~ Newberg Noon Rotary Club Newsletter ~
Rotary Club of Newberg, Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
~ Zoom Meeting Participants ~
Joe, Mike, Dan, Shannon K, Dale, Matt, Geoff, Todd, Doug, Tony, Jim, Spike, Judy, Paula, Michelle, Larry, Amber, Auggie, Lisa, Christy, Walter, Julie, Kathie, Brandy, Shannon B, Connie, Paul, Lynn, Patrick.
~ Call to Order ~
President Elect Joe Morelock welcomed Rotarians and Friends of Rotary to the Zoom meeting at 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, December 16, 2020. The Rotarians split out into breakout groups to start the meeting.
~ Flag Salute ~
Doug lead participants in the Pledge of Allegiance.
~ 4 Way Test ~
Shannon K lead participants in the recital of the 4 Way Test:
Rotary’s Four Way Test of the things we think, say and do:
#1 – Is it the TRUTH?
#2 – Is it FAIR to all concerned?
#3 – Will it BUILD GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
#4 – Is it BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
~ Announcements: Paul Harris Fellowships~
Today we had the honor of recognizing two Paul Harris Fellows. This is in recognition of members who contributed at least $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation in the fiscal year. Today we celebrate Jim McMaster and Grant Austin, both of whom were awarded their Paul Harris Fellow +6 (which means they have contributed over $7,000!)
Jim reminded everyone that as a donor you can earmark the money to be used for certain categories that you are passionate about. Jim and his wife donate for education. He also pointed out that this organization does amazing work with very low overhead costs.
Geoff reminded everyone to use Amazon Smile when purchasing from Amazon as it costs nothing and you can select any registered charity, one of which is Rotary International. (Editor note: if you want more information on this, feel free to reach out to Dan Keuler for more info or instructions)
~ Guests ~
No Guests Today
~ The Rotary Duck (Polio Plus)~
Mike: Mike pointed out that a former member Suzanne Miller recently received a PHF recognition as well. Due to her husband’s illness, they had to move to Arizona to be closer to family. He reached out to let her know that our club received her pin and that we would send it to her. She said to tell the club hello, that she misses us all. He also thanked everyone for their record setting donations this year.
Geoff: Noted that he donates to The Rotary Foundation and designate the money to go towards Polio. Also he spoke about his friend (a Rotarian from Vancouver) who donated Mead to the Auction. Jeff said that this friend runs Ethereal Mead, and if anyone wants to find a unique gift this year, he can point them into the direction of that seller of Mead. (Mead is wine made from Honey)
Paula: Gave sympathies to Auggie for Huskies not getting into the Pac-12 Championship game. Also noted that she will be rooting for the Ducks when they play USC in the Pac-12 Championship.
Spike: Spike, an avid Duck Fan, is also Rooting for them and is excited for the Women’s Basketball team at the University of Oregon.
Tony: Thanked the community for support for nearly 20 years in business in Newberg.
Brandy: Gave appreciation for having received beautiful and unexpected flowers from an unexpected source: Bethany Caruso. She appreciates the community and her fellow Rotarians.
Joe: Put in for the Ducks since his younger brother went to USC. Sibling Rivalry at its best! His father went to UCLA.
Lisa: Gave a Mom-Brag as her daughter graduated Portland State University last week! Congrats!
Auggie: Auggie continued his presentation of each of the 9 Rotary Quilt Squares, which he used as his virtual background.
Total Collected today for Polio Plus: $155
~ Today’s Program: Larry Strober – Classification Talk ~
Introduction: Larry Strober is a past District 5100 Assistant District Governor, the Principal consultant of Willamette Valley Consultants, and the 2016-17 Club President of the McMinnville Sunrise Rotary Club. He lives in Lafayette and is on the Peace Committee and bard member of Peace Village Global.
Larry shared that he, by nature, is a family man and a peacebuilder. He has a wife (with whom he recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary) and 2 sons (one California and on Oregon), and 5 grandchildren. He is also an advocate for small businesses on a professional level. His lineage and his grandparents are from Ukraine. They immigrated to the US to Brooklyn New York, where Larry’s Parents grew up and he spend much of his childhood. Larry was also a big baseball fan and was hugely disappointed when the Dodgers moved to LA, only a couple of years after Celebrating their World Series Victory back in 1955. Larry also left Brooklyn when his parents moved to Long Island during his high school years. He graduated and went to Bucknell University and joined a fraternity and was in a Doo-Wop group!
Late into his College years he joined the Army ROTC and was assigned to the Signal Corp to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey where they distributed defense terminals (satellites) worldwide. His having received that experience, and a medal to boot, provided him the resume he needed to go out and get a great job and even to meet his wife in Tustin, California. His early professional life was in computing technology, working for Hazeltine, MicroPro, Supercalc, Circuitwriter, Intesoft, and Quvis (working on digital projects like Toy Story and Pirates of the Caribbean).
