Always an Honor

The Exchange Club of Lawrence Honors Heroes

Writer / Megan Arszman
Photography Provided

Exchange ClubAs one of more than 600 National Exchange Clubs across the country, which include more than 1,600 members, the Exchange Club of Lawrence recently celebrated its 52nd year of service to central Indiana. The club, which is one of 20 in the state of Indiana, strives to fulfill is mission every day – to help make our communities better.

“Everything we try to do is focused solely on helping someone,” says Jeffry Young, president.

One such project, which is focused nationwide, is a program for children who have suffered abuse. The club works year round to raise funds to help battle child abuse of all types, from physical and sexual to emotional. The group also raises money for Kids’ Voice, a program that represents boys and girls during litigation.

“One of our national leaders determined that child abuse was something we really needed to pay attention to,” Young says. “Today we see more and more boys and girls who are abducted, taken advantage of and left behind.”

Another mission of the Lawrence club hits closer to home for Young, a veteran. Young is passionate about Americanism, and honoring the men and women who serve the country, not only as enlisted soldiers and sailors, but also as first responders. Anyone driving by the Field of Honor around the Fourth of July will likely be in awe of the 500 American flags posted in the ground.

“The Field is to honor our first responders, current military and our veterans, and then this year we opened it to honor those who went to work during the pandemic,” Young says. “We know we’re not a perfect country, but this is a good country and we want to continue to improve on how we do things and honor those who serve.”

More than 500 American flags are stored year-round and are brought out for the national holidays honoring the military – current, retired and deceased. Recently the clubs around central Indiana wanted to honor the 13 lives that were lost in Afghanistan. They posted 13 flags in different sites throughout Lawrence and Hancock County, including churches, Veterans of Foreign Wars lodges, libraries and American Legion locations.

Exchange ClubThe club works along with a group called Veterans Matter, which is a national nonprofit based out of Toledo, Ohio, that raises money for homeless veterans. In the last five years, Lawrence and the other Exchange Clubs across Indiana have raised enough money to house more than 450 homeless Hoosier veterans. The clubs raise the money over a multitude of different events to pay for a veteran’s security deposit on a lease. Once a veteran has been released from the hospital, they find a job through the Veterans Administration (VA), and then they find a place to live. Unfortunately, most locations require security deposits prior to moving in, which can be hard for a homeless veteran to obtain.

“That’s where we come in,” Young says. “The VA here in Indianapolis will call in to the headquarters in Toledo to secure the funds needed.”

These projects, and so many more, are the lifeblood of Young and his comrades at the Exchange Club. Fundraisers are all aimed for specific needs and nonprofit groups, from homeless veterans to homeless grade-school students and children in abused homes.

“Our whole mission is to make our community a better place to live,” Young says. “Our club started in 1970 at Fort Ben, and some of our leaders were World War II heroes. They were from Lawrence, they lived in Lawrence and they wanted to make their home better, so they started the Exchange Club to make it happen.”

As with most groups these days, the Exchange Club seems to always be working toward a fundraising goal here and there, and also a recruitment goal.

“In this day and age, it’s very difficult to get people to commit to a club,” Young says. “It doesn’t take a lot of dedication, financially or time-wise, to volunteer and to work with us. We get a lot of volunteers for our Field of Honor, and we are always so grateful to them for their time. It’s become a family endeavor, to come together to place the flags and then to respectfully remove and store them.”

For more information on the Exchange Club of Lawrence, visit facebook.com/ExchangeClubofLawrenceIndiana.

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