Make a difference 365 days a year!
Here are 4 great resources.
Network on Facebook Get Make A Difference Day updates, learn about opportunities to help in your community and share your own volunteer experiences at facebook.com/makeadifferenceday.
Celebrate National Volunteer Week April 18 to 24. Visit pointsoflight.org to see what's happening nationwide as volunteers are feted in their communities. You can share your own volunteering stories, submit photos and watch YouTube video messages from the Make A Difference Day honorees spotlighted in this issue of USA WEEKEND Magazine.
Tweet your comments about volunteers and join the conversation about volunteering with others by using the hashtag #VolunteerWeek.
And remember to visit our website...
Find out more about Make A Difference Day and how you can get involved this Oct. 23, 2010, at makeadifferenceday.com.
Meet the judges
Sponsored by USA WEEKEND in partnership with HandsOn Network and supported by Newman's Own, Make A Difference Day takes place each October. The volunteering efforts on these pages have been selected for awards.
Marcia Bullard, former president and CEO, USA WEEKEND Magazine
Michael Havard, vice president of marketing, Newman's Own
Kim Martin, president and general manager, WE TV and Wedding Central
Tom Nelson, chief operating officer, AARP
Michelle Nunn, CEO, Points of Light Institute and co-founder
of HandsOn Network
Lisa Paulson, president and CEO, Entertainment Industry Foundation
Will you be a part of the action this fall?
The next Make A Difference Day is Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010.
Join the millions of people helping others on USA WEEKEND's Make A Difference Day. Newman's Own again will award $10,000 contributions to the favorite charities of 10 national honorees. For ideas and more information, go to makeadifferenceday.com.
More
As we introduce the nation's Make A Difference Day honorees, a survey shows that volunteering is a way of life.
Americans are people of action, especially when it comes to helping others. A new WE TV-USA WEEKEND online poll shows that nearly three-quarters say they would rather invest their time and energy in a cause than simply write a check.
"I really like doing the hands-on, down-and-dirty volunteering," says Terri Brittingham, a volunteer with American Legion Post 411 in Lansing, Kan., and one of millions who volunteered on Make A Difference Day.
This sentiment is shared nationwide: The WE TV-USA WEEKEND poll reveals that 84% of Americans volunteer as much if not more than they did two years ago, while only 7% report that they have donated more money.
According to the survey, which was conducted by E-Poll Market Research, public service is becoming a way of life, with 85% of Americans saying they've volunteered at least once and 59% saying they've contributed their time in the last two years.
Volunteerism builds communities, but in the survey, volunteers named a host of other benefits they have reaped: They have made friends (39% say they expanded their social circles); gained family members (2% report meeting their wives; 1% say they met their husbands; 7% say they adopted a pet); and even mixed with the stars (4% say they have met celebrities).
And volunteering may be good for your health. A 2009 study by the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center reported that a life of purpose, which can include volunteering, appears to contribute to overall well-being.
Volunteers also tend to be happier and more optimistic about the future: 93% of poll respondents say they believe their efforts make a difference; nearly two-thirds say performing charitable acts makes them feel good; and nearly 60% think the economy soon will turn around.
On Oct. 24, 2009 - the 19th USA WEEKEND Make A Difference Day - more than 3 million Americans helped an estimated 30 million people. The 10 groups of volunteers on the following pages represent the best of this can-do spirit. Each receives a National Make A Difference Day Award and a $10,000 donation for charity from Newman's Own.
Details about this year's honorees can be found through the links to the right.
This online survey was conducted by E-Poll Market Research among a nationally representative sample of 810 adults, ages 18 to 74. The results, tallied in February, are based on people who had volunteered in the past two years. Margin of error is +/- 3.4%.
POWERED BY USA WEEKEND Magazine & more than 
