Special Awards

Paul Newman has donated $100,000 annually since 1994 to Make A Difference Day. Each of these 50 exemplary efforts receives $2,000 from Newman and his food company, Newman's Own, to continue their good work in the community.

Projects are listed alphabetically, by state.

Arley, Ala. The rural town united to build its first public playground. Located at Meek High School, it sports 15 new swings, a big shaded sandbox, a covered picnic area and a custom-built wooden play structure with two purple plastic slides.
$2,000 to Meek Elementary School.

Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Members of the Fort Wainwright Teen Council chose to address the growing concern of domestic violence. The group of eight went door to door collecting items, such as clothes and strollers, for the Fairbanks-based Women in Crisis Center.
$2,000 to the Fort Wainwright Teen Council.

Kingman, Ariz. A raffle led by police and sheriff's deputies in Kingman and Mohave counties raised $2,900 to help pay for school lunches and to buy hundreds of head lice treatments and clothing for needy children. Tickets were sold at 70 local businesses by teachers and at Family Fun and Awareness Day, where a dentist gave children free exams.
$2,000 to Kingman Elementary School.

Tucson, Ariz. The head of Golden Eagle Corp., an Anheuser-Busch distributor, handed $3,000 over to employees and told them to use it on Make A Difference Day to change their communities for the better. The result: 160 employees spanned six Arizona communities and, through a fiesta, a yard sale, a golf tournament and a rummage sale, brought in more than $10,000 for charity. Among the recipients: a food bank, a Catholic school in a poor parish and a senior center.
$2,000 to Santa Cruz Parish.

Springdale, Ark. In an effort to bring modern technology to the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter, 50 volunteers from the Junior Service League of Northwest Arkansas transformed a storage building into a computer lab and arts center.
$2,000 to the Junior Service League of Northwest Arkansas.

Clearlake, Calif. To fill an often forgotten need, the Kiwanis Club organized its second underwear and sock collection for homeless and needy families. Three large barrels and two large boxes of undergarments were given to the Redbud Community Services Center Inc.
$2,000 to the Kiwanis Club of Clearlake.

Petaluma, Calif. Gardeners Against Hunger -- a group of farmers and home gardeners who collect surplus fruits and vegetables for low-income families -- joined with other local gardeners, including the Redwood Empire Boy Scout Troop No. 12, for a gleaning at two farms. The group picked more than 600 pounds of produce for a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, a preschool and the Salvation Army.
$2,000 to Communities on the Shelter List.

San Marcos, Calif. For the third year, 500 San Diego County residents -- representing 20 organizations -- carted away more than 12 tons of debris from six square blocks in the Richmar neighborhood and accomplished dozens of beautification projects. The city supplied hand tools, trucks and dumpsters, while businesses donated plants and landscaping supplies.
$2,000 to the Kiwanis Club of San Marcos.

Stockton, Calif. More than 1,000 volunteers removed graffiti, cleaned vacant lots, and planted flowers and trees throughout the city. They also painted bleachers, backstops and other equipment in three parks, cleaned up the city's ice rink and held a community health fair where they distributed health, safety and anti-drug information and administered free flu shots, hearing and eye exams, and cholesterol and diabetes screenings.
$2,000 to Stockton Animal Friends.

Arvada, Colo. Susan Nelson, 33, and Bob McDonough, 67, reminded seniors that you're never too old to dream. The pair worked with the Colorado Lutheran Home to grant the wishes of 22 residents, ages 67 to 100, whose dearest desires ranged from riding a bicycle to visiting distant relatives. Their project has inspired them to start a non-profit to continue their efforts: the Forget Me Not Foundation.

Pueblo, Colo. The Needle Beetles 4-H Club -- known for its sewing -- collected 1,700 books and held a day of reading activities around Pueblo in an effort to address illiteracy among children of elementary school age. Each child who participated received a book and bookmark. The remaining books were donated to area schools.
$2,000 to the Pueblo 4-H Foundation.

North Haven, Conn. Students and volunteers at The Ridge Road School spent the day filling more than 1,000 bags for needy adults and children with 13,000 items collected during a month-long drive.
$2,000 to Life Haven Inc.

