Exchange Club Members Get Along F.A.M.E.-ously
April 13, 1997, article two

It would be a good guess that most people think you needn’t be in great physical condition to participate in a banquet. And while that’s probably true most of the time, it wasn’t true at the Fostoria Exchange Club’s annual banquet to kick off preparations for its annual F.A.M.E. Games. At least it wasn’t true for three of the club’s members.

The Exchange F.A.M.E. Games banquet was Monday, March 31, at Frankie’s Best. One hundred and fifty tickets were sold for an evening of raffles, door prizes and the drawing for a $1,000 grand prize.

Tickets for the dinner were $20 with the proceeds from sales and donations going to fund the Games and provide an evening of food and fun.

Speaking of the fun and donations, beginning about half way through dinner there was a reverse raffle for door prizes donated by nearly 100 local and area businesses. Prizes ran the gamut from a $15 gift certificate from Fostoria Art and Frame to a free haircut at the head Shed to an oil change at Union St. Auto.

Everyone loves a mystery and that’s good because among the dozens and dozens of prizes presented (everyone was guaranteed at least one prize), were about 15 “mystery bags.”

A thorough investigation of the mystery bag won by Marcia Bailey revealed a bounteous haul including a BP frisbee, Mennel Milling mug, some Arm and Hammer Pet Fresh, a Hardee’s gift certificate, some free bowling at Seneca Lanes and a $10 Kroger gift certificate.

All in all, mystery bags yield a pretty fair assortment of plunder.

Now there’s a purpose to all the fun and games and that is to raise money for the annual F.A.M.E. Games which brings us back to the reverse raffle. Reverse raffles are one of life’s “last but not least” situations.

The last ticket drawn belonged, fittingly, to past Exchange Club president and F.A.M.E. Games founder Jim Young. That last ticket netted Jim $1,000. Considering the price of the banquet ticket, seems like quite an advantageous exchange.

This is the 11th year for the games and Jim has been the prime organizer since the very first one. In fact, the F.A.M.E. Games were Jim’s idea when he was president of the Fostoria A.M. Exchange Club for which the games were named.

For most of those years Jim has been ably assisted by Duane Alt and Dave Uehlein.

“The F.A.M.E. Games are our version of the Special Olympics,” said Jim. “They’re kind of unique to Fostoria. Everyone wins. There are no losers.” Each year the games draw in the neighborhood of 250 participants. Exchange President Rick Ward said the games’ events include running, jumping, ball toss, basketball shooting and races. Each participant receives a medal as well as lunch.

All participants are mentally retarded or developmentally disabled and come from Seneca, Wyandot, Wood, Lucas, Sandusky and Hancock Counties.

Now what about the three guys who needed to be in top shape for the banquet? Dave Uehlein held the basket with all the tickets. Tammy Beck and Jackie Herman took turns drawing the winners. Duane Alt called out the winning numbers.

But it was Ryan Smith, Rick Ward and Jerry Nelson who burned a lot of calories hustling all over Frankies’s personally lugging the prizes to the lucky winners. In fact, after all the exercise they got, they might be ready to participate in some Olympics themselves. If they do, we’ll be there to cover it.

Meanwhile, the club will be hard at work preparing for the games. They’ll be trading all that effort for the satisfaction that comes from doing something for others. That sounds like one fine exchange.

This year’s Fostoria Exchange Club’s F.A.M.E. Games will take place, rain or shine, Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m. at Fostoria High School.