A Brief Hello!

Hi everyone, Ashley here. I just wanted to say hello and that I can't believe it has been a full year since my GSE teammates, our team leader, and I returned to Oregon from our GSE experience in Malaysia! I'd like to make a "where are they now"-type post soon to share updates about the team, including job promotions or changes, moves, Rotary-related involvement and other exciting news, but for now, I just wanted to share an article that I recently wrote for the District 5110 newsletter. I was supposed to write about the Rotaract club I've been involved in, but couldn't help reminiscing about some fun GSE memories at the same time! The pictures below were not submitted with the article, but I added them here because, well, pictures!! Good-bye for now.

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“What’s with Rotary and cadavers?” I half-joked to myself as my fellow Rotaract team member Taylor Krieg introduced the club to “Bernie,” her assigned cadaver in the University of Oregon’s anatomy lab.

Bernie was my second up-close encounter with a cadaver since last year, when I was led through a medical lab in Malaysia as a member of Rotary’s Group Study Exchange team. One of the other team members, a general practitioner, had been elated for the opportunity to visit a teaching medical school for one of her vocational visits. Though the rest of us had careers in fields that are traditionally cadaver-free, we appreciated being able to share in our teammate’s passion for her profession while catching a glimpse into a field so different from our own that perhaps the only way we would have been able to access it otherwise would be by donating our bodies to science. 

GSE Team Member Dr. Kristi Coleman at a site visit to a cadaver lab in Klang, Malaysia

Similarly, back in the UO lab a year later, the Willamette Valley Rotaract club members felt that same kind of excitement, not necessarily from watching Krieg inflate a human lung like a balloon - although that was really cool! - but from getting to visit her turf and learning a bit of what makes her so passionate about her studies in human physiology and anatomy.

I had never heard of Rotaract before doing the GSE in Malaysia, when, in addition to the many wonderful Rotarians from the host district, our team met several students and young professionals who were actively involved in leadership opportunities and community service projects of their own in affiliation with Rotary. Some Rotaract clubs there even had joint projects with their counterparts in Germany, Thailand, and other places. 

When I returned to Eugene I decided to see if there was Rotaract in my own community. After some Internet sleuthing, I discovered that the UO has its own Rotaract club and joined a meeting. I was excited to see that it was such an active club, whose energetic members were in the midst of several community service, professional development, and fellowship activities already. However, as the only non-UO student at the meeting, I wondered where the other “young professionals” were. Working a full-time job among other commitments, I wasn’t ready to become a Rotarian quite yet, but I still wanted to find opportunities to network with others like me who were relatively new to the working world and eager to make professional connections.

Coincidentally, it was right at this time that Eugene resident Sarah Thorpe was starting to form a community-wide Rotaract club. Thorpe, an alumna of the Rotary Youth Exchange program, was familiar with the concept of Rotaract and approached Rotarians Paul Spain and Steve Wilkinson from the Twin Rivers Rotary Club to advise her on getting a new Rotaract club up and running. Twin Rivers sponsored the fledgeling club, and Spain and Wilkinson have been instrumental in advising the club on everything from the values and history of Rotary to Rotaract by-laws and roles to fundraising strategies, all while empowering the club to make its own decisions and encouraging leadership.

Even before becoming officially chartered this past July, members of the Willamette Valley Rotaract club have been seeking opportunities to put “service above self” in the local community. Over the year, members built a rain garden at Alton Baker Park and beautified the surrounding park space, volunteered at a book sale fundraiser for the Eugene Public Library, directed traffic at the Eugene City Streets event, sold tickets for the Rotary Duck Race, and arranged a site visit for a visiting GSE team to St. Vincent de Paul’s facilities.

 Members of the Willamette Valley Rotaract and GSE team members from Malaysia (some of whom are active Rotaracters themselves) visit the St. Vincent de Paul warehouse where old candles are melted down to be recycled, which served as inspiration for the Rotaract club's end-of-year service project.

In addition to volunteering in the community, club members are eager to network and share career aspirations and experiences. Krieg (and Bernie, to some extent!) was among several presenters for the club’s professional development series, which invites professionals from the community and members from the club itself to talk about their careers or chosen career paths.


One especially notable speaker to present at one of the club meetings was Nancy Hughes, founder of Stove Team International. Nancy, a local Rotarian, explained how a simple rocket stove can help address a major public health issue in many households throughout the developing world where the traditional method of cooking over an open fire inside is used. The highly-efficient “Ecocinas,” which help reduce smoke inhalation and burns while using a fraction of the fuel required for an open fire, are produced and distributed in countries including Guatemala and Honduras through Stove Team International. Amazingly, all it takes is $50 for a family to purchase a safer stove, or $50 to donate a stove to a family who may not otherwise afford it.

It was this revelation that motivated our club’s most recent “Light a Candle, Light a Stove” project to raise funds for Stove Team International. With support from Twin Rivers, the club purchased several blocks of recycled wax from St. Vincent de Paul plus other candle-making supplies. Thorpe and others collected an array of empty glass jars to reuse, and members had a blast melting, pouring, and decorating the festive assortment of candles, to sell at the Eugene Holiday Market. On the first day alone, the club collected enough funds through candle sales and donations to purchase eight stoves! The project was a success and Thorpe hopes it will become an annual club event. 

Members of the Rotaract club fundraising for Stove Team International. At the right, a life-size model of an "Ecocina," or highly-efficient stove, is displayed.

As we head into the new year, our club would like to give a huge thank you to its members, Rotarian advisors, its sponsoring club - Twin Rivers Rotary Club, as well as other Rotarians and members of the community who have supported its projects and initiatives. Our goal is to grow in our membership, both in numbers and in diversity of careers and experiences, so that we can celebrate and share new passions, for both career and service.

Willamette Valley Rotaract is a community-based club in the Eugene/Springfield area of District 5110, sponsored by Twin Rivers Rotary. It meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6 pm at the Davis restaurant in Eugene. Its Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/willamettevalleyrotaract.