Issue Date: September 17, 2006

Marysol Castro: Why I Volunteer Will you help others? "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington on volunteering Denzel Washington a life changing prophesy

Good Morning America is the exclusive broadcast partner for USA WEEKEND's Make A Difference Day 2006. Through October, read inspirational words from the show's anchors and correspondents in this magazine and watch the show for on-air messages about Make A Difference Day.

Why I volunteer

The blessings I've received in my professional life are a result of someone's belief that I mattered -- me, a little Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx, N.Y., had the potential to move mountains if I really wanted.

When I was in the eighth grade, a man named John Hoffman from the Albert G. Oliver Program came to my school. After talking with me, he asked if I had ever considered going to boarding school. I always believed that's where you went if you were bad or if your family didn't love you. But sure enough, one year later, I was packing my stuff and heading to Westtown, a Quaker boarding school in southeastern Pennsylvania. Westtown wasn't exactly where you'd expect to find someone like me, but as it turned out, I spent some of the best years of my life there and learned not what to think but how to think.

I was granted a full academic scholarship; there was no other way I could have gone. And every day I was reminded that so many kids from Baychester Avenue in my old neighborhood would never know what this life was like. They would never experience the simple power and fierce tenderness in reading Homer on a lake or studying habitats in an arboretum that was my backyard.

The day John told me I'd been accepted to private school, he said two other things: Never forget where you came from, and always give back to the people there. Volunteering became a core value in my life.

Through volunteer organizations like Head Start and Boys & Girls Clubs, I've reached out to kids across the country from neighborhoods just like the one where I grew up. I remind them that they don't have to leave home to get an education, but I let them know the world is bigger than the ride downtown on the No. 1 train. I try to teach them to respect what can make them better and that they can achieve what seem like impossible goals.

And they remind me how rich the world really is.

By "Good Morning America's" Marysol Castro

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Will you help others Oct. 28?
USA WEEKEND Magazine's Make A Difference Day has a simple mission: Put your cares on hold for one day to care for someone else. The nation's largest day of service, Make A Difference Day inspires 3 million people to help 20 million others on the fourth Saturday of each October.

$100,000 for charity:
Again this year, USA WEEKEND and Paul Newman will salute Make A Difference Day volunteers by awarding $10,000 donations to the charities of 10 efforts.

Sponsors:
USA WEEKEND's Make A Difference Day is in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network.

Actor-philanthropist Paul Newman funds the national awards.