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
Robert Putnam, writer of Bowling Alone, is optimistic toward youth
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.
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
In this article:
Growing up with Make A Difference Day

Justin Timberlake of 'N Sync leads the way this Make A Difference Day

Justin Timberlake with students from the Fresh Start Performing Arts Academy in Los Angeles, who'll volunteer on Make A Difference Day.

ut away the cell phone. (His rings constantly.) Hide the pager. (His plays Midnight Rambler.) Ignore the hordes of screaming fans. (OK, maybe you don't have that problem.) Do whatever it takes, says Justin Timberlake, to set aside a few hours for Make A Difference Day next weekend. "The slightest effort can make the biggest difference in someone's life," encourages the soft-spoken singer who is part of the white hot pop quintet 'N Sync.

The 18-year-old Memphis native has surprisingly wide experience at making a difference: He regularly meets with critically ill kids from the Make A Wish Foundation, and his group sponsors a charity called Challenge for the Children. He also recently began his own Justin Timberlake Foundation, a member of The Giving Back Fund's family of charities, to support school theater and music programs. "I was raised up in a Southern home where you learn that you help your neighbor," he explains. "This is something I feel is more important than anything else: If you can help somebody, why not?"

The key to helping, for Justin, is finding causes he enjoys. "I have a thing for little kids," he admits with his slow smile. "I see kids and I just want to help them." Then, too, "music is also something I enjoy. I want to show people how special it can be. People can make a big difference with things close to their heart." Justin wants his school programs to give kids a creative outlet and expand their horizons. "Studies have shown that kids who learn music do better in math, better in spelling. Give these kids training, next thing you know they start a garage band and become Pearl Jam."

He wants to touch individual kids with his good deeds but his real goal is grander. "I want to reach the world."

His hero: Paul Newman, a Make A Difference Day supporter whose charitable giving has helped so many.

In fact, he hopes everyone will "go for it" next weekend. "Seeing a smile on a kid's face and knowing you put it there is the best feeling in the world. It makes you feel better about yourself, about everything." It makes a difference.

Growing up with Make A Difference Day

A decade of making a difference

rom a casual comment, Make A Difference Day has grown into the nation's largest, most powerful day of helping others. This Saturday, Oct. 28, more than 2 million people are expected to volunteer in the 10th Make A Difference Day, a 3,000% increase over the first event.

During this decade, child volunteers grew into teens, groups institutionalized the day as a powerful way to jump-start change, and USA WEEKEND, the day's creator, adopted as our slogan "The magazine that makes a difference."

The idea for Make A Difference Day surfaced obliquely in a 1991 editorial meeting in which a staffer suggested we create a special event for Leap Day 1992. We decided to challenge readers to use that "extra" day to help others. We ran four small notices in the magazine, asking readers to volunteer and tell us about it.

We were overwhelmed: More than 67,000 people volunteered.

The one-time event was too powerful to let die. So we sponsored Make A Difference Day again that fall, and every fall since, in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation. And we've proudly watched it grow.

From the beginning, charitable donations have been awarded to local grass-roots charities of those who participate. The first awards pool was $2,000. Today's is $2.8 million thanks to donations from Paul Newman and his food company, Newman's Own, and from Wal-Mart, the day's retail supporter.

To date, this event has rallied 8 million volunteers, distributed $6 million to charities and changed countless lives in thousands of communities. What a difference.

In 1996, 12-year-old Jessica Burris collected 4,500 pairs of socks in her hometown of Conyers, Ga., and delivered them to homeless people (inset photo). The next year, she put on a carnival to raise money for homeless shelters. A month later, Jessica's mom died from a rare cancer. Now, Jessica is planning to start a scholarship in memory of her mom and has already raised funds for a local hospice in her mom's memory. "It's my biggest dream, to carry on in her name," says Jessica, now a senior in high school.

Dwayne Profit was a fifth-grader in need of a helping hand when Margaret McGlown of Clarksdale, Miss., became his mentor on Make A Difference Day 1995 (see inset photo). Now, McGlown is proud to report that Dwayne is a ninth-grade honor-roll student and football player at Oakhurst High. "We want to share with others how good it is to participate in Make A Difference Day," says McGlown, who mentors Dwayne as part of an ever-growing program by Zeta Phi Beta sorority. The group offers to help others map out their own mentoring project.

In 1993, Mike Kelly, who had been born to a homeless mother and had eaten many meals at soup kitchens, read about Make A Difference Day and wanted to help others in need. The 8-year-old asked his low-income neighbors in Hayward, Calif., to donate outgrown clothes and household items to help furnish homes for the homeless. Together, they filled a truck with much-needed goods. Today, Mike and Mom Carmen Lamkin live near Santa Rosa, Calif., and comfort others by fixing up mangled Barbie dolls and giving them away to terminally ill girls and migrant workers' daughters. "Because of Make A Difference Day, I'm more willing than ever to help people," says Mike, now 15.

Photos by MICHAEL GRECCO (Timberlake); GREG FOSTER (Profit, 1995 and 2000 and Burris, 2000); ED CALDWELL (Kelly, 2000); ANN STATES/SABA (Burris, 1996); and JOHN HARDING (Kelly, 1993) for USA WEEKEND