Medford Rogue Rotary

Health Notes Organ Donation Hey Rotarians, are you about to renew your Oregon driver’s license at the DMV?   Do your part and become an organ donor.  Just add it to your application.  Or you can add it to your existing Oregon license by visiting organdonor.gov . The need for organ donation is great.  Currently, 103,412…

If you are wondering who some of the newest members of the Medford Chamber of Commerce are, you should click on the link below  https://web.medfordchamber.com/directory/results.aspx?NewMemberSearch=true&adkeyword=NewMember  which will take you to the list of new members in the last 45 days.  And, one new member you might recognize is…  us! the Medford Rogue Rotary.  We officially…

Welcome Akinora! Our new exchange student, Akinora Oka, arrived on August 12th. He was greeted at the airport by Kevin and Fawnda Shalami, Kellie Hill, Sally Buck, Samantha and Abbey Hageman “Aki” attended last week’s club meeting and was introduced by Beth Zerkel, along with his Host Mom, Janel Yergen, from the Rogue Valley After…

Dennis Mihocko, facilities manager, of St. Vincent de Paul Society in Medford, joined our club on Wednesday, August, 23rd to recognize Andy Batzer for his tremendous leadership and service coordinating the installation of a playground structure at the Family Homeless Shelter. Dennis Mihocko expressed his sincere gratitude on behalf of the entire organization for the…

Linda Brown, co-chair of the World Community Services Committee, provided an update on the success of the club in receiving matching funds for two grants for 2023-2024, the educational program in Guatemala and the Water Filtration Project in Puerto Rico. Two other clubs have also donated $2000 each, plus matching district funds, for the project…

We had a great turnout Wednesday, 8/16, at HRL Brewery and Pubbery for the Candy Land social. Twenty-one Rotarians and guests showed up to make giant lollipops and hard candy bigger than your head. A super productive and fun event thanks to Joy Marshall’s organization and “herding of the cats”. Surprisingly enough, no serious injuries…

On Friday, August 4th, club members visited TouVelle State Park and enjoyed the Happier Hour at Rogue Discovery Park fellowship event. This family friendly event began with a jet boat ride to the park where they enjoyed live music by Seth Hansson (acoustic rock) as well as food, beverages, and many fun activities on land…

Doug Schmor introduced our guest speaker, Mike Doil, the Business Development Manager at the Jackson County Airport. Mike began this new position in April moving from Los Angeles and resides in Jacksonville. Mike’s excitement about the current state and the future of the airport was evident as he provided us with several several interesting facts:…

Our inbound exchange student  arrives Saturday Aug 12 on the Delta Flight from Seattle at approx. 5:30 PM.  Please consider coming to the airport to welcome him. The 23 Aug club meeting will be the first  regular club meeting he will attend.  If you would like more information about our student please contact Sally Buck  @sbuckemail@gmail.com

Phil Meyer introduced our guest speaker, Peggy Carlaw, ShelterBox ambassador.  Peggy joined us via Zoom from New Zealand at 7:30 am her time. ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity established in 2000 in Helston, Cornwall, UK, that provides emergency shelter and other aid items to families around the world who have lost their homes to…

Speakers David Wright and Al Densmore delivered a presentation on their grass roots and deep dive efforts to better understand the local homeless situation, the sea of agencies working to make a difference, and how we as citizens might be able to assist.  Measure 110, which decriminalized personal possession of hard drugs in Oregon, was…

Guest speaker Nathan Seable presented our club with all sorts of fun facts and history of our state parks here in Southern Oregon.  Did you know Valley of the Rogue State Park had over 95,000 visitors in 2022?  Did you know Wolf Creek Lodge is a State Park and was built in1883 as a rest…

Our guest speaker at the club meeting on 7/5/23 Alan White.  Mr. White was introduced by Jan Hildebrandt and educated the club on the situation in Sierra Leone. He presented the club with the opportunity to learn more about justice for the Blood Diamond victims.

Another great turnout to assist the Children’s Festival with set-up on Saturday and tear down on Monday. This volunteer opportunity has been a long-standing tradition for the Medford Rogue Rotary Club and is always a great fellowship opportunity. Thank you to everyone who showed up to help.

“The Passing of the Gavel” – Club meeting on 6/29 focused on the transition of the club presidency from Ian Foster to Kellie Hill. Kingsley Kelly and Claudette Moore did a great job emceeing the event celebrating the contributions of Ian Foster during his year as president, while also looking forward to this upcoming year…