New Evening Exchange Club formed in Copperas Cove
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
There’s a new option for Exchange-ites in Copperas Cove to join that meets in the evenings now, thanks to the creation of the CenTex Exchange Club of Copperas Cove.
The club marks the first new Exchange Club chartered in Copperas Cove in seven years. With Sharon Tabor as the club’s president and Barbara Mims as the club’s secretary, the CenTex Exchange Club of Copperas Cove has had at least 29 people join as members, 14 of which were new to the Exchange Club, as of the first meeting.
The club held an organizational meeting last week Thursday at Giovanni’s, which is where the club will meet every month. Meetings will be held the third Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m.
There are two other Exchange Clubs in Copperas Cove. The Exchange Club of Copperas Cove, which is also referred to as the Morning Exchange Club, meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 6:30 a.m. at Lil’ Tex, and the Noon Exchange Club, which meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at noon at Lil’ Tex.
Tabor explained that the CenTex Exchange Club of Copperas Cove becomes an official Exchange Club, under the National Exchange Club, on May 18.
“There are a lot of Exchangeites that have quit because Exchange Club didn't fit in their schedule,” Tabor said. “I know that Exchange Club, we do a lot in the community, so I knew we needed one, so it would just seem like the right time, so that we could pull back because there's a lot of people that have been in Exchange years ago that are coming back just because it fits in their schedule now.”
Tabor said the focus is on getting members to join this chapter. Earlier in the meeting, she expressed a goal of getting 30 members to join. She said that the three clubs will likely be doing a big membership drive to get more people involved.
“There’s a lot of people in Cove that just aren't members because nobody asked them, and there's a lot of things happening in Cove,” Tabor said. “You know the way the economy is right now, there’s people that need help or organizations that just need money to help everybody, and that's what we need to do. We need to be there, support anybody we can support, raise money where we can and give it back out to our community and just in whole, make Cove a better place to be.”
The main focus of the Exchange Clubs is to promote child abuse prevention, promote patriotism and Americanism and support their communities.
“I always say it’s kids, Country and Community,” Tabor said. “That's all we do is we are out there. Either we're supporting other groups that are doing stuff or we’re raising money, so that we can donate it back to all the organizations that do stuff.”
Tabor shared during the meeting Thursday that she was going to email out a form for members to fill out so that people could tell her what they think the Copperas Cove community needs.
“Because everyone has a different idea of what we need. We don't want to copy exactly what the Noon Club’s doing and the Exchange Club of Copperas Cove is doing,” she said. “We may find different needs that everybody needs.
The community’s got a ton of stuff to do, we don’t need to keep doing the same stuff over and over.”
The Texas District Exchange Club President Mark Hyde also spoke briefly during the meeting to explain two of the National Exchange Club’s programs of service: one for Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention and the Americanism Program of Service.
Noon Exchange Club President Brian Hawkins then shared more about community service and recognition opportunities that are available in Copperas Cove.
The application fee for the CenTex Exchange Club of Copperas Cove is $25, and the monthly due is also $25 each month, from June to June.
The CenTex Exchange Club of Copperas Cove has a Facebook page for people to follow for more information: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091539123759.