Milton, Fla. About 40 people turned out for an annual cleaning at ARC Santa Rosa, which works with 100 mentally retarded teens and adults. Volunteers including ARC clients, staff members and their families, and people from St. Mary's Episcopal Church, the Milton Civitan Club and the Milton campus of Pensacola Junior College painted walls, waxed the break-room floor, and pressure-washed the annex and its sidewalk.
$2,000 to ARC Santa Rosa.

Milledgeville, Ga. Thanks to a community-wide effort led by members of Hardwick Christian Church, the 74-year-old Maranatha Mission Home received a much-needed face lift, complete with handmade curtains and bedspreads, furniture, new electrical wiring and a paint job.
$2,000 to Maranatha Outreach.

Honolulu, Hawaii. Youth for Environmental Service -- a non-profit organization that encourages young people to get involved in environmental community service -- rallied 400 volunteers for a multipronged effort to clean up the Ala Wai Canal watershed near Waikiki. Volunteers removed 4,000 pounds of trash and debris, repaired mountain trails to reduce erosion and runoff into nearby streams, and gathered 750 pounds of trash from Diamond Head Beach.
$2,000 to Friends of Youth for Environmental Service.

Champaign, Ill. Using its home page on the World Wide Web, Altrusa International Inc., a professionals' service organization, organized 877 volunteers in literacy projects nationwide. Projects ranged from donating books to migrant workers' children to raising $10,000 for a library's kids' reading room.
$2,000 to the Altrusa International Foundation.

Decatur, Ind. For the third year, sisters Mildred, 76, and Violet Steffen, 74, used their home as drop-off site and collected 100 bags of groceries for Operation Help and the Wells County Food Bank.
$2,000 to the Wells County Food Bank.

Junction City, Kan. The VFW Auxiliary Junior Unit -- girls 6 to 16 -- organized by Mickey "Grandma" Brown delivered food, books, coffee and clothing to disabled veterans; cooked and served brunch; cleaned house, raked yards and fixed fences; and threw a party and bingo tournament for nursing home residents and hospital patients. The group of 20 also stocked three mobile homes with food and household goods in preparation for the arrival of three homeless veterans, for whom Brown found jobs.
$2,000 to the Salvation Army.

Louisville, Ky. 25 members of Lee's Lane Leisure Club carved and painted 200 wooden toys for abused, neglected and disabled children. The seniors delivered the toy airplanes, helicopters, doll rockers and cars on Make A Difference Day to the Home of the Innocents.
$2,000 to the Home of the Innocents Inc.

New Orleans A cleanup crew more than 1700 volunteers strong -- including Mayor Marc Morial -- engulfed a run-down district near the famed French Quarter. Teams collected nearly 100 tons of trash from streets and parks; landscaped and painted schools; cleaned two housing developments; and transformed three vacant lots into community gardens.
$2,000 to the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

Owensboro, Ky. About 30 volunteers, ages 18 to 45, from the Volunteer Center of Owensboro and Daviess counties and KY-READS collected books for the non-profit program aimed at bringing elementary school children up to speed in reading skills. By day's end, they had gathered more than 1,100 new and used books for elementary students and women's and family shelters.
$2,000 to The Volunteer Center of Owensboro.

Lewiston, Maine. Thirteen members of the Androscoggin Chapter of the Maine State Employees Association transformed a home for abused women after removing five years' worth of clutter. Volunteers cleaned the attic and cellar (including taking about 100 old paint cans to a hazardous-waste disposal facility), tidied up the yard and stocked pantries and closets with donations of clothing, toiletries, toys and canned goods.
$2,000 to the Abused Women's Advocacy Project.

Annapolis, Md. For its sixth Make A Difference Day, the U.S. Naval Academy's midshipmen packed 40,000 books for needy schools and colleges in Africa and Eastern Europe, volunteered at a children's museum and painted an assisted-living home for mentally ill men.
$2,000 to Parole Rotary Club.

Birmingham, Mich. More than 500 students, parents, staff and residents in the city's public school district held a garage sale to benefit Michigan's largest foster care agency. The day produced more than $7,000 for the Orchards Children's Services.
$2,000 to Orchards Children's Services.

Meadville, Miss. To address what she saw as a growing number of homeless teens in New Orleans' French Quarter, C.J. Murray rallied friends and family to visit the city and donate to the teens 700 bologna-and-cheese sandwiches along with hundreds of blankets, socks and clothes she had collected from her community.
$2,000 to Covenant House, New Orleans.

