Started a quarter-century ago, Rotary's outreach to worldwide disasters (300 events in 100 countries) through Shelter Box has taken volunteers and their iconic carton of emergency supplies to countries from Syria to Haiti, Nigeria to Mozambique, Ukraine to the Philippines. "We've sheltered over 2.2 million people over the last twenty years," reported Lora Helmer, Rotary […]
The Spring Conference has traditionally been the time for exchange students, both inbound and outbound, to have the final training for outbounds and last chance for the inbounds to get together before heading to their home countries. Last year, of course, there were neither inbounds nor outbounds, but this year there are 31 outbound students […]
New Avenues for Youth aims "to support young people and make their lives better," Executive Director Sean Suib told Portland Pearl Rotarians on May 24. From its mission statement (www.newavenues.org): "New Avenues for Youth is a Portland-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention and intervention of youth homelessness. Our services for young people (ages 9-24) […]
Paul Lumley, chief executive officer of the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), is a leader with multiple, far-reaching visions. That became obvious to Pearl Rotarians when he spoke to the club, via Zoom, on May 3. Serving 50,000 Native Americans in the Portland metro area, Paul supervises efforts that emanate from the center […]
The Monday, April 25, event--sponsored by the Portland New Generations and Pearl Rotary Clubs--culminated with District Governor Jim Boyle selecting four winning raffle tickets. The two clubs have combined forced over the last six years with summer golf tournaments to raise money. That "synergy" was noted by DG Jim as the program for sixty guests […]
Adam Steckel, Pearl Rotary's vocational service director, returned to in-person breakfast meetings April 5 and presented a banner from the Club Rotario Neiva Noches Platenas, Columbia. Adam spent a month in the South American country, touring projects with PPRC involvement (current and prospective). While gone from Portland, he stayed intact with Pearl RC, typically Zooming […]
K9 Kavalry, represented by Dan Regester and "Ranger," a trained adult male chocolate labrador, came to Pearl Rotary to share the story of service to veterans from the Clark Co. (WA)-based non-profit. K9K's mission, from its website (k9kavalry.org), is to "provide dog training and camaraderie" to veterans, many of whom are challenged with PTSD from […]
The impact on children made worldwide through the Spoon Foundation came to the Pearl Rotary podium 3/29 in the person of Mishelle Rudzinski, co-founder and executive director. Founded in 2007 by two women who were adopting children from Kazakhstan, Spoon developed a mission to improve the nutritional status for children who were living in homes […]
On the eve of her organization's gala fundraiser (PHAMEtastic 2022), Jenny Stadler visited Portland Pearl Rotary as its Tuesday morning breakfast speaker (3/15/22). PHAME's executive director since 2017, Jenny brought the story of her organization's commitment to providing arts opportunities for people with disabilities in the Portland area. "Imagine a world where people are told, […]
