Copperas Cove Exchange Clubs Work Together for Make a Difference Day

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press

The three Exchange Clubs of Copperas Cove gathered together Saturday morning at the Exchange Sunshine Homes apartment complex on Leonhard Street to make a difference, literally, for Make A Difference Day. 

Members of the Exchange Club of Copperas Cove (commonly referred to as the Morning Exchange Club), the Noon Exchange Club of Copperas Cove and the Centex Exchange Club (also referred to as the Evening Exchange Club) painted one of the parking lots at the apartment complex, giving a fresh coat of yellow paint to the parking space lines and the wheel blocks or parking spot curbs. The Exchange Sunshine Homes apartment complex is home to 48 senior residents, plus manager Angela Fields. 

The Sunshine Homes complex was founded in 1990 by the Exchange Club of Copperas Cove for seniors, over age 62, who qualify for assistance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Each year, on Make A Difference Day, which takes place on the fourth Saturday of October, the Exchange Clubs do a project to beautify and take care of the apartments and the residents at the Sunshine Homes. 

Joshua Threat, president of the Noon Exchange Club, said that he enjoys helping out on Make a Difference Day. 

“The best part is we have some EXCEL students come out,” Threat said. EXCEL is the high school branch of the Exchange Club. 

“ We’ve been trying to get the Excel club getting back in action at the high school and helping it grow so we can get kids more into the community,” Threat added. “That’s really the end goal for what I want to do as a president is getting more kids involved in their own community, helping get some volunteer hours for college. give back to where you’re at.” 

Sharon Tabor, president of the Centex Exchange Club, said that the National Exchange Club and the Texas District Exchange Club both encourage every club to get out and do something in their communities on Make A Difference Day. The clubs held a barbecue lunch with the residents after the painting was finished. In the past, members have also cut down trees and done yard work and painted the curbs on the sidewalk. 

“The way I was raised with my parents, you’re always going to leave this world a better place than you found it,” Tabor said about why she participates each year. “There are lots of organizations that are doing good that need clubs like us to raise money and donate to them so that we are making Copperas Cove and all of its citizens a better place, because there’s a lot of people that need help right now.”

Tabor added that this also provided a chance for all three clubs to work together. 

“We are very unique that a town this size has three different Exchange Clubs, so it is a chance for all three clubs to get together, work together, because we all do different events in the community to donate back to the Sunshine Home so that these residents can have a great life,” Tabor said. 

Dennis Webster, with the Morning Exchange Club, has been a member since 2002. On Saturday, he gladly picked up a paintbrush and even pushed the spraying machine to paint the parking lot lines. 

“It’s important to just support and do things for the community regardless of whether it’s Make A difference Day, and if you can help people who are less fortunate than you may be, that’s even better,” Webster said.