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YOUR FOUNDATION FOCUS

August 21, 2008

Greetings and welcome to the first edition of this newsletter! The purpose of this newsletter is to keep Exchangites informed about the activities of your Foundation.

I am honored to serve as president of the Foundation this year and believe that we have a strong team to perform on your behalf. Many activities were set in motion under Ken Warner and we are especially excited about the new relationship with Hartsook Companies, Inc.

We heard loud and clear in St. Louis that we need to do a better job communicating with Exchangites. The information below is a step in this process. We have a new Communications Committee chaired by Immediate Past NEC President Rob Davidson. This committee is working on a comprehensive communications plan that will be shared with you upon completion.

In September, the Board of Trustees will meet in Toledo to develop our strategic plan for the year. Bob Hartsook and his team are expected to participate as we begin developing our plan for serious fundraising to support our National Project and our Program of Service.

In the meantime, your Foundation has finalized assignments for all committees and is already busy with the normal planning portion of our various campaigns. We are pleased to have several past national presidents involved and appreciate their service in addition to newcomers Phil Howard and Missy Denning.

We are happy to report that we have added a new corporate sponsor already this year. Congratulations to Stacy Stamm and the Fund Development committee for securing Takeda Pharmaceuticals as a scholarship sponsor for next year’s national winner of the Youth of the Year competition. Now this is real progress! We would also like to thank the trustees who personally funded the scholarship for our ACE winners this year!

We also want to report the approval of a new CAP Center in Billings, Montana. The Family Tree – Billings Exchange Clubs’ Child Abuse Prevention Center was founded with the help of local Exchange Clubs, and has been an affiliate site in our CAP network for several years. We are pleased to now count this site as a full fledged Exchange Club CAP Center.

The Court of Honor induction ceremony will be held in Toledo on September 12, 2008 and we have two inductees this year. This honor is bestowed upon Exchange Club members who have given of their time and talent to make the National Exchange Club the great organization that it is. Since 1997, when the Court of Honor was rededicated, Exchange Clubs have sponsored 73 fine individuals for induction. Think about club members you know who would be appropriate for this high honor.  

Thanks for supporting Exchange and your Foundation! We will have more information to share soon.

Yours in Exchange,

Mike Jernigan, President

NEC Foundation