Frequently Asked Questions  What is Make A Difference Day?
What is Make A Difference Day?
Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others -- a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October. The next event is Saturday, October 24, 2009.
Millions have participated. In 2008, 3 million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer on that day, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of towns.
Your project can be as large or as small as you wish! Look around your community and see what needs to be done. Or let the Idea Generator help you find a project idea to help your community.
After participating Oct. 24, please send in an
entry form so you will be counted among the millions of volunteers and be considered for an award.
Who takes part in Make A Difference Day?
Anyone. Young and old, individuals and groups, anyone can carry out a volunteer project that helps others. It might be as ambitious as collecting truckloads of clothing for the homeless, or as personal as spending an afternoon helping an elderly neighbor or relative. USA WEEKEND features volunteers and their projects in articles and photos.
How do awards help charitable efforts?
Each year in April, hundreds of good deeds done on Make A Difference Day are selected for honors, headlines and charitable donations.
$10,000 to 10 projects
These 10 honorees will be spotlighted in an April 2010 issue, coinciding with National Volunteer week, and here on this Web site.
If you want to participate, just help someone else on the next Make A Difference Day, Saturday, October 24, 2009.
If you volunteer regularly, great! On Make A Difference Day, give an extra push to your ongoing volunteer activity. For example, expand your regular tutoring by creating a special event for the students, such as a trip to the library where they volunteer, or the recruitment of new students.
If you don't volunteer now, here's an occasion to get started. You could clean up an elderly neighbor's house, or organize your block to replant and repair a local park. You could visit lonely, institutionalized kids or the elderly. You can join in on someone else's project listed on this Web site.
If you need more than one day for your project, still plan to do a good part of your volunteering on Make A Difference Day. For example, if you are rebuilding a community soup kitchen, you may have to do some wiring the week before or some painting the week after, but a significant part of the construction needs to take place on that Saturday.
If your volunteers are together only Monday-Friday (such as schools and workplaces), still plan to do a good part of your volunteering on Make A Difference Day. For example, if students collect food for the homeless during the school week, get a special group of students and teachers together on Saturday to hand-deliver the food to homeless people or a shelter. If it rains or snows, Make A Difference Day goes on. If your project is outdoors, have a contingency plan, or forge ahead.
If you are an employee of Gannett, HandsOn Network or USA WEEKEND carrier newspapers, you are invited to participate in Make A Difference Day, but you are ineligible for awards.
If you are selected to receive an award, you must sign releases. The top-10 honorees participate in an awards ceremony.
If you are not in America, we still invite you to participate. Thousands of employees of multinational corporations have volunteered on Make A Difference Day. A large group of Moskovites participated a few years ago. U.S. military personnel stationed overseas are regular Make A Difference Day volunteers too.
If you participate but don't send in an entry form, we can't consider you for awards and can't count you among the millions of people who simultaneously reach out to help others.
What are some national groups that participate?
- Aid Association for Lutherans - Altrusa International - American Association of Retired Persons - AmeriCorps - Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America - Boy Scouts - Boys & Girls Clubs of America - Camp Fire Boys & Girls - Capitol Records/Nashville - Catholic Family Life Insurance - Delta Sigma Pi - Farm Aid - General Federation of Women's Clubs - Girl Scouts - Golden Key National Honor Society - Goodwill Industries - J.C. Penney - KaBoom! - Keep America Beautiful - Kiwanis - Knights of Columbus - League of Latin American Citizens - LensCrafters - Lutheran Brotherhood - Miss America Organization - National 4-H Council - RSVP - Salvation Army - Slovene National Benefit Society - Special Olympics - State Farm Insurance - Students in Free Enterprise - U.S. Air Force - U.S. Army - U.S. Navy - United Way of America - USA Harvest - Veterans of Foreign Wars - VISTA - World SHARE
|
Make A Difference Day, the largest national day of helping others, is sponsored by USA WEEKEND Magazine and its 600 carrier newspapers. Make A Difference Day is held in partnership with HandsOn Network and is supported by Newman's Own, which provides $10,000 donations to charities selected by of each of 10 national honorees. The 19th Make A Difference Day is Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009.
Make A Difference Day Hot Line: 1-800-416-3824
A Gannett Co., Inc. property.
Terms of Service. Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights.
| About Make A Difference Day | Make A Difference DAYtaBANK| Project Ideas | Project Tools | Honorees | Links to Friends | Email Us | Gannett Foundation & USA WEEKEND Magazine |