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RHODE ISLAND

(Newport) Daily News. More than 70 volunteers, with the help of 48 local businesses, held a craft fair and raffle at the Linden School to raise $3,000 for a family that had suffered a near-fatal car accident a few months before.

(Westerly) Sun. Westerly/Pawcatuck Girl Scouts held a Halloween party and set the price of admission at one personal-care item. The Scouts collected hundreds of donations that were then given to charity.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Aiken Standard. In Burnettown, 175 employees of the Kimberly-Clark Corp. and residents built the town's first community playground.

Beaufort Gazette. In Dale, the Beaufort Lowcountry Lions Club held a day of activity and mentoring for at-risk youth at the Beaufort Marine Institute. The day kicked off an ongoing effort to affect the lives of the boys, 14 to 17, assigned to the institute by the court.

(Florence) Morning News. Teachers and students from St. Anthony Catholic School collected 1,600 non-perishable food items. The donation was enough to reopen St. Anthony Catholic Church's food bank, which had been closed at summer's end for lack of food.

Greenville News. 30 Greenville County volunteers helped the Blue Ridge Youth Association repair a building used to store sports equipment and hold meetings. Gravel was laid, drains built, windows replaced.

Sunday Island Packet. 16 employees of the Del Webb Corp., an active adult community, painted the exterior of The Hilton Head Children's Center, which had not been painted in 30 years.

(Rock Hill) Herald. Catawba Pioneer Club, made up of employees of Rock Hill, Lancaster and Fort Mill phone companies, held parties for Alzheimer's patients and special-needs kids in Rock Hill and Lancaster. The group also gave $500 to wire two Chicago schools to the Internet.

SOUTH DAKOTA

(Sioux Falls) Argus Leader. 94 students from Horace Mann Elementary School's Challenge Center visited a homeless shelter, worked at a soup kitchen, entertained patients at a children's hospital, and collected clothes, toiletries and books for various charities.

TENNESSEE

Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. In Dover, volunteers of The Good Samaritans Inc., who operate an emergency food pantry and Thrift Shop, organized major repairs to a senior citizen's trailer home.

Cleveland Daily Banner. 3,000 Cleveland residents answered Mayor Tom Rowland's Make A Difference Day challenge, including the fire department, Habitat for Humanity and Lee University students who raised money for charity, planted trees and helped the elderly.

(Dyersburg) State Gazette. Members of the Dyersburg High School Volunteers Club organized 300 community volunteers to begin painting 3,500 house addresses on curbs to help emergency services find homes.

Kingsport Times-News. Kiwanis Club of Kingsport held a 150-family garage sale with $10,000 in profits going to community service projects, including the purchase of clothes and shoes for needy children in Kingsport.

(Maryville) Daily Times. 210 residents of the Maryville Housing Authority Parkside Development participated in projects including a safety and drug-free fair.

(Nashville) Tennessean. 40 State Farm Insurance South Central Regional Office employees joined volunteers in projects throughout Rutherford County, including repairing a senior citizen's home and teaching kids the importance of 911.

(Oak Ridge) Oak Ridger. In Lenoir City, HOPE, an adult volunteer organization, held a Make A Difference Day Readin' and Rummagin' Day to benefit recent Mexican immigrants. Participants were given play money to purchase items donated by a church and were read to in both Spanish and English.

(Sevierville) Mountain Press. The Sevier Chapter of the American Business Women's Association kicked off the "Caring Closet," a monthly meeting to mentor and encourage women in need of employment or guidance.

TEXAS

Abilene Reporter-News. 55 members of the Mills County Girl Scouts mobilized 125 residents to clean and beautify a vacant lot.

Arlington Morning News. Cadette Girl Scout Troop No. 3508 collected two vans and a pickup truck's worth of paper products for a local shelter.

Baytown Sun. In Houston, Junior Girl Scout Troop No. 10843 cleaned a park and painted play equipment.

(Bryan) Eagle. In Calvert, the Chamber of Commerce mobilized 75 volunteers of all ages for a town cleanup. Debris included appliances, mattresses and an old boat.

Conroe Courier. The Library Friends of Conroe held a used book sale, raising $4,031 for new purchases.

Corpus Christi Caller Times. In Freer, 560 Norman Thomas Elementary School pupils and staffers collected 6,728 cans and boxes of food for 70 needy local citizens and a food bank.

Corsicana Daily Sun. Six members of the Pelham Family Education and Community Club cleared the roadside near a church.

Denton Record-Chronicle. Ronald E. McNair Elementary School pupils created a "Memory Book" and raised $1,708 to help a schoolmate with brain cancer; after Seaver Sewell, 6, died, the school and community raised $11,000 more to aid the foundation his family began in his name.

El Paso Times. 15 members of the International AIDS Empowerment Project painted a shelter for homeless AIDS patients in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Galveston County Daily News. Rose Daniels' family mended, cleaned and donated clothes to a hospital for its indigent patients.

Greenville Herald Banner. 40 Altrusa Club members collected 1,162 cans of food for a pantry and planted flowers downtown.

