2002. Abuse occurs to I of 4 children. Both Physical and emotional abuse impacts our children. When children experience abuse directly or indirectly it affects how they relate to others.

Children subjected to abuse often exhibit behavior problems, fail in school, have problems relating to others, have problems with respect of others, and engage in activities detrimental to their own health.One of the surprising statistics presented was that women that are in abusive relationships tend to return to the abuser on an average of 7 times. One of the programs that the Courage Connection emphasizes is Safety Planning in an attempt to get their clients to remove themselves from abusive situations. Financial considerations are very

for Frank Scantlebury, longtime member of the Exchange Club of Champaign, who passed away on April 13.

Song: Led by Mike Halbach with JoAnn Smith at the Piano. “You’re A Grand Old Flag”.

Guests: Jan Bundy, guest of Phil Hoggatt and Shirley Traugott, guest of JoAnn Smith.

Mission StatementExchange, America’s Service Club, is a group of men and women working together to make our communities better places to live through programs of service and Americanism, Community Service, Youth Activities and its national project, the Prevention of Child Abuse.

Opening Ceremony Led by President John E. Smith.

Pledge of Allegiance: Led by John Smith

Invocation: Presented by Dave Wilson. The club observed a moment of silence

Weekly Meeting – April14, 2016Reporter – Doug Bauling

EchoesOur 90th Year

Exchange Clubs Nation Wide: Focusing on Families and ChildrenSo Proudly We Hail

The Exchange Club of Urbana, IL, meets each Thursday at 11:20 a.m. at Clark Lindsay in Urbana.President: John E. Smith, 809 E. Boone, Tolono, Illinois 61880.

Address inquiries to: Secretary Van Bowersox, 1811 Clover Lane, Champaign, Il 61821

Future Programs:April 21 – National Honor Society

students from Urbana High school.April 28 – Regina Parnell, Regional

Office of Education – Children of the Homeless.

Taiya Johnson receiving Certificate of Appreciation from Ron Peters. and President Smith.

important to gaining the independence needed to break out of a bad situation. The Courage Connection can provide some financial support and connects the abused with the support agencies that can help. They encourage education such as getting the GED or attending a second language program for those lacking in English.

Ms. Johnson noted that other agencies addressing the abuse problem include the Crisis Nursery, The Advocacy Center, and DCFS.

Announcements: Pres. John Smith reported that next week the club would honor the Student of the Year. Pres. Smith also reminded the Board members of the upcoming Board meeting.

Election Of Officers:

JoAnn Smith presented the final reading of the slate of officers for the 2016-2017 year. President--Beth ChatoPresident Elect—Ron WilcoxSecretary—Van BowersoxTreasurer—Wayne WeidnerBoard Members:Ron Peters 2nd yr.Gary Jackson 2nd yr.Judy Hummel 2nd yr.Tom Gordon 1st yr.Fred Holhubner 1st yr.Nancy Hesselman 1st yr.Past Pres. --John E. SmithDistrict Rep. John Hummel

JoAnn Smith moved acceptance of the slate. It was seconded. Dave Wilson entered a motion to cast a white ballot for the slate. It

was seconded followed by unanimous approval.

Book Report: None

Joys and Sorrows: Presented by, Don Hunt: Ron Peters, Joy to welcome Tiaya Johnson to today’s meeting. Tom Gordon, $1 for missed meeting, $1 for successful eye surgery. Thankful for the excellent staff at Eye Surgical Associates and especially thankful to the cornea donor.JoAnn Smith $5 for the joy of having Shirley Traugott as my guest, for our speaker, for the beauty of nature-the Purple Henbit and complimentary yellow Dandelions.Phil Hoggatt, Jan and I are very pleased to be here today.Myron Feitshans, $1 for good weather.John Hummel, Sorrow-Passing of Frank Scantlebury yesterday. A good guy & great Exchangite.

Birthdays: None this week.

Jokes:Dick Underwood shared a couple of IRS jokes taken from the News Gazette E3.

Music: Led by Mike Halbach, with JoAnn Smith playing the piano; 1. “When You Wore a Tulip”, 2. “My Blue Heaven”, 3. “The Best Things In Life Are Free”.

Contributions:PIG $20.00FOUNDATION 0.00OTHER (operations) 0.00TOTAL $20.00

Program: Ron Peters introduced Taiya Johnson, the Human Resource Director at the Courage Connection. Ms. Johnson was substituting for Izak Griffiths, the Executive Director of the Agency.

Ms. Johnson previously served at the Urban League of Champaign County. She noted that her background was not unlike those served by the agency and that

allowed her to connect with the women being served by the Courage Connection. Courage Connection was formed in 2010 with the combining of two existing agencies serving women, A Women’s Place and Women in Transition.

The emphasis of the agency is to address issues of domestic violence, mainly as it impacts children. The Agency provides emergency shelter and longer term transitional shelter. It has rental properties that women can utilize, generally with some rental subsidy. Ms. Johnson provided statistics on the level of abuse that occurs and the kinds of abuse as defined by federal and state agencies.

Domestic violence is very prevalent in our society and the effect can be long lasting. Unfortunately, our children witness 68-80% of domestic assault and partner abuse often extends to the children. There were 1300 fatalities from child abuse in