In this article:
You can be an instrument of change
Everyday people make a difference
Projects popping up
President Bush and volunteer efforts
Take Note: Musicians and volunteering

Also: Musicians reflect on volunteering
Wynonna, Bow Wow, Vince Gill
President Bush, one year later

Instruments of change

On any spot on the globe, in any language, music has remarkable power to bring people together and make a difference in our lives. And so, throughout this summer and fall, in a USA WEEKEND series titled "ee of Make A Difference Day," talented performers from all over the musical spectrum have talked about the importance of reaching out to help others.

"I know that my music makes a difference," says Grammy-winning country/pop artist LeAnn Rimes. "And that's why I make music: to touch people's lives."

Today, Rimes and five other musicians join the Make A Difference Day refrain, encouraging each of you to take part in the nation's largest day of volunteering next Saturday.

"When you have that experience of helping someone," says five-time Grammy winner Al Jarreau, "and you walk away feeling like you've mattered, there's a feeling you get that just floods you with joy."

"Tonight Show" musical director Kevin Eubanks asks you to consider, "How many minutes out of the day, hours out of the week, months out of the year do you really put toward helping someone else without looking for how much you get paid?" Volunteering "balances your life," he says. "You do that for your spirit."

"It's time to break down that wall and really help out," Rimes says. "It's going to make our world a better place."

You can break down that wall in your own town, in your own way, at your own pace next weekend. Add your unique voice to the mighty chorus of change. Make a difference.

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Around the nation: Extraordinary acts by everyday people just like you
By Terry Byrne

Make A Difference Day is a simple idea: What if each reader of USA WEEKEND Magazine spent one Saturday a year helping someone in need? That simple idea has mushroomed as tiny children and huge charities, local neighborhoods and multinational corporations have joined in. Now it is the country's most active day of volunteering -- on Oct. 26, an estimated 3 million people will participate, from the governor of New Jersey to schoolchildren in New Mexico, from Miss America to a formerly battered wife with an empowering Web site.
Even after more than a decade of giving, USA WEEKEND readers find creative ways to help others. Their examples may inspire you to act, too.

Saturday errands fit in
You can help and still do your shopping. Hecht's and Strawbridge's department stores hold their "Fall Sale" in housewares Oct. 26 and will take 5% of the day's revenue from that department to buy housewares for victims of domestic violence. Volunteers from the national community service programs AmeriCorps and Senior Corps will work at information booths in every store.

At 140 BJ's Wholesale Clubs from Maine to Florida, shoppers are invited to assemble 7,200 "Heart of Gold Hero Bags," filled with donated goods, and write personal notes to U.S. troops cruising off southwest Asia.

If you're cruising on the New Jersey Turnpike, you can drop off books for young readers -- en español también, por favor -- at toll booths. It's part of a drive begun by Gov. James McGreevey, who asked 80,000 state workers to collect 100,000 books.

Everybody's doing it
A quarter of the people in Sedalia, Mo. (population 20,339), will fan out to promote literacy, winterize homes, and collect blankets and coats. And they're working on emergency readiness; as one step, the elderly will receive safety kits including color-coded paper for window signals.

And 250,000 residents of San Bernardino County, Calif., will shower military families with housewares and spread goodwill with books, toys, food and clothing. Highlights: a kids' "Nutrition Olympics" and free Domino's pizza delivered to 400 firehouses.

Boston's 14th annual City Year Serve-a-thon Oct. 26 expects 5,000 people -- each committed to raising $100 ($50 by kids) -- to paint schools, build playgrounds and clean streets.

Bouncing back
In Ground Zero's back yard, Manhattan's High School of Economics and Finance has been repaired and reopened since 9/11, but Citigroup has asked the 40 classrooms for enough to-do lists to keep hundreds of volunteers busy on Make A Difference Day. In other Citigroup action, Baltimore co-workers will host a "Financial Literacy Day" for kids, and seven credit-card processing sites plan environmental efforts (think "plastic").

AirTran Airways workers in 39 cities have been challenged by Pittsburgh customer service employee Maria Steele-Voms Stein to duplicate her personal, all-day "Flight to Remember." How it works: She's flying to Atlanta and back just so she can collect pledges per mile flown. The special trip will benefit sick children and honor flight crews who died on 9/11.