Killeen Daily Herald. The Bob Gilmore Senior Center's "Throw in the Towel" campaign mobilized 1,953 people to collect enough towels to fill four large pickup trucks for a homeless shelter.

Laredo Morning Times. The South Laredo Youth Alliance raised $300 in a Bucket Brigade to help with a teen's medical expenses and spoke with teens at the Juvenile Detention Center.

Longview News-Journal. 27 members of the Marion County Community Explorers 4-H Club cleaned a nature trail on an elementary school campus as senior citizens related the trail's history.

Midland Reporter-Telegram. 65 members of the Midland Freshman High School Posse collected 1,400 cans of food for a food bank.

Orange Leader. Brownie Troop No. 6069 collected canned food and children's clothes for helping agencies.

Plainview Daily Herald. Maudine Miller and friends raised $752 at a garage sale for a needy child in India.

Plano Star Courier. More than 500 J.C. Penney and Levi Strauss employees and their families cleaned a McKinney neighborhood, picked 11,720 sweet potatoes, visited a nursing home and held food and clothing drives.

Port Arthur News. Dorris Jones and four Proctor Street Baptist Church friends packed 19 shoeboxes with toiletries for a mission.

(San Angelo) Standard-Times. 25 Keep Big Lake Beautiful volunteers cleaned vacant lots, parks and 2 miles along a highway.

Texarkana Gazette. Jefferson Middle School seventh- and eighth-graders held a "Blanket the Critters" drive to collect 100 items for a veterinary clinic.

Texas City Sun. 80 volunteers helped the St. Vincent de Paul Society collect four pickup trucks of food and toiletries; one donor gave $50 from a lottery win.

Victoria Advocate. 100 Main Street Goliad and county citizens planted 1,749 oleanders to mark Goliad's founding 250 years ago.

(Wichita Falls) Times Record News. 33 volunteers from the Women's Y and six area helping organizations hosted a day of fun for 135 physically and mentally challenged people of all ages.

UTAH

(Ogden) Standard-Examiner. Youth from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filled miniature football helmets and cocoa mugs with candy and delivered them to troubled youth living in federally and state-funded group homes.

The (Provo) Daily Herald. 15 girls from the Provo Canyon School -- a residential treatment facility for children dealing with drug abuse, sexual abuse and neglect -- crocheted blankets and collected 70 pounds of Halloween candy for the homeless.

(St. George) Spectrum. 20 Southwest Center volunteers landscaped a new picnic area for residents of the Mountain View House, a facility for the mentally ill. Other volunteers cleaned the overgrown yard of a mentally ill person now living alone.

VERMONT

Bennington Banner. 25 patients, residents and staff members at the Weston Hadden Convalescent Center collected winter coats and toys, which they cleaned, repaired and painted, for some 200 needy children in the community.

Brattleboro Reformer. 15 members of Girl Scout Troop No. 785 from Wilmington distributed 200 Red Cross donor cards to people, urging them to donate blood at a Red Cross blood drive held a few weeks later in Brattleboro.

Burlington Free Press. More than 1,000 food items were collected and donated to the Ecumenical Food Shelf by 75 members of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 33 and Girl Scouts of Morrisville.

VIRGINIA

Alexandria/Arlington/Fairfax Journal. 3,000 people participated in VolunteerFest '97, coinciding with Make A Difference Day and sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Fairfax County Inc. Volunteers ran a community health fair; painted shelters; cleaned parks, trails and streams; planted trees; and held food and clothing drives.

(Charlottesville) Daily Progress. Tina and Michael Gill, along with their kids, Danielle and Joe, collected 92 winter coats and snowsuits, plus hundreds of other warm clothes, for an aid agency.

Danville Register & Bee. 35 members of the Dan River High School Interact club collected 1,247 pounds of canned food and toys for a pantry, while 48 bowlers raised $1,946 for the Make-A- Wish Foundation.

(Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star. 42 members of the Rappahannock Area CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Program sewed and stuffed 80 duffel bags with stuffed animals and toiletries for children in foster care.

(Lynchburg) News & Advance. Sara Manley, 12, played her violin for donations to the Academy of Music Theatre, a historic building in downtown Lynchburg undergoing a major restoration.

Suffolk News-Herald. Pilot Club of Suffolk members made 100 stuffed bears for children at Obici Memorial Hospital.

Winchester Star. The Shenandoah Valley Interagency Coordinating Council held a yard sale, bake sale and auction, raising $3,000 for the Northwestern Regional Education Program, serving the mentally, physically and emotionally disabled.

(Woodbridge) Potomac News. 38 students from the Godwin Middle School collected 378 cans of food for charity.

WASHINGTON

Aberdeen Daily World. Sixth-graders from the Aberdeen Police Department's DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program collected 700 pounds of food for Grace Harbor Food Bank.

(Bellevue) Eastside Journal. Skyway Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9430 and its Ladies' Auxiliary filled 170 handmade fabric bags with toiletries for homeless women at the Church of Mary Magdalene in Seattle.

Bellingham Herald. 8-year-old Lucas Griest and his mother collected 135 pairs of used eyeglasses for Lions Club and LensCrafters to be donated to people in developing countries.

(Bremerton) Sun. 108 volunteers in Port Orchard cleared paths, removed trash and weeds and performed needed maintenance at South Kitsap Community Park.

(Kent) South County Journal. 32 employees of Mancini & Groesbeck Inc. in Tukwila renovated the mobile home of a needy co-worker by replacing windows, digging a ditch for phone and power lines, and painting walls.

(Olympia) Olympian. The Volunteer Center of Lewis, Mason and Thurston counties recruited 60 volunteers to rake the yards of nearly 30 houses.

(Tacoma) News Tribune. 180 residents of the Commencement Terrace Apartments retirement community collected nearly 1,500 stuffed animals to be given out by the Tacoma Police Department, firefighters, medics and the Salvation Army.

(Vancouver) Columbian. Advanced Health Occupation students from Battle Ground and Prairie high schools worked with the local Red Cross at a CPR marathon, where they gave free lessons and certified 28 people.

(Walla Walla) Union-Bulletin. Volunteers from Ron Willhite's Kids at Risk put up 21 basketball hoops in six towns. The group has put up a total of 4,200 hoops in the past five years.

Wenatchee World. The Wenatchee Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized 700 volunteers to clean up and landscape the Sunnyslope highway interchange. They also planted 200 trees.

WEST VIRGINIA

(Beckley) Register-Herald. Members of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church volunteered throughout Raleigh County, collecting clothes for an orphanage and serving dinner at a shelter.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Volunteers from Mercer County, W.Va., and Tazewell County, Va. -- including state Sen. Jackson E. Reasor Jr. of Bluefield, W.Va. -- encouraged literacy through a weekend of reading to thousands of schoolchildren and nursing home residents.

(Elkins) Inter-Mountain. The General Federation of Women's Club-Junior Women's Club of Elkins Inc. worked with others to build a swing set at a shelter for battered women.

Charleston Daily Mail. In Buckhannon, 120 students from West Virginia Wesleyan College completed projects that included collecting 300 books for an elementary school and painting a U.S. map on the blacktop of another school.

(Huntington) Herald-Dispatch. The Future Homemakers of America at Barboursville Middle School delivered 310 handmade teddy bears to emergency services in Cabell County.

WISCONSIN

Appleton Post-Crescent. The Volunteer Center of East Central Wisconsin rallied 1,000 volunteers from Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties to winterize 400 homes of disabled and senior citizens.

(Beaver Dam) Daily Citizen. Columbus High School students, teachers and staff members collected 428 books for People Against a Violent Environment, a shelter for victims of domestic of violence, and the Open Arms Homeless Shelter.

(Beloit, Wis.) Janesville Gazette. The Aldrich Builders Club from Aldrich Middle School raised money to purchase items for a food pantry. Some students restocked the pantry, while others played bingo with residents at a nursing home.

(Eau Claire) Leader-Telegram. St. Olaf's School second-graders collected money and items to fill 15 boxes for Mexican children affected by a hurricane.

(Fond du Lac) Reporter. 260 volunteers visited 9,000 homes in Fond du Lac County offering to test smoke alarms and replace batteries, while volunteer firefighters installed alarms.

Green Bay Press-Gazette. For the fourth year, Lutheran Brotherhood Peninsula Branch 8795 united churches, schools and businesses to collect and package 199 toiletry kits of items that cannot be purchased with food stamps to donate to Door County agencies.

(Manitowoc) Herald Times-Reporter. Lasallian Youth of Roncalli High School painted the interior of a domestic violence center and helped elderly neighbors prepare their homes for the winter.

Marshfield News-Herald. In Neillsville, Duane Peterson and Bob Lulloff took their small polka band, The Danish Peasants, to a nursing home to entertain 80 residents.

Monroe Evening Times. Members of Big Brothers & Big Sisters joined friends and employees of The Monroe Evening Times to do yardwork at the homes of five families.

(Rhinelander) Daily News. Oneida Council of Camp Fire Boys & Girls, with the help of businesses and organizations, held its third annual Make A Difference Day Halloween party for 800 children.

Sheyboygan Press. 20 volunteers painted 40 windows at the future home of Above & Beyond Children's Museum.

(Superior) Daily Telegram. Members of First United Methodist Church revitalized a room in the Center for Sexual and Domestic Abuse by painting, replacing curtains and linens, and adding special touches such as silk flowers and a teddy bear.

Watertown Daily Times. The Lake Mills United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women, donated 26 stuffed animals to People Against Domestic Abuse of Jefferson County for children whose lives have been affected by domestic violence.

Wausau Daily Herald. 125 members of the Stevens Point Area Senior High Key Club raked the yards of 60 homes belonging to the elderly and disabled.

Waukesha (County) Freeman. The Soat-Vergenz Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 721 and its Ladies Auxiliary collected $150 in food donations for the Waukesha County