Exchange Club Plays Active Role in City
The following article appeared in the Centennial edition of the Missoulian.
The present Missoula Exchange Club, a civic organization, was organized in August 1957 with William F. Campbell as its first president. Dave Flaccus, whose term runs to July 1960, is current president.
Its purpose is: To exemplify the real meaning of “exchange” in everyday business and professional life in a spirit of “unity for service”; to provide a medium for the exchange of ideas, methods and information; to take an active interest in local , state and national affairs, thereby, helping to make the community, state and nation a better place in which to live; to educate members and the citizens of the community and state by disseminating among them information concerning subjects of general interest, thereby creating in their minds a finer appreciation of the advantages and benefits of American citizenship.
Helps Many Ways
Missoula’s Exchange Club has been active in assisting in civic affairs, such as the March of Dimes, Salvation Army Drive, Red Cross Blood drawings, Science Fair and Youth Activities. It sponsors a boy at Boys State, two boys at Boy Scout Camp, and a girl to Girls State, Girl Scout Camp and Camp Fire Camp.
The club also provides a $100 scholarship to Montana State University to a senior boy graduating from any high school in Missoula County, and $100 scholarship to St. Patrick’s School of Nursing to a senior girl graduating from any school in Missoula County. High School athletes are honored by the Exchange Club with a luncheon for jobs well done. The club presented Missoula County High School with a Freedom Shrine which consists of copies of 28 historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Monroe Doctrine.
The U. S. Marine Band was sponsored by the Exchange Club as a community project. For the past two years the club has taken over the parking problem for the Fair Board. Crime prevention is a National Exchange interest, and during February each year a concerted effort is made to bring crime prevention before the public through television programs and speakers on radio and in the schools.