~ Newberg Noon Rotary Club Newsletter ~

Rotary Club of Newberg, Zoom Meeting

Wednesday, February 09, 2022

 

~ Call to Order ~

President Joe Morelock welcomed Rotarians and Friends of Rotary to the Hybrid Live/Zoom meeting at 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at the Chehalem Cultural Center.

 

~ Flag Salute ~

Jim lead participants in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

~ 4 Way Test ~

Karen 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 ~

Newberg Advantage Magazine:  The February issue is now out and features our article about the Kenya Project, but also some other interesting historical stories.

Pancake Breakfast:  Note that this is a lot of work and they are in need of volunteers.  Please reach out if you would like to join it, it is a lot of fun.  Aaron is in charge of the committee so get ahold of him to get involved.  This is very important and we would be very appreciative to anyone willing to be on the planning committee.

 

~ Guests ~

Felicity Cortese, Guest

Trish Jordan, Guest Speaker

River Knight, Guest, Shannon’s Baby

~ The Rotary Duck ~

Wendy: Welcomed her guests and good friends Felicity and Trish Jordan, the guest speaker.

Karen: Brag/shoutout to her granddaughter.

Rick: Couldn’t find his badge, and shared that while he was at the Rotary Club of Forest Grove, he was the Srgt at arms and he used to occasionally take all of the badges and put them out at tables to force his members to have to go find it and sit with and meet new people.  He also did a brag on Ralph who has been helping him with some electrical work that included very risky ladder usage.

Dan K: Mentioned that his wife just sent him some pictures of his almost 3 year old daughter’s first haircut.

 

 

~ Today’s Program: Red Lodge Transition Services with Trish Jordan ~

Trish Jordan is the Executive Director of Red Lodge Transition Services.  She is also a member of the Clackamas County Leadership, Development, Inclusion and Equity Council.  She is the lead volunteer for the Native Amerian Religious Services Program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and a member of the Native American Spirituality and re-entry advisory committee.  She speaks locally and nationally about women of color topics such as incarceration, domestic violence, and trauma.  She has worked with women in prison for more than 20 years and has clearance for 9 state prisons allowing her to work on complex native american prison issues.

Red Lodge Transition Services is a Native American led non-profit organization that provides culturally focused programs for women releasing from jail, prison or treatment.  They decided to begin an effort focused on serving native american women in prison and received their 501(c)3 status in 2007.  The Red Lodge Transition Center for Women opened in 2017, after a decade of fundraising, primarily through the sales of native american cultural art created by incarcerated individuals donating their art. It provides culturally-focused, gender-responsive programming, substance abuse aftercare, and case management (housing, employment, mentoring, money management), for Native and non-Native women upon return from treatment centers, jails and prison for women returning to Clackamas County. Their holistic model promotes wholesome values, and responsible earth practices.

She shared some insights on the prison system and stats on incarceration including the following notes:

  • Recidivism is defined as a return to prison within 3 years of release
  • the Recidivism rate is 1 in 4 in Oregon.
  • The cost per day per individual is $121 per day or $44,000 per year, and there is a lot of money
  • Services like this one can save a lot of money as the effort to prevent people from ending up in prison is 1/14th of the cost of them going to prison.
  • They had found through surveying and listening is that what women need for successful re-entry is programs and services while in prison to prepare them for release.  They are provided opportunities to learn skills needed: anger management, parenting, financial management, etc.
  • There are about 12,000 people in Oregon’s prison population.  Most of the population is lower income and a large ratio minorities/POC.  There is a lot of mental/physical health disorders that raises the cost to care for them.
  • Intergenerational incarceration is common among the native American population.  The Native culture did not have prisons and they were also introduced to alcohol and many drugs later than other peoples which made managing their habits more difficult.  Native Americans also suffer from historical trauma related to the loss of their history, culture, land, etc.  They are about 1.7% of the general population, but 5-7% of the prison population.  Drug offenses are the most common offenses for women.
  • Their organization contributed about 4,000 hours of time, bringing Native American cultural programs to prisons (pre-covid).
  • They help released inmates secure transportation, identifications, name changes, clothing, mentoring, educating, housing, financial planning, job searches, etc.

For more information about Red Lodge Transition Services, or to contribute to their cause, visit their website at www.redlodgetransition.org.

Check your e-mails for Mike Caruso’s Zoom meeting access information.

~ Joke of the Day ~

One tectonic plate bumped into another and said:
“Sorry, my fault.”

~ Happy Quotes! ~

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.  Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

– Dalai Lama

~ Published 2/14/2022: Dan Keuler, Newsletter Editor ~