Submitted by The Exchange Club of Springfield
SPRINGFIELD— The Exchange Club of Springfield, Ohio, will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of
its Charter in the National Exchange Club on October 5, 2021. Since 2003, the club’s Foundation has
donated over $500,000 to local organizations supporting programs for youth, Americanism, community
service and the prevention of child abuse. In honor of its milestone anniversary and as a gift to the
community, the Springfield Exchange Club Foundation will present the inaugural Fred Dillon Endowed
Scholarship in Manufacturing through the Clark State Foundation at the Centennial event. The keynote
address will be presented by Russ Finney, Immediate Past President of the National Exchange Club.
The first local Exchange Club was formed in 1911 in Detroit, Michigan. The second was the Exchange
Club of Toledo, Ohio, formed in 1913. Subsequently, two other clubs were organized in Grand Rapids,
Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio. These four clubs were the first to be chartered by the National
Exchange Club after it was organized as a nonprofit educational organization in 1917. Today, there are
some 600 Exchange Clubs and 18,000 members in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Each year, communities benefit from the promotion of pride in our great country, college scholarships,
youth mentoring, services to the underprivileged and other projects tailored to serve the needs of its
citizens.
The Springfield club partners with various agencies, including the Child Advocacy Center; Court
Appointed Special Advocates (CASA); The Clark County Department of Job & Family Services; Project
Jericho-Juvenile Court; Project Jericho-Clark State; Oesterlen Services for Youth, Inc.; Project DARE; The
Salvation Army; the Boy Scout Tecumseh Council and many others. The club provides scholarships
through its Youth of the Month/Year project. It also supports the local Ohio National Guard units
through several programs, one of which is the Flat Daddy Pillowcase Project, which earned the club the
2015-16 National Exchange Club Americanism Award.
The Exchange Club of Springfield meets at 7:00 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month
in the Alumni Room of Wittenberg University’s Benham-Pence Student Center. Prospective new
members are welcome! For more information, visit the club’s award-winning website at
SpringfieldExchangeClub.org or follow the Springfield Exchange Club’s Facebook page