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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!: It was 100 years ago this week, Sept. 2, 1924 to be exact, that the Rotary Club of Forest Grove was chartered! We were the eighth Rotary Club to be chartered in the region now known as District 5100 and followed Hillsboro as the second chartered club in Washington County. We will officially celebrate our club’s 100th birthday on Saturday, Sept. 7, with a barbeque gala (see below).

No Wednesday Meeting This Week: We will not have a regular Wednesday meet this week. We will return to the Boxer Pause in the University Center at Pacific University on Wednesday, Sept. 11, with a Club Assembly.

Rotary Club of Forest Grove 100th Anniversary Celebration: We hope to see many of you on Saturday, Sept. 7 for our 100th anniversary celebration! We will meet at Carpenter Creek Winery, 47266 SW Carpenter Creek Road, Forest Grove. The celebration begins at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour, followed by a barbeque dinner and non-alcoholic drinks by Blues BBQ. Wine, beer and cider will also be available for purchase. Ticket sales for the event closed on Friday, Aug. 30.

The program will include entertainment, stories from the history of our club and celebrations of the impact our club has made over the last 100 years.

Thank to you our 100th Anniversary Celebration Committee, chaired by Julia Kollar, for all of their work in putting the evening together.

Rotary At Community Events In September: Our club will have a presence with a booth at two of the community’s larger events of the fall. We will have a booth at the 60th Forest Grove Corn Roast, Sat., Sept. 21, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., along College Way adjacent to Pacific University. We will need a total of eight people to work two-hour shifts at Corn Roast, which will feature our club’s new spinning prize wheel.

On Sat., Sept. 28, our club will also host a booth at the Forest Grove Oktoberfest and will be presenting a fishing game geared towards children.

If you are interested in working a booth shift, please contact Evelyn Orr.

There are additional volunteer opportunities at both events. Click Here for the Corn Roast volunteer sign-up. To volunteer for Oktoberfest, email oktoberfestfg@gmail.com.

Rotary Citation – Congrats To Our Club!: On Wednesday, current club president Lucas Welliver presented past president Amy Tracewell with the club’s 2023-24 Rotary Citation. The club earned the citation by achieving goals set in at least of 26 goal areas outlined by Rotary International. Our club set goals for 16 areas and achieved 15 in 2023-24. Our club has achieved the Rotary Citation (known moving forward as the Club Excellence Award) for most years in recent history. Forest Grove was one of just two clubs in District 5100’s Western Region to receive the Rotary Citation.

Road Cleanup – Oct. 5: Our club’s next semi-annual road cleanup has been scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 5. We will meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Oregon Department of Forestry offices at 801 Gales Creek Road, where will do cleanup of Gales Creek Road between Thatcher Road and Forest Gale Drive, and Thatcher Road between Gales Creek Road and David Hill Road. A sign-up will be distributed soon at our weekly meetings.

For more information on this long-standing service project, please contact Andrea Stewart or Paul Waterstreet.

Habitat For Humanity Service Project – Oct. 12: Our Community Service Committee is working with West Tuality Habitat for Humanity on a service opportunity for the club on Saturday, Oct. 12. Details will be available soon. The project will likely assist Habitat’s home repair program.

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.

Friends of Historic Forest Grove Displays: As part of celebrating the 50th Concours d’Elegance and the 100th anniversary of our club, Friends of Historic Forest Grove is looking for items to use for a lobby display to celebrate both milestones. The display will be located in the Old Train Station Museum at the corner of Main Street and 19th Avenue. A Concours display was presented in July. A display in September will highlight our club.

If you have items that you would be willing to loan to FHFG to promote the history of Concours and/or the club, you can also bring items to the museum during its open hours, Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

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 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.

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. Upcoming blood drives will be held on Friday, Sept. 27 at Pacific University and 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
Vibrant Club Workshop: This year’s Vibrant Club Workshop will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28. The pod for the West Region clubs (Forest Grove, Forest Grove Daybreak, Beaverton and Hillsboro) will take place at the Forest Grove United of Christ, 2032 College Way, and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The workshop will cover topics around membership, The Rotary Foundation and public image and will provide clubs time and topics to discuss to help strengthen their clubs. Club leadership and anyone interested in strengthening their clubs are encouraged to attend. If you are unable to attend in person, a virtual option will be available.

There is no feed to attend and snacks and beverages will be provided. After the workshop, everyone is invited to partake in the Forest Grove Oktoberfest, which will be taking place just outside the church.

Registration is now open on DacDB. We hope to see you there!

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

Last Week’s Program: Javin Frelin, RYLA
Last week, we had the opportunity to hear from one of our newest members, Javin Frelin, who had the opportunity to attend District 5100’s RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) as our club’s representative this year. Javin, who is a local real estate agent with John L. Scott Market Center, joined our club in February.

Javin up in Anchorage, Alaska, but moved to Oregon where he was able to get his real estate license at 18. He is now a dual-licensed agent in Oregon and Alaska and recently set up a second office in Alaska.

Javin started his presentation by going over what RYLA is all about, which is training and leadership development for young adults age 18-30. The RYLA program started around 80 years ago in Australia. It has been going for 40 years in District 5100 and is hosted each year at the Menucha Retreat Center in the Columbia River Gorge.

Javin described RYLA in three words: development, connection and service. He thanked Andrea for “suckering him” into going to RYLA. He was skeptical at first. He knew little about it before he showed up. He already had his career, so he wondered what the experience could do for him? But the experience proved very beneficial. He did not expect to get a life-changing experience.

Each day of RYLA had a theme, including family, business, public speaking and more. The seminar included four to seven speakers per day. Among the speakers was our own District Governor Jeannine Murrell, who publicly called out Javin 10 minutes into the opening session. She spoke on Rotary, the values of Rotary and The Four-Way Text.

Other speakers included Mike Stack, who helped people understand their vision. Helped Javin understand what his motivator is. Made a point of introducing himself to every speaker. One speaker, Hannah, who is a recruiter, helped Javin in establishing the team for his office in Alaska. Gary Schmidt from Toastmasters presented on public speaking.

Javin’s favorite part of RYLA was making connections and the friends that he met along the way. Got close with everyone at the event but was extremely close to what is called the “color group” that helped lead small group discussions. He was one of five men out of 24 RYLA participants. He said all the guys got close and had meaningful conversations about a variety of topics.

Javin’s main takeaways from RYLA were the connections he made, the new skills he learned, confirmation of the skills he already knew and a better understanding of himself.

Club Calendar
Wed., Sept. 4: No Meeting

Sat., Sept. 7: Rotary Club of Forest Grove 100th Anniversary, 5:30 p.m.
Carpenter Creek Winery, 47266 SW Carpenter Creek Rd., Forest Grove

Wed., Sept. 11: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Club Assembly/State of the Club

Thurs., Sept. 12: Executive Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Sept. 18: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: TBA

Thurs., Sept. 19: Board Meeting, 7 a.m.
via Zoom

Wed., Sept. 25: Weekly Meeting, Noon
Boxer Pause Room, University Center, Pacific University
Program: Michael & Claudia Yakos, Gardens of Hope