Other Make a Difference Day celebs:
Writer Anchee Min on the value of education
Wally Lamb brings the expressiveness of writing to prison inmates
Bestselling author Matthew Klam is enriched by a handicapped child
Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie, finds his late teacher's words live on.
Arthur author Marc Brown believes where kids read, kids help others
Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Bud, Not Buddy, hails a hero he overlooked -- his dad.
Marc Parent, Turning Stones author, makes a difference to a dying woman's cat.
Ana Castillo, poet and author, tells how a gathering replenishes women who make a difference.
Ann Hood, author of Ruby and the upcoming Do Not Go Gentle: My Search for Miracles in a Cynical Time, comforts the spirit by feeding the sad, the lost and the lonely.
Justin Timberlake makes a difference through music
Wish You Well writer David Baldacci, learns a lesson from young writers
Patricia Cornwell, writer of The Last Precinct recalls what a world-renowned evangelist did for a scared little girl

Join make A Difference Day, Oct. 28 At www.makeadifferenceday.com, learn how to get... Support: As much as $10,000 for your cause. This funding is available now and in April from Wal-Mart, the retail supporter of Make A Difference Day, and from Paul Newman and his food company, Newman's Own. Ideas and publicity. Download planning guides for your office, school or family. Get project ideas and publicity tips. And don't forget to register your plans in the national Make a Difference DAYtaBANK. Volunteers without Internet access? Call 1-800-416-3824 for a brochure.

Robert Putnam, Harvard professor and author of Bowling Alone, sees hope in youth.

Join the team

ne recent morning, 8-year-old Mario asked his neighbors in dispossessed South-Central Los Angeles for donations of canned food. The boy and his family struggle to survive.

But Mario, a third-grade pupil at 52nd Street Elementary School, was not begging. He was proudly participating in a school program that he helped to foster.

Mario is part of a schoolwide food drive monitored by Jill McLaughlin, who arrived at his school two years ago as a freshly minted teacher. Soon she had organized 40 inner-city third-, fourth- and fifth-graders to participate in food drives, recycling campaigns and park clean-ups.

"I saw the students get a sense of empowerment," the young mentor explained. "They came to the realization that the community belongs to them."

Mario and Jill may not know it, but they are building what academics call "social capital." Social capital is the notion that our connections to other people constitute invaluable social and individual assets. The more connections in a community, the healthier it is and the better off its members are.

Yet the soul-nourishing activities that build neighborhoods and bond community members one to another have been dwindling. Americans' civic involvement is in steep decline across the board -- voting, volunteering and showing up for civic meetings are all in decline. Student activities -- playing left tackle, playing King Lear, playing trombone -- are all in decline.

When I wrote about this decline in a new book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, I found overwhelming statistical evidence of things like falling membership in the PTA and civic organizations. Participation in most team sports has fallen in recent decades, and bowling in leagues is down 60%.

People aren't just bowling alone. They are walling themselves off. Americans spend one-third less time socializing with friends and neighbors than they did two decades ago. Married people eat dinner with the whole family one-third less often than 25 years ago. Church attendance has drifted down by 25% in 35 years.

When I look at these statistics, I don't see just numbers. I see the fabric of our communities fraying. Civic disengagement threatens the things we cherish: safe streets, good schools and healthy families.

That is why the examples of Jill, Mario and other young citizens give such cause for hope and inspiration. They have shown a surprisingly high willingness to volunteer. According to a 1997 survey, 73% of 15- to 29-year-olds had volunteered or worked for a community organization sometime in their lives; 37% of that group had done it within the 12 months that led up to the survey.

We are experiencing a renaissance of volunteerism among the young. I predict these idealistic, enthusiastic young people can lead their disenfranchised parents, as well as their alienated older sisters and brothers, into a new period of social engagement. But you and I cannot simply sit on the sidelines and exult in their example. We must join them. We will not only save our country -- we'll also make our own lives richer.

Next Week: Ideas from Tuesdays With Morrie author Mitch Albom