Fawnda Shahalami

Communication is the hub of any healthy relationship and yet we have quick barriers we put in place when discussing politics.  Personal opinion and life experiences shape our stance on politics. What if we had communication tools to help put aside personal barriers and biases so each person could talk freely and without fear of…

Our guest speaker on Wednesday, March 27th, was Marla Estes, Jackson County Coordinator at Urban Rural Action. Marla was introduced by Oregon State Senator Jeff Gordon. Marla Estes has a background in Psychology. Since 2007 she has taught workshops and classes using film as a way to gain better understanding of ourselves and others. Her…

Thank you to the Rogue Valley After 5 club for hosting the Pints for Polio event at Beatrice on February 29th. A great fellowship opportunity for the United Rotary Clubs of Southern Oregon for a great cause. Super turnout with folks from several clubs across the valley.

The Bob Newland Track Meet will be held Friday, April 12 at South Medford High School. We are seeking 10-12 volunteers who can assist with the FIELD events at this meet for freshmen and sophomores. Volunteers will be paired with an upper-class athlete to do tasks such as rake the pit after a long jump,…

A little more women’s history in Rotary, our District and our Club; Today, 306,600 of Rotary’s 1.1 million international members from 46,000 clubs are women (roughly 30%). Locally, Rotary District chapter 5110, has 1140 women members (close to half). Medford Rogue Rotary’s first female members were Steff Johnson and Ruth Rabinovitch in 1987. Our Rotary…

Please welcome our newest member inducted to our club…. Jonah Liden, RCC’s, Community and Government Relations Coordinator.

Health News:  By Steve Miller Medicine 2.0: Increase Your Health Span Outlive, by Peter Attia, MD, changed my life. I want to share a few of the valuable insights I picked up. The history of medicine can be broken down into Medicine 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Medicine 1.0 originated in Hippocrates’ time and was largely…

Our Rotary Club presentation this week was all about Climate Change and Local Agriculture, presented by Maud Powell from OHSU Extension.  The impact of climate change on Small Farms is tremendous. Greatest climate change-related challenges facing farmers and farm workers; Shortened irrigation seasons (Increase in frequency and severity of drought in our area) Hotter and…

Women in Rotary From 1905 until the 1980s, women were not allowed membership in Rotary clubs. They were allowed in “Inner Wheel” clubs – created by some clubs for spouses of Rotarians. There were many service organizations for women in the United States when Rotary was formed, so there wasn’t much of a push to…

Please welcome our new members inducted (or should I say Re-Inducted) to our club…. Kurt Hildebrand (Oregon Community Foundation) and Jay Harland (CSA Planning).

Our Rotary Club presentation this week was on the State of the Criminal Justice System by our very own Beth Heckert, Jackson County District Attorney. Overwhelming evident from her presentation was how much our lack of jail capacity affects everything in the system. There is also an alarming national trend of a shortage of attorneys…

Today’s presentation was given by Detective Sergeant, Ben Lytle of the Medford Police Department. He shared local enforcement efforts to mitigate the increase in both labor and sex trafficking.  With notable increases in activities when Marijuana was legalized, and the influx of organized crime penetrated our communities. Detective shared stories of the collaborative work with…

The free community event, Winter in Candyland, held Saturday and Sunday, February 17th and 18th, was a huge success drawing over 3000 family members in its first year. This family-focused event was over a year-in-the-making and is a collaborative project between the Family Nurturing Center and the Medford Rogue Rotary. Local media was on hand…

Our guest speaker on Wednesday, February 14th, was Southern Oregon University’s President, Rick Bailey. President Bailey was introduced by club member Lyn Hennion, who served on the SOU Board of Trustees and chaired the Search Committee that hired him. President Richard J. Bailey, Jr., joined SOU in January 2022, after overseeing the resurgence of Northern…

Week one of a three-week basketball program was kicked off at Kids Unlimited last Saturday, February 10th. Coach Tom Cole, along with his South Medford Girls Basketball Team, are leading this clinic and the Medford Rogue Rotary is looking at picking back-up our support role for this great program. The Medford Rogue Rotary has supported…