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669 days ago
The Gator Exchange Club held its January 16 th meeting at Gainesville Fire Rescue and was treated to an excellent presentation on emergency services. The meeting was led by Captain Michael Heeder, a 23-year fire service veteran who is one of the training officers for the Department and has extensive public speaking and emergency management experience. Captain Heeder welcomed everyone in attendance following a welcome and introduction by Assistant Fire Chief Michael Randolph. Captain Heeder played a video of the Fire Rescue Department including incident scenes of vehicle crashes where firefighters used tools including the Jaws of Life to rescue trapped occupants and a scene in northeast Gainesville where an unconscious man was pulled from his burning house by Gainesville firefighters. Following lunch and the video, Captain Heeder (a self-proclaimed fire history buff) began with a history of Gainesville Fire Rescue, which has been saving lives and property in Gainesville ...
867 days ago
On July 3 the members of the Gator Exchange Club attended the Fanfare and Fireworks Event at the University of Florida's Flavett Field. Exchangites participate in this annual event to hand out American Flags as a part of our GivAKidAFlagToWave program. Just as its tongue-twisting title suggests, this popular projects involves the distribution of small American flags to youngsters at parades, fairs, picnics, school events or other community happenings that generate large crowds. The flags are absolutely free to the children and can make a great souvenir of the occasion. As the pictures we took of the event show, this program is designed to cultivate a deeper sense of patriotism and to heighten young American’s appreciation and admiration for our country’s flag. The program was originally developed by the Exchange Club of Galesburg, Ill., it is implemented by Exchangites throughout the country on any occasion which calls for a parade or a large gathering of families, i.e., Memorial ...
886 days ago
At the June 20 th lunch meeting of the Gator Exchange Club (www.gatorexchange.org), we had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ed Prevatt, a senior manager with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (www.nccer.org). Ed has been an educator for 18 years at The Loften High School and specializes in teaching at-risk kids that are often only a small step away from dropping out. Ed has also worked in the construction industry for 30 years, which provided us a unique perspective on how education affects today’s youth and their ability to transform their technical training into successful careers. When most Americans measure the success of our students on their ability to graduate high school and enter the University system, Ed measures success in an individual’s ability to obtain skill levels that, more often than not, do not require a college degree. He started by pointing out that most kids want to be successful. High school students don’t drop out ...
