More: AmeriCorps leads the way ECHO teens at the YMCA Habitat for Humanity Soaringwords uses positive phrases to inspire ill children For seven years Golden Key chapters have participated

A series on organizations in the volunteer world

Golden Key keeps up the do-good work

Mike Johnson wasn't much for volunteering. As an electrical engineering major at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, he never seemed to have the time. But for Make A Difference Day 2004, Johnson and other members of Cal Poly's Golden Key International Honour Society toiled to fix up one of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Foothills in Monrovia, Calif.

And there, wading through a mass of kids and volunteers, Johnson found he loved the bedlam. "I showed some of the kids what to do," he recalls, "and we worked together to make things better. It was really cool."

Golden Key is an academic honor society promoting student achievement and civic involvement. For seven years, many of the nearly 350 Golden Key chapters worldwide have participated in Make A Difference Day; the organization received a national award in 2003.

The next Make A Difference Day is Oct. 22. Among plans: University of Houston's Golden Key members will mentor and tutor disabled students. And at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, Golden Key will team with an honors fraternity to collect coats for the Salvation Army.

Patricia Kime