On September 30, 1970, Rotary Clubs from Los Angeles to Las Vegas sent 541 members to the Regina Winery Restaurant to celebrate the newest Rotary Club Chartered into Rotary International and
District 530 as it was originally designed. Initially, the Charter was granted to the Rotary Club of Cucamonga. It wasn’t until 1977 that the City of Rancho Cucamonga was incorporated as one of the early City’s into San Bernardino County. The Cucamonga area included the tri-communities of Cucamonga, Etiwanda, and Alta Loma. Cucamonga was best known as the location of a Jack Benny comedy routine with the by-line “Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga.” The then current FY 1969-70 Rotary International President, Carl P. Miller of Laguna Beach, Dr. Alton E. Scott of the Upland Rotary Club and at that time District Governor of District 530 presented the Charter to and pinned the President’s pin on then President Frank J. Lesinsky. All of the nearly 20 Charter Members present were given the Rotary lapel pin representing their commitment to the Club, one’s vocation and the promotion of world peace through the fellowship of its Members.
It is now September 30, 2020 and we can look back over these past 50 years with pride and of what this Rotary Club of Rancho Cucamonga has accomplished through Rotary’s “Avenues of Service” for the community. We, as the Rotary Club of Rancho Cucamonga, have seen the birth, its growth and development into the dynamic City Center of the West Valley of the Inland Empire. One of the best locations for family life and education. We can, as the Rotary Club of Rancho Cucamonga, take pride in our community efforts promoting youth development through our Rotary Interact Clubs in each of our community’s high schools and by supporting Rotary’s local Teen Leadership Camps (TLC) and through Rotary’s Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) programs.
Through the vision of those Charter Members in 1970 and the light they cast, future Club Members of men, women and children and their leadership have been able to grow and continue Rotary’s challenge of “Service Above Self’ and establish a lasting foundation of our purpose and commitment to future generations and to the world.