our impact.

Greeters Returning: President Lucas is bringing back the role of having greeters at our weekly meetings. This role will not be pre-assigned. Instead, the ninth and 10th Rotarians showing up a meeting each week will serve as greeters. Please be prepared to take on that responsibility and let President Lucas know if you have any questions.

Mentorship Program With Rotary: Since joining our club, Rotarians Cole Thursam and Javin Frelin have been exploring how to connect younger professionals to our club and to Rotary as a whole. The two are in the preliminary stages of developing a mentorship program for young professionals in the local community that would be tied to Rotary. If you would like to learn more or are interested in taking part in this effort, please contact Cole at or Javin.

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.

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.

Holiday In The Grove – Volunteers Needed: The City of Club of Forest Grove is looking for volunteers to assist with the annual Holiday In The Grove festivities on Saturday, Dec. 7. Opportunities are available during the day as “Tinsel & Tidings Helpers,” assisting in downtown with events, along with needs for Holiday Light Parade traffic control and the parade staging area. More volunteer opportunities will be added as the event comes closer.

Click Here to view opportunities or to sign up. For questions, please contact Donna Gustafson via email, dgustafsonconsulting@gmail.com.

Bloodworks Northwest Blood Drives: In an effort to build blood supplies in the Pacific Northwest, Bloodworks Northwest is sponsoring a number of blood drives in 2024 in Forest Grove. The next local blood drive will be held on Friday, Dec. 6 at the Forest Grove City Library. To sign up to give and set an appointment, please visit the Bloodworks Northwest website.

Around District 5100
November Is Rotary Foundation Month (by PDG Renee Campbell, District 5100 Rotary Foundation Chair): It takes donors at every level, according to our capacity, to fund the great work of our Rotary Foundation, and we are blessed in District 5100 with all those donors from Legacy and Bequest Societies, Arch Klumph Society, Major Donors, Paul Harris Society, Paul Harris Fellow, Sustaining Members, and Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) donors. Those EREY donations at $25-$50 raise over $5 million internationally each year. Every donation is welcome and appreciated.

It is so easy to contribute. Head to Rotary.org and there is a DONATE button on every page. There you can make a one-time gift or a recurring gift we call Rotary Direct at $25 or more per month, quarter, or annually. If you sign up for a recurring gift of $85 per month, which is $1,000 a year, you will be eligible for membership in the Paul Harris Society (PHS). You can join the PHS and make that pledge HERE.

May I offer an additional incentive if you are just getting started in your Rotary Foundation giving? If you sign up for Rotary Direct at $25 per month or more by November 30, we will provide 250 Paul Harris points to help you to your first or next Paul Harris Fellow recognition.

And if you join the Paul Harris Society at $1,000 per year, we will provide an additional 250 Paul Harris points toward your first or next Paul Harris Fellow recognition. This can be done with a monthly, quarterly, or an annual gift. Many choose to do this through a Required Minimum Distribution from their retirement account, donor advised fund, or an outright gift, etc.

Let me know if you have done either – or both – and you could receive a total of 500 points.

District 5100 Caravan To The 2025 Rotary International Convention: District 5100 is organizing a caravan to travel and stay together in Calgary for the 2025 Rotary International Convention. If you want to be a part of this exciting trip with fellow Rotarians, let us know. We are in the process of scheduling out our trip, and will send out the information so you can make your reservations for the trip.

The FIRST thing you MUST do if you want to be a part of this, is sign up for the Rotary RV Fellowship. This is how you will be able to get reservations in Calgary, as the parks are already full, or nearly full. We will be staying at Mt. View RV Park in Calgary. The RV Fellowship has this entire park on hold for its members. Go to www.rvfrna.org to sign up. Please do this right away.

For questions or more details, please contact PDG Steve Williams at 541-701-1320 or scwjlw@gmail.com.

Last Week’s Program: Tim Graham & Steven Barnard, CALC CTE Program
At last week’s meeting, Rotarians Tim Graham and Steven Barnard presented on the Forest Grove School District Community Alternative Learning Community’s Career & Technical Education program. Tim is the principal at CALC while Steven is the program’s social studies teacher.

Tim had presented on the start of the CTE Friday program last year and wanted to not only provide an update to the club but to also see about identifying new partners for the program.

Every CTE Friday, CALC takes students out in groups of 10-15 to different career sites. The field trips expose students to different career opportunities. Most of the focus of the program has been on family-wage career paths but includes the trades, high tech career and a variety of college-educated careers. The CTE Fridays are the class sessions most attended by CALC students.

The rationale of the program is to provide exposure to a variety of career paths. Most students don’t know the wide variety of career paths out there. The CTE Friday program provides and opportunity to explore potential service and career opportunities. They also try to build in some enrichment opportunities, such as outdoor activities or visiting museums, that they normally would not have a chance to visit.

CALC organized about 80 different field trips last year. It was very rewarding for the students and was chalk full of activities. The site visits included everything from the Forest Grove Fire Department to KPTV to Tri-Met to the Port of Portland to Job Corps and more. For the second year, want to add more partners to expose their students to even more career paths and to expose the community to their students.

Future plans for CTE Fridays would include job shadow experiences for seniors, to add high school level apprenticeships and to provide some early college opportunities. They are looking to start the job shadows in the spring with up to five students and mentors. Tim is actively looking for grant funding to help pay for coordination of the program.

If you know of people or businesses who might be interested in such a program, please contact Tim and/or Steven.

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

Thurs., Nov. 16
Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Nov. 20: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Jim Craft, Justin Lunt & MacKenzie Beeler, Pacific University Junior All Sport Camp

Thurs., Nov. 21: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Nov. 27: No Meeting – Happy Thanksgiving

Fri., Nov. 29: Wreath Sale Deliveries

Mon., Dec. 23: Hope For The Holidays Service Project, 4 p.m.
Forest Grove High School