Donna McLaney Jones was recently recognized as the Alabama District Exchange Club Exchangite of the Year. 

“I was really surprised to be named as the award winner,” Jones said. “I didn’t even know I was in the running. I was dumbfounded that I won the award. I’m really honored to have been selected.”

Jones also received a state award for recruiting the most new members for the Troy Exchange club. 

“We really hope to build our membership back up so we can do more community service,” Jones said. “We had 50 members back in 2011 when I started. COVID really hurt us and we lost a lot of members. We’ve been working on recruiting more members and we’re back up to 29 now.”

In addition, Jones said she would be running for the Exchange Club’s District 9 vice president. District 9 includes Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico. The election for District 9 vice president will take place July 9-12 in Louisville, Ky., at the Exchange Club National Convention. 

Joes said she was also very proud of the Troy Exchange Club’s ACE Award winner Akierra Cornell.

Cornell, a recent Goshen High School graduate, represented the Troy Exchange Club at the Alabama District Exchange Club Convention in Montgomery on June 7.  Cornell was selected as the District ACE winner where she received a $1,000 scholarship and her application was submitted to the National Exchange Club for competition.

Cade May and Joy Schwarte, from Pike Liberal Arts School, participated also in the Alabama District Convention. They won the state level oratory competition and each received $600.  Schwarte also represented the Troy Exchange Club as Youth of the Year at the Alabama District meeting.