PARADISE ROTARY

Paradise Rotary was sponsored in April 1946 by the Chico Rotary Club as an evening club. Officers were elected at large and not from the board of directors. At the end of the first year, there were 29 members which grew to 41 at the end of the second year.

The name “PINE CONE” was assigned to the bulletin in the founding year and was never changed until recently when it was renamed the E-Cone due to its electronic distribution.

Like most Rotary Clubs, PRC is devoted to community services, such as youth, health, and welfare. The early club activities involved donations to both Boy and Girl Scout troops, Campfire Girls, 4-H clubs, Little League, plus scholarships to deserving high and college students. The Paradise High student body president was permanently elected as an honorary member and was invited to all of the meetings.

The club changed to a noon meeting in 1956, just ten years after the Charter.

In 1968 the club had it’s first annual “World’s Largest Garages Sale.

In 1980, several things happened. The club made available $200 for an Emergency Fund for our Foreign Exchange Students and authorized $40 per month for spending money. We also authorized money to be given to host families for clothes, food, etc to help defray the cost of the exchange student living with them.

Also in 1980, we hired an assistant secretary (Susie Prater) who was with us until 1991.

Along the way the club has made substantial donation to the community, such as $4500 to the Paradise Park and Recreation Department, for the Building of Rotary Grove, $1000 to the Feather River Hospital Building Fund, plus $200 per month for five years, Money to light the tennis courts at Paradise High School, Senior Citizens Building Fund,  Auditorium Building Fund, Hospice of the Ridge, Meals on Wheels, Paradise Symphony Society, Paul Byrne Park, Jaws of Life, Bille Park, High School Lab Equipment, Mule Rotary Free Clinic, Drug Awareness Program and many others.

The Club members have donated individually over $245,000 to the Rotary Foundation and annually pledge thousands to continue the local and international project Rotarians take on.

The Past Presidents of the club are as follows:

Charter President 1946 – H.S. Clewett

1947 – Ray Miller

1948 – Newcomb C. McCarthy

1949 – Elmer Nelsen

The balance from 1950 to the present 2023 are listed on the Past President’s Board.