He started a family and moved to McMinnville for its great location and accessibility to Portland Music. His consulting business out of McMinnville was selected to work with America’s SBDC of Oregon to provide consulting work to Yamhill County Small Businesses. He was then recruited to join Rotary while attending a Greeters event by the now President of the McMinnville City Council. He loved Rotary and joined immediately. His Rotary Creedo is “Making a Difference.” An avid fan of the game Bocce Ball, he began organizing Boccee Ball Tournaments, raising thousands of dollars for charity over 6 years. Mike Caruso even played in his tournaments for many years. He also made the McMinnville Sunrise Club a Peacebuilder club. He also got involved with the Elijah Interfaith Institute, which is an organization that brings all major religions and religious leaders together for interfaith collaboration and peacemaking. As a Jewish man, he prides himself on his interfaith relationships with members of all religious communities. Another Rotary based project he has been involved in is the Special Olympics helping with Bocce Ball. Larry worked with Newberg’s Peace Village and also helped create Peace Village in McMinnville, working with his Club and their Interact Clubs. They have planted 8 or 9 Peace Poles in the McMinnville Area, with more on the way. He is anxious to work hard in the Newberg Club, spearheading and participating in all Peacebuilding activities and other important work.
Welcome Larry!
~ Next Week’s Program: ~
Check your e-mails for Mike Caruso’s Zoom meeting access information.
~ Joke of the Day ~
Q: How do the North Pole Accountants value Santa’s Sleigh?
A: Net Present Value
~ Happy Quotes! ~
“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”
– Bob Hope
~ Published 12/30/2020: Dan Keuler, Newsletter Editor ~
Currently, due to Covid, the Chehalem Cultural Center is closed, but does have exhibits and you CAN make an appointment to come visit and see the exhibits by calling the front desk and making arrangements. There are currently 3 exhibits and this is a great way to safely get out of the house and experience art locally.
The Lajoie Theatre is named after Merlin and Sandy Lajoie, local philanthropists whose family owned Newberg Garbage back in the day, and they made a generous donation towards the project due to their love of art and theater. The goal is to complete and officially open the theatre in Spring of 2023. This is the last large public space left to renovate in the CCC. The idea is for it to be a real community space where different production companies can utilize it to bring performance art to the community. They are not looking to be a theatre company, but provide space for established theatre companies to use. Additionally, this phase will include a lobby remodel, green rooms, and backstage areas. The total project is estimated to cost approximately $5 million, half of which they have already secured, while they are also hoping to significant government funding, which has seen widespread support from local and state politicians, as well as various private donations and grants. Any and all donations are appreciated towards this project. You can talk to Sean about what opportunities there are even seat sponsorships which includes getting custom engravings with your name or someone you want to honor onto the backs of the seats in perpetuity for a donation of $2,500. Sean also said that he is soliciting ideas for what their first shows should be in 2023.
Paul shared that a few months ago, the District contacted us that we had some grant money available. We put in an application for a grant whereby we partnered with Love Inc to use the money on a food program that helps people in need of food. The money went towards gift cards at Grocery Outlet that would be awarded to people who completed Love Inc’s “Life Healing Choices” or their “Money Management” class as an incentive and congratulations for completion of the course. They received a $25 gift card halfway through the course and another $25 gift card after completing the program. The club received thank you notes from several recipients. Shout out to Sean Elliot, the owner of Grocery Outlet and Love Inc for this partnership and all of the other community service he does for the community!
In 2017 she met her now husband, Tommy (seen in the leftmost photo along with her nephews), and together they made the move away from Nebraska to Oregon where she became the executive director for Dental 3, a nonprofit that serves the Portland Metro Area providing preventive dental care for children in low income elementary and middle schools. She realized that her passion was in helping people struggling with poverty, and in July became the Youth Outreach Director for YCAP, here in Yamhill County.
Rwanda is a the “Country of 1000 Hills” named for its terrain, and is located right in the heart of Africa. It is very small but very densely populated. After she and her husband graduated from GFU, they made plans to serve in India to work with the organization Evangelical Friends Mission, but they ended up being sent by the organization and by God to Rwanda, which happened to be during an extremely politically dangerous period. Her family was even robbed at their home, at gunpoint on her second week living there! They were so committed to helping/serving that they stayed, persisted, and learned the language, which is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn. She found that the people of Rwanda had a great enthusiasm at church but went home to terrible standards of living, where they had high fatality rates to illnesses and poor educational attendance. Debby decided to spend her time serving in Rwanda to work to really provide a whole-life transformation for the people of her new community. She partnered with Discipleing for Development, a group that helped with those efforts of working with the people towards improving the communities. They succeeded in helping many people help themselves in terms of getting out of poverty, which rippled out positivity and improvements in other aspects of life. Their success included really doing research, working with the people to make sure they recognize what needs they have and are ready to buy into. They even worked with the United Nations and learned from past mistakes made from other organizations or past efforts. She really strived to empower the people to change their own minds and believe in themselves and what they are working towards, to ensure that they become self-sustaining rather than reliant on the missionaries.
She also started and ran a school, teaching other kids of missionaries. Her kids very much enjoyed growing up in Africa, and attended a Christian school in Kenya. Their campus even was home to interesting wildlife including Baboons and monkeys.