The National Exchange Club has a very rich history behind it. Charles A. Berkey founded it, back in 1911, a local businessperson from Detroit, MI. The purpose behind the National Exchange Club was to connect like-minded businessmen so that they could exchange ideas to better serve the community. This year, the National Exchange Club celebrated its 109th anniversary, making it the oldest volunteer service organization in the US. At this point, the club accounts for more than 700 offices and 21,000 members in the US and Puerto Rico.
Today is Celebrate Exchange Day, that is, being of service to the community through exchanging ideas and volunteer work for the greater good. If you’re not a member of the National Exchange Club but would love to help your community, you can observe this day by offering a helping hand to local non-profit organizations by volunteering. Or, why not, look up a National Exchange Club near you and see if you can become a member, or simply come up with ideas that would serve your community. Ideas are the most valuable assets we have, as the name of the club emphasizes.
Volunteer work is a great way to celebrate this day, as essentially it provides a sense of purpose.
There are many ways in which we can be of service to others. Volunteer work is one of them. We can also focus on our close vicinity and help those who are closest to us: our family and friends. There is this saying that if you want to save the world, go home and love your family. I would take this even further and say, go home and love yourself. Only when we love ourselves, we can love and help others. It’s OK to have things to “fix” or make better about ourselves, this is the very purpose of life. Today is a great day to put things into practice.