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Welcome to Portland Pearl Rotary

The Portland Pearl Rotary

Welcome to the Portland Pearl Rotary. Please join us at our frolicking, fun, and informative breakfast meetings.

You'll find us at the Ecotrust Building in the beautiful Pearl District of Portland, Oregon on Tuesday mornings at 7:25am.

See you there!

Our Mailing Address is PO Box 2521 Portland OR 97208

Please visit our short video about our club!!!

Ecuador connections through youth exchange at Aug. 18 meeting

Written by Donald Q. Smith

Saturday, 22 August 2009

Ecuador connections through youth exchange at Aug. 18 meeting

"Nothing that we do in Rotary is more fulfilling than a successful youth exchange." That was part of Past President Myron Fehr's introduction Aug. 18 of Beki Howard, who returned in June after a year as Portland Pearl Rotary's long-term outbound to Portoviejo, Ecuador.

And in a 20-minute presentation in words and images, Beki demonstrated that the experience was life-changing. "When you're a Rotary youth exchange student," she said, "the world just shrinks."

Beki, who turned 16 on her exchange, attended a year of high school (she's soon to begin her senior year at Molalla High School). Her trips with 126 fellow exchange students in District 4400 took her to the Amazon ("it was gorgeous," she said of a boat trip down the river) and to the Galapagos Islands (she showed pictures of hugh turtles and giant iguanas). Her host club of 40 Rotarians, amazingly, hosted nine students and sent 11 abroad through Rotary y.e.

She came home with "a new mindset," Beki admitted. A slide show revealed a year of smiles, travel experiences, new friends from throughout the world and a concluding image written in the sand of a beach: "I Love Ecuador."

"You can't experience this on any other program," she concluded. "I can't thank you guys enough."

Aug. 18, by coincidence, became "Ecuador Day" at PPRC. Also attending were two participants in the 5100 short-term youth exchange program.

Elise Zeidman of Portland spent five weeks on Quito on short-term y.e.; Ximena Viteri Gaibor, her host sister in Quito, is here now to complete the exchange.

"An overwhelming experience," expressed Elise, who attends Cleveland High School and was one of three short-term exchanges sponsored by Pearl Rotarians. "It was different than anything I had ever known."

Echoing Beki, Elise aded: "I got to do so many things I never get to do; it can only happen in a program like this."

Ximena also spoke in Spanish. Among her memories: Discovering how cold the Pacific Ocean in Oregon is compared to what she knows of the same body of water in Ecuador. "Muy frio," she said with a smile.

No doubt Beki Howard had the same experience last year, in reverse.

Caption for picture:

Ecuador was on the agenda at the August 18, 2009, meeting (from left): President Don Smith; long-term youth exchange returnee Beki Howard; Elise Zeidman of Portland, who spent five weeks on Quito on short-term y.e.; Ximena Viteri Gaibor, her host sister in Quito (now in Portland to complete the exchange); and club officer Dave Bangsund.

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Welcome to Portland Pearl Rotary Club

Rotary International was founded in February 1905 in Chicago, Illinois by Paul Harris. Portland Pearl Rotary (PPR), one of some 31,000 local Rotary Clubs established since then, was founded initially in 1975 as Portland Industrial Rotary Club to serve the industrial area of Northwest Portland. Over the years the character of Northwest Portland has changed greatly as has our club.
To reflect these changes, in 2005 Portland Industrial Rotary changed its name to Portland Pearl Rotary and moved from Northwest Portland to the center of the Pearl District.

Our Programs

What does PPR do besides listen to great programs over breakfast?

Fellowship is a Cornerstone: We build Club fellowship though our weekly meetings, frequent social events (holiday dinner, summer picnic, monthly social hours after work) and by working on community service projects and serving on Club committees.
Community Service: Programs serving our community are at the core of PPR's commitment
to "Service Above Self." Examples include delivering Meals on Wheels every Friday, leaning up our parks, and participating in special projects for local nonprofit organizations.
International Projects: We have participated in funding micro banks in Guatemala and in the development of a school water system in Honduras. We are currently helping fund a Women's Health project in Fiji. And we are exploring ways to partner with Portland's Fire Bureau to expand its training and equipment assistance to firefighters in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Youth Exchange: Every year we host an incoming Rotary Youth Exchange high school student from another country and also sponsor an outgoing exchange student from Portland to attend school for a year overseas.
Local Organizations: We extend financial support to selected non-profits which serve the local area such as: Albertina Kerr Centers, Friendly House, Boy Scouts, Multnomah County Library Foundation, and Loaves and Fishes.

Club Interaction

We enjoy activities that inform our members about each other. Tuesday morning "Rotarian of the Day" talks fill members in on fellow members' lives and professions. "Brag for aBuck" is a fun way to learn about the good things happening in members' lives and businesses.

What we expect of our members

"Service Above Self" does involve Club expectations:

Attendance. PPR members are expected to attend a minimum of 60% of our weekly meetings (Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. in the Ecotrust Bldg. in the Pearl), or to make up at other Rotary Clubs in the area. Certain Club functions (committee meetings, service projects) also count as attendance. Each PPR member is expected to be active on one or more committees to carry
out service projects.

Contributions. PPR's dues structure and fund raising participation:

Initiation (one-time, new members only)	$150
Annual Club dues (payable in July)	$200
Annual fund raiser (member participation)	$100
Brag for a Buck (Participation over the year)	$25
Rotarian of the Day	$25

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