Scottsbluff, Neb. Through radio and newspaper announcements and pleas to area schools and civic groups, Sheron Dinnel held a community shower for Panhandle Community Services' new group home for girls. Despite a blizzard, she managed to collect everything from vacuum cleaners to pillow covers.
$2,000 to Scotts Bluff County United Way.

Henderson, Nev. Helping a neighbor while learning about homelessness and the poor, students at James I. Gibson Elementary collected 15,000 items for their less fortunate peers at Paradise Elementary, just seven miles from their own school.
$2,000 to Paradise Elementary School.

Henderson, Nev. The Heinquist sisters -- Jennifer, 15, Courtney, 14, Allison, 12, Lindsay, 10, and Morgan, 7 -- wanted to make life a little easier for homeless children. So the girls joined the efforts of the Homeless Education Project, a Las Vegas-area program that assists needy children in enrolling in school and getting school items, by collecting 2,273 books and school items for needy kids in the Clark County School District.
$2,000 to C.P. Squires Elementary School.

Reno, Nev. The Undergraduate Stu-dent Social Work Association at the University of Nevada-Reno collected 5,000 pounds of clothing and distributed it to the homeless at a barbecue in the parking lot of Project Restart. They cooked and served 400 hot dogs donated by local businesses, and treated children to balloons, candy and Halloween toys.
$2,000 to Committee to Aid Abused Women.

Albany, N.Y. More than 5,000 people behind and beyond bars joined in the New York State Department of Correctional Services' annual Make A Difference Day effort. Correctional officers, administrators and inmates in all 69 state facilities held food drives, raised money for victims of domestic violence, spent time at nursing homes, and built toys for needy children.
$2,000 to Jefferson County Women's Center.

Rochester, N.Y. 183 employees of ViaHealth and members of their families stepped out of clinics and hospitals to clean, landscape and restock four area homeless shelters. The only time medicine came into play was when nurses gave more than 40 flu shots.
$2,000 to ViaHealth.

Hickory, N.C. In an effort to bring health information to a diverse community, Ponetta Hull organized health educators, health professionals and translators of Spanish and Hmong at Sweetwater Elementary School for a health fair aimed at low-income residents. More than 100 volunteers provided information on nutrition, childbirth and proper dental hygiene to 250 people. The local hospital conducted free mammograms for women over 35, as well as bone-density screening and diabetes testing.
$2,000 to Sweetwater Elementary School.

Niagara, N.D. Wanting to help sweeten the days of flood victims, 13-year-old Shanda Borgen delivered 60 loaves of banana bread, along with bags of Halloween candy, to Grand Forks Mission.
$2,000 to Grand Forks Mission.

Cincinnati, Ohio. Residents of Seasons Retirement Community set out to help other senior citizens by collecting two truckloads of good, used clothing for needy residents of three local nursing homes.
$2,000 to Seasons Retirement Community.

Miami, Okla. More than 300 volunteers turned out to tackle 26 projects in the first "Hearts & Hammers" work day in Miami. Directed by skilled leaders, teams of volunteers -- young and old, male and female -- reroofed houses, painted homes inside and out, replaced a countertop and sink, hung siding, and replaced or cleaned gutters. At one home, a gas leak was found and fixed.
$2,000 to Home Inc., Hearts & Hammers.

Oklahoma City, Okla. Seven employees and retirees from the city's Southwestern Bell office saved The Children's Center, a non-profit in Bethany, a total of $1,500 by assembling and installing a playground to help children with debilitating illnesses and injuries learn to walk, climb stairs and improve their coordination.
$2,000 to Children's Convalescent Center.

Medford, Ore. Athletes of the Southern Oregon Special Olympics, ages 12 to 30, spent the day chopping donated wood to fill the need of the middle- to lower-income community for firewood. The group then delivered cords of wood valued at about $150 each to three families.
$2,000 to Southern Oregon Special Olympics.

Lansdale, Pa. Students, teachers and family members from Corpus Christi School spread out across the region and helped feed the hungry in Philadelphia, made toiletry bags for the homeless in Baltimore, and painted houses and hauled trash in Camden, N.J.
$2,000 to Corpus Christi School.

Sewickley, Pa. To help the type of crisis center that aided her when she was raped, Maria Christina led a collection of needed items for the Crisis Center North, a safe house for victims of domestic violence in Pittsburgh. In addition to collecting clothing and hygiene items, she encouraged businesses to donate free passes to events for children at the center and led friends there to paint and make repairs.
$2,000 to Crisis Center North.

