The Young Lawyers Section of the Alabama State Bar was proud to donate $3,000 in grant money to the Exchange Club Family Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. Over the years the Young Lawyers Section has helped fund many community projects. This year the YLS decided to pledge $3,000 in grants to an organization where Special Grants Program funding will make a significant impact.

The Exchange Club Family Center opened in 1991 in Mobile with the support of the Exchange Club of Mobile. The mission of the center is to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect by providing education, training and support to parents and caregivers in Southwest Alabama. Several programs are offered such as: parenting classes, in-home training with parents, supervised visitation for non-custodial parents, monitored exchanges between parents for weekend and holiday visitation, healthy start program at USA Children & Women’s Hospital for prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome and speakers bureau.

The Exchange Club Family Center’s funding comes mainly from grant money. The grant money from the Young Lawyers will be used to replace furniture and other equipment and supplies in the playrooms that are used for supervised visitation and childcare during parenting classes. If you would like to find out more about the Young Lawyers Section of the Alabama State Bar’s Special Grant Program please visit their website, http://alabamayls.org/specialgrants/indexspecialgrants.htm

Sometimes, a person never stops giving, even after their years on Earth are done. The late Sol Levin, 30-year member of the Long Beach, Calif. Exchange Club, posthumously uplifted the cause of child abuse prevention with a donation of $60,982 to The National Exchange Club Foundation.

On January 21, 2004, in Long Beach, Calif., a luncheon was held to pay tribute to Levin’s life. During that meeting, a check was presented to The National Exchange Club Executive Vice President, David A. Nershi, from the Sol Levin Charitable Remainder Trust, which he accepted on behalf of the Foundation.

"Levin took great pride in supporting organizations which promoted fair, ethical and moral values through their works. The Sol Levin Charitable Remainder Trust was his way of being able to provide an additional financial gift to those organizations that had special meaning in his life," wrote Stuart Okin, Levin’s attorney.

Levin’s family members, including daughter Gloria Glass, and over 40 Exchange Club members attended the luncheon. The luncheon featured a photo tribute and moving reminiscences by Levin?s friends and club members.

Foundation President William Ketron had this to say about the donation: "We are very pleased to accept this generous gift from the Sol Levin estate. Sol was well loved by his Exchange Club members and cared deeply about the children in his community. This gift will help us continue our important work of preventing child abuse."

Exchange, 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 in Americanism, Community Service, Youth Activities, and its national project, the Prevention of Child Abuse. To date, The National Exchange Club’s efforts have helped more than 175,000 families and 225,000 children break the cycle of child abuse.

Contact: Stacy Poca, Director of Communications, The National Exchange Club (800) 924-2643, commun@nationalexchangeclub.org, www.nationalexchangeclub.org

Debbie Baldwin, Office Manager Child Abuse Prevention Services The National Exchange Club dbaldwin61@aol.com