Get ready – it’s time to start planning on making a difference.

Sunday, August 05, 2001

Get ready – it’s time to start planning on making a difference. USA Weekend’s Make A Difference Day is on October 27 and volunteer groups are being sought to help make a difference in their community and in the lives of others.

Touted as the "National Day of Doing Good," this is the 11th year for the program created by the newspaper magazine. Last year alone, 2.2 million people across the nation banded together to support their communities.

The volunteers accomplished thousands of projects in hundreds of towns and helped an estimated 25 million people.

Want to help and don’t know what to do? You can always follow in the paths of others.

Over the years, volunteer groups have performed numerous projects to aid their community. Some of the programs have responded to meet certain needs in the community such as cleaning a park or city-wide beautification projects, and some programs are designed to help a specific group of people, raising money and supplies for a homeless shelter or providing aid to areas struck by disaster.

Volunteer programs in the county has received recognition for work done on the national day. For last year’s project, 34 members of Coal Grove Church of the Nazarene built a ramp for a disabled man; repaired a disabled woman’s home; and sponsored a "Free Clothing and Refreshments" day, assisting up to 150 people with lunch and new clothing. Clothing leftover from the clothing and refreshment day went to an area mission.

Make A Difference Day even encompasses organizations and agencies that volunteer throughout the year. Groups are urged – even if the volunteer project takes more than one day to complete – to do something special for the community on that Saturday.

USA WEEKEND will launch a series of events throughout August, highlighting projects and ideas. Groups are urged to register their project on the web at www.makeadifferenceday.com so groups in the area can see what different organizations plan to do to benefit the community.

 

Do you have a plan for Make A Difference Day? Here’s a time line of events to follow:

Aug. 3-5: USA WEEKEND’s promotional launch brings ideas to the magazine’s 44.9 million readers.

Sept. 11: Deadline to file plans with USA WEEKEND describing the project you will be involved with. Ideas may be published in a cover story in the magazine. Groups are urged to register online.

Oct. 27: Make A Difference Day

Nov. 16: All entries must be postmarked by this date to be eligible for an award.

April 2002: Outstanding Make A Difference Day projects are honored with charitable donations and accolades in USA WEEKEND Magazine during National Volunteer Week. Ten projects receive $10,000.

 

Read more about Make a Difference Day in today’s USA TODAY, inside The Ironton Tribune’s print edition.