San Juan, Puerto Rico. For the third consecutive year, island chapters of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas celebrated El Día de Hacer una Diferencia by helping abused children, recovering substance abusers and others in need. Almost 2,000 volunteers in more than 25 courts (chapters) participated in projects, including bringing meals, fruit, towels, personal items and rosaries to the homeless at a city shelter and stocking a new, volunteer-built library at a home for men in recovery with books, games and game tables.
$2,000 to the Catholic Daughters of America.

Woonsocket, R.I. At Haven of Grace, a transitional home for battered women and their children, six residents used to being on the receiving end of help recorded and donated books on tape so residents of two local nursing homes and an assisted-living facility could enjoy materials they could no longer read on their own.
$2,000 to Haven of Grace Ministries.

Rosholt, S.D. Amanda Renelt, 15, organized more than half of her town's population of 400 to participate in a community-wide cleanup and outreach effort. Volunteers cleaned streets, public parks and the community center; spruced up the fire and ambulance buildings; collected clothing, food and pet supplies for charities; and entertained at a senior center.
$2,000 to Friends of the National Zoo.

Nashville, Tenn. Trying to expand the worlds of 69 boys from area elementary and middle schools, members of the mentoring group 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee took the youngsters to three libraries, registered them for library cards and gave them grade-appropriate reading lists. The day kicked off Read to Achieve, a challenge to encourage the boys to read by rewarding them with incentives like fast food and mall certificates.
$2,000 to 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee Inc.

Dallas, Texas. The students from the Peer Assistance Leadership (PAL) class at Bryan Adams High School took 50 needy children on a shopping spree with $3,000 the group raised from car washes, pumpkin pie-throwing contests and lunchroom collections.
$2,000 to Bryan Adams High School.

Killeen, Texas. 3,000 soldiers and their families from Fort Hood participated in 43 Make A Difference Day projects. Some volunteers poured a concrete floor at a food bank, delivered fishing poles to a veterans hospital, assembled care packages for soldiers in Bosnia, and helped undertake major renovations at a youth camp.
$2,000 to the Fort Hood Installation Morale, Welfare & Recreation Fund.

St. George, Utah. 120 members of the Random Acts of Selfless Kindness Club at St. George High School renovated the back yard of the The Children's Justice Center, a home where children who may have been the victims of sexual and physical abuse are interviewed by lawyers, police and social service agencies. The volunteers put in a new basketball court, playground, wooden fence and sprinkler system to water a new lawn. Donations were collected from local businesses and family members.
$2,000 to Friends of Washington County, Children's Justice Center.

Woodbridge, Va. Calling their group AfterShare Kids, formerly homeless children and teens hosted their fourth Make A Difference Day project, organizing a clothing collection that benefited 354 needy children. Volunteers ranging in age from 8 to 15 spanned the community and collected 7,000 articles of children's winter clothes, boots and coats. On Oct. 25, with the help of about 55 other family and shelter volunteers, they hosted a giveaway at a shelter for the homeless, as well as other needy children in the community.
$2,000 to AfterShare Kids.

Edmonds, Wash. Members of Quilts From the Heart -- a group of women who have donated 500 quilts to the needy -- delivered 285 handmade quilts to eight sites including a facility for drug-addicted babies, a battered women's shelter and a home for teen mothers and their babies.
$2,000 to Quilts From the Heart.

Yakima, Wash. Alley Cats, a group made up mainly of Hispanic, African-American and Native American youths who are dedicated to ridding their East Yakima community of gang graffiti, spent the day in gang territory covering graffiti on garages, fences and buildings with 12 gallons of paint.
$2,000 to Yakima Hispanic Academic Achievement.

Racine, Wis. For three years running, citizens have turned out to build parks and playgrounds, clean neighborhoods, plant gardens and roll up their sleeves for blood drives. Some of this year's 7,500 volunteers picked up litter from a Lake Michigan beach, collected school supplies for disadvantaged kids, pulled a wagon through a neighborhood to collect books for charities, and gathered business clothes for welfare recipients returning to work.
$2,000 to Racine Emergency Shelter Task Force.

Paul Newman donates all of his after-tax profits from sales of Newman's Own products to educational and charitable purposes.