[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 57 (Thursday, April 19, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EXCHANGE CLUB OF FOND DU LAC, 
                               WISCONSIN

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                          HON. THOMAS E. PETRI

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 19, 2012

  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to congratulate and recognize 
the Exchange Club of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, as it celebrates 75 years 
of serving the Fond du Lac community. Established in 1937 by some of 
the city's most prominent leaders, the Exchange Club was viewed by its 
founding members as a chance to develop an entirely new type of service 
organization in the area, with an emphasis on helping those less 
fortunate while working to make life better for all area citizens.
  It is a commitment Fond du Lac Exchangites have been fulfilling for 
75 years. In the process, they have made innumerable contributions to 
the quality of life in the Fond du Lac area.
  For 75 years, members of the Fond du Lac organization have met to 
exchange ideas about how to better serve the community while working to 
advance the National Exchange Club goals of benefiting and developing 
youth, promoting crime prevention, recognizing military and public 
safety service providers, fostering Americanism and preventing child 
abuse.
  In its early years, the Exchange Club of Fond du Lac underwrote 
Christmas parties for the community's underprivileged children and held 
programs to recognize the area's high school sports teams. In the late 
1940s, the Exchange Club was instrumental in convincing city officials 
that an underutilized city-owned building designated as a community 
center could be converted to a gathering place for area youth, 
something many felt the city badly needed. Thus, the Hamilton Community 
Building near downtown Fond du Lac was extensively remodeled in 1947 
and used for decades as the Fond du Lac Youth Center.
  In 1957, the club achieved one of its proudest moments by raising the 
funds needed to purchase a cutting-edge piece of medical equipment, 
called a Flame Photometer, for Fond du Lac's St. Agnes Hospital. At the 
time, only two other, much larger, medical facilities in Wisconsin had 
this particular life-saving equipment.
  Another signature Exchange Club accomplishment was the furnishing of 
grounds supervision, maintenance and support for many years for Camp 
Tiwaushara, a large Girl Scout Camp located in Redgranite, Wisconsin, 
and operated by the former Wau-Bun Girl Scout Council. Members of the 
club went to Redgranite annually to clear brush and prepare the grounds 
for the camping season and to build structures needed for the camp.
  More recently, Exchangites in Fond du Lac have been active in running 
a petting zoo for the community at Fond du Lac's Lakeside Park, 
distributing flags to children during the annual Fond du Lac Memorial 
Day Parade, and erecting numerous Exchange Club Freedom Shrines, 
permanently mounted reproductions of the most important documents in 
American history. Also in recent years, club members have purchased a 
walk-in cooler for a local food pantry and have funded numerous public 
safety initiatives, as well as supporting countless other local causes 
and nonprofit organizations in the Fond du Lac area.
  I am proud to join with the Fond du Lac community in recognizing the 
invaluable contributions and outstanding service of the Exchange Club 
of Fond du Lac, and in congratulating the club on its 75th anniversary. 
In addition, I extend my best wishes to all club members for continued 
success in the future.

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