Thursday, May 2, 2024
Following the signing of Senate Bill 797 into law in 2021, members of the Gatesville Exchange Club recently donated several “In God We Trust” posters to two local school districts.
Lauren Morrell, an Exchange Club member who leads the initiative, said they donated 50 posters of the national motto to Jonesboro ISD and two posters to Oglesby ISD last week.
“This is a copy of our national motto, and I think that it’s important for our posterity to understand where our country came from and kind of be reminded of that,” Morrell said.
The bill states that a framed copy of the national motto “In God We Trust” is required to be displayed in a conspicuous place when donated to a public elementary or secondary school.
So far, the organization has presented around 145 posters to Gatesville ISD. After the initial donation of five posters in September of last year, Morrell said the district asked for additional posters for their classrooms.
Following the recent donation to Jonesboro and Oglesby, she adds that the Exchange Club is working on reaching out to other nearby school districts about the posters.
“Whenever they pass laws that are important, they just sit on the books unless someone actually takes initiative and actions it, so that’s what we’re trying to do,” Morrell said.
Morell said members from the Exchange Club recently spoke about the initiative at their mid-winter conference to inspire other clubs in the region to also distribute framed posters at their local schools.
“Reminding our children of where our foundations are gives them a footing to be able to flourish, and the Exchange Club embodies that,” Morrell said. “It really met with the tenets that they stand for, and that’s why they wanted to pick up this initiative.”
Morrell adds that they are creating brochures to give out to local schools and exchange clubs with more information on how to purchase the posters.
“At this point, it’s a new program so it’s kind of word of mouth,” Morrell said.
