UPCOMING FIXTURES
Tue, Sept 29 - Tim O'Connell, Rescue 42
Tue, Oct 6 - Llano Seco Ranch presentation
Tue, Oct 13 - Dr. Cynthia Daley, Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems
Tue, Oct 20 - Karin Lightfoot, World Polio Day
Tue, Oct 27 - Chico Housing Action Team presentation
Sat, Nov 14 - Surf & Turf Dinner (Club Work Day)
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TEAM LEADERSHIP 2026-27
THE STARTING LINEUP
- Team in Charge: Germany Black Eagles!
- Reporter: Mark Pierce
- Microphones: Kiley Patterson & Alberta Simic
- Thought of the Day: Ed Anderson
TEAM REPORT
Kevin Ahlswede gave the Black Eagles' report.
The team joined the Wallabies for burger night at the Elks. Kevin said the Black Eagles have been light on socials this year, though they have logged several scrums.
Ahead: the blood drive, Polio Plus, and the Wildcat Pantry food collection. Dan Andreasen is heading up the Veterans Memorial and has the project moving, with the goal of finishing it this year. Kevin said the team has two or three more projects going that he would rather keep under his hat for now. “We're keeping busy.”
Beau's rugby history minute. He tracked down a photograph from the 1900 Summer Olympics, where the German side beat France for the silver medal. He also noted those Summer Olympics were played in October and November. The United States took the gold, he said, in 1900 and again in 1904.
VISITING SIDES
IN THE GRANDSTAND
- Jamie Johansson, guest of Les Heringer
- Joantha Guthrie, guest of Annabel Grimm
- Dean Fender, guest of Kiley Patterson
- Emma Lopez, Ben Consoli, and Damian Martinez, guests of Robb Lightfoot
- Christina Skaggs, Josh Finker, and Evan Kruskovich, guests of Calen Chapman
- Dean Fender, guest of Kiley Patterson
- Michael Dominick, guest of Billy Aldridge
Apologies for any misspellings!
FROM THE SIDELINE
President Beau opened by thanking Charlie Kyle for stepping in and running last week's meeting on no notice.
"I owe you a case of Bud Light, buddy."
Camp Venture: Robb Lightfoot brought three of last year's five participants and introduced them.
Emma Lopez, a senior at Pleasant Valley, was CEO of Mission Apollo 1, a backpack that works as a complete school for children without access to a school building — her team's answer to the literacy gap between wealthy and poor countries.
Ben Consoli, also a PV senior, pitched Tendon X, a product aimed at patellar tendonitis for volleyball and basketball players.
Damian Martinez, a senior at Chico High, was CMO of Metapal, an app that gives people medical information from an AI trained by doctors so there is less misinformation in the answer.
Each of the three came back to the same thing about the week: what stuck was working with people they had never met. Robb reminded the club that the camp went from two high schools to four last year, with participants from all four, and that the crab feed is what covered the increase.
He thanked the counselors who identify the students and the parents who give up a week of their kids' summer earnings.
Chico Community Scholarship Association happy hour, Thursday, Oct 8, Canyon Oaks.
Pointing at the three Camp Venture students, Tom Hughes called them "a great testimony" for Chico Rotary scholarships and for CCSA, which runs the interviews and selection.
The annual happy hour fundraiser is Thursday, Oct 8, at Canyon Oaks.
He will be in the back for the next couple of weeks with tickets, and takes cash, check, or Venmo by QR code.
Bill Chance on Almanor Weekend:
Friday night at the Dunlaps' fell on September 11, and the group recognized the victims and the first responders.
Then at 1:30 Saturday, PG&E turned the power off. Twenty-eight people were due at the Chances'.
Rotarians remodeled the house, moved the furniture, and set up inside; Bill cooked five tri-tips on a barrel for the first time in his life with a meat committee advising, baked potatoes on the barbecue, and the room ran on a combination of solar and battery lights. Nobody complained about the food.
RUGBY KIT BAG
This week's prize was a gift certificate to Burgers and Brew — Beau's nod to the day, which was National Double Cheeseburger Day.
Ticket 433-7655 went unclaimed twice, and Beau checked whether he had brought the wrong tickets before pulling 7649, which had a taker - Tom Martin.
Beau already knew the winner was wearing a Rotary pin, having been shown it on the way in, which triggered the club's $40 donation. Asked where the money should go, the winner named a beneficiary close enough to home to draw a "not a conflict of interest?" from the podium.
CLUBHOUSE NOTICEBOARD
Strength Coach Phil Aviles read the August results:
- Australia Wallabies beat the Germany Black Eagles
- Trinidad & Tobago Calypso Warriors beat the South Africa Springboks
- New Zealand All Blacks took down the Chile Los Condores.
Three teams sit at 2-0 and three at 0-2. Developing…
NEW TEAMMATE
Mike Dominick was inducted. Billy Aldridge did the honors.
Mike has taken over his father's business, Coastal Business Systems — systems, not solutions, as the room corrected — and moved to Chico with his wife in May.
"I don't have to have people buy me lunch anymore, which is really cool." He goes to the Springboks, with Billy as his sponsor for the next year and a half or so, and Rob Reddemann checking in from the retention side.
TRIBUTES
Frank Solinsky came down for his black badge, and Beau walked the microphone to him rather than make him come up.
Frank was president of this club in 1989 — with Ed Anderson, who had given the thought of the day an hour earlier, assigned to take care of him. "That was wonderful, so we had a lot of fun."
Both of Frank's daughters were Rotary exchange students. One came home and graduated with a degree in German, the other with a degree in Spanish. "As a result, the Rotary did a great job."
Beau asked about the grandchildren. Frank's gra
ndson had just graduated from Princeton, the last of three grandchildren to finish college, and all three got through school faster than Frank did.
Asked what he is famous for, Frank deferred. Beau offered doing good for Rotary, and Frank took it from there.
"Rotary's really a great organization, and I fully believe in it, and we've all been in this a long time, and it'll continue on forever."
MATCH OF THE DAY
Scott Dinits, Director of Ability First Sports and Human Resources Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the North Valley, came to introduce the club to what he called the best-kept secret in the area. He and Beau met about ten years ago, when Beau's rugby team went in to play wheelchair rugby at camp.
Ability First runs a week-long residential sports camp in the Chico State dorms, plus year-round programs serving everyone from a 3-year-old to a 95-year-old veteran. Founder Eric Snedeker started it in 1985 and died recently after a fight with cancer; Scott co-directed with him for 15 years and has volunteered there for 22.
Scott said every coach is a daily wheelchair user, and that the roster includes Paralympic gold medalists and PhDs. When a camper falls out of a chair, nobody lifts them back in; the first lesson is getting back in themselves — "because sometimes there's gonna be no one behind you."
The club loans equipment free — 30 sport wheelchairs and 25 recumbent cycles — because no family is buying a $5,000 cycle a child will outgrow. Roman, six years old and local, came as a day camper this summer; by Thursday he had been swim-tested, fitted for his first sport chair, water-skied, and asked to stay the night. A camper who had just been to Disneyland told his mother camp was better.
Photographer: Luke Miliron