White House action
President Bush has challenged all Americans to give 4,000 hours over their lifetimes to public service. Lots of hours will be racked up on Oct. 26 by 300 volunteers from the White House Freedom Corps office, The Home Depot, KaBOOM! and USA WEEKEND as they build a playground in one day. It's for 400 kids in a two-block low-income area of Washington, D.C. Also pitching in: Miss America 2003 Erika Harold.

Across the nation, thousands of young adults in AmeriCorps will lead projects. Many PBS stations are airing Everyday Heroes, a documentary on AmeriCorps members, this week. KRMA in Denver and WLAE in New Orleans are among the PBS stations urging viewers to take action on Make A Difference Day.

Walk-in volunteers may join thousands of local projects planned by the states of Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan, plus longtime Make A Difference Day supporters including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Habitat for Humanity, Junior League, Volunteers of America, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, March of Dimes and First Book.

Poor kids, rich hopes
At Nava Elementary School in Santa Fe, 70% of children are low-income, and college seems like an impossibility for many. Last Make A Difference Day, teacher Bill Rodriguez and 20 pupils raised $1,737 in a 24-hour rocking-chair marathon to help two "graduates" go to college. This year, 30 rockers will collect pledges to help their elders -- and invest in their own future.

Muscles matter
Hundreds of spectators are expected at a "Strong Arms for Children" women's arm-wrestling match in Bostic, N.C. The proceeds will go to domestic violence shelters. The idea is Stacy Hannon's answer to reading about an abused 8-month-old who had two broken arms, two broken legs and a broken shoulder blade.

In Borden, Ind., the stouthearted men of Greenville Christian Church discovered a family living in a condemned house without a bathroom or hot water. With donated supplies and help from 50 community members, they're building the family a new home, no strings attached. Moving day is Oct. 26.

And to do more than pat the backs of the firefighters and police officers she sees around Detroit, Felicia Bell, 26, will round up a posse of massage therapists to soothe public servants' sore muscles. "They were my heroes even before 9/11," she says. "They make a difference every day."

Carbon copies?
In Westerville, Ohio, Thomas Fortin is working with an artist to paint over graffiti at apartments for needy families.

In North Hollywood, Calif., Lydia Floyd will take poor kids on a field trip.

In Sultan, Wash., Susan Michaels is creating a "day of beauty" for homeless dogs to raise their chances of adoption.

Different, yes, but all three Make A Difference Day volunteers also are 2002 winners of the Avery Great Results Achievement Awards. Avery, the office supply company, has donated $15,000 in goods to Oct. 26 volunteers.

Virtual volunteering
An auction at www.missionfish.org benefits a sea of non-profits. Bid on a visit to "Sesame Street"'s set or CDs signed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Or donate priceless goods of your own to a favorite charity.

In Las Vegas, Barb Baker, who was a battered wife for 15 years, says her goal is "for no one to wait as long as I did to get out." Her Web site for abuse victims (teamcares.org) logs 500 visits a day, and on Oct. 26 she, her family and volunteers speckled all over the map will launch a 24-hour chat room to steer victims and abusers to help. She hopes to recruit enough volunteers to extend the virtual hot line 24/7/365. The key: "Most people just need encouragement, a kind word."

Take note of their causes

-- Part of the proceeds from sales of Al Jarreau's new album, "All I Got", go to Verizon Reads, a national literacy program for which he is spokesman. "Corporations are involved in such funky stuff these days," he says. "This is a good-news corporate story." 877-483-7323; Verizonreads.org.

-- On Oct. 26, country star Martina McBride and volunteers from RCA will sort donations and repair Safe Haven (www.safehaven.org), a family shelter in Nashville.

-- "Tonight Show" musical director Kevin Eubanks has worked for years with Teen Impact, a cancer support group at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. 323-669-4660; akuperberg@chla.usc.edu.

-- LeAnn Rimes, who just released the CD "Twisted Angel", supports the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children, based at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. 323-655-5977.

-- Vanessa Carlton, whose debut single, "A Thousand Miles", topped the charts, urges you to support VH1's Save the Music to aid underfunded public school music programs. 888-841-4687; VH1savethemusic.com.

-- Singer/actor Chris Isaak, who stars in his own Showtime series, focuses his volunteer energies on "those who can't help themselves." He encourages readers to help the mentally and physically challenged.