Also this week:
Change the world
Who's pitching in
Make A Difference Day Scholarship Fund: Helping the families of 9/11
Find out what's happening in your neighborhood
More essays
Ann Curry "Today" show anchor: "The kindness of strangers"
Susan Vreeland catalogs how people made a difference while she was fighting lymphoma
The lesson in taking a youngster to the ball park. By Brad Meltzer
Kermit the Frog hops on the volunteer bandwagon
Rabbi Kushner, author of '"When Bad Things Happen to Good People"
John Edgar Wideman, "Hoop Roots: Basketball, Race and Love" author, keeps hope in simple human connections
Frances & Ginger Park, a father's memory inspires two sisters to write about their heritage.
Make A Difference Day: Helping victims of terrorism

Serving up love

In this week's essay, Martina Hingis shares a moving story about the children who changed her perspective on life.

Last year, as part of the United Nations' "Teams to End Poverty" Campaign, I experienced firsthand the lives of street children in one of the toughest, darkest cities in the world: Bogota, Colombia.

As I entered a room at the Bosconia Program, a school supported by the United Nations, nearly 500 girls and boys stared timidly at me. I was a new face and had to earn their trust. These children all knew drug abuse, prostitution and death. All had been on the street without family, a support system or hope when they were taken to Bosconia and given a roof and an education and surrounded by people who love them.

In the middle of the crowded room, an 11-year-old boy was a shining light. Fascinated by the cameras documenting my trip, he took control of the microphone and directed his own questions to me. He was a real little performer. Through a translator, we spoke about his life, feelings and newfound hope.

At 4, he lived on the streets. By 5, drugs had become his only form of relief from his dark world, and he supported his growing addiction by subjecting himself to prostitution. "It made the money to buy a joint and other drugs," he said. He spoke frankly of how so many street children have no direction, goals or dreams -- how they just try to survive from one day to the next.

Bosconia transformed these children. It was overwhelming to see them smile, laugh, play, dance ... love life again. The Bosconia staff is devoted to helping these children have the life they deserve. Now, these children have a chance to survive.

That boy, his new friends and their school changed my perspective on life. Outside my tennis world -- and perhaps outside of your immediate world, too -- there are countless children around the world who are in desperate need of a roof, an education and people who love them.

Contributing to this Make A Difference Day report: Dennis McCafferty, Laura Greenspan and Troy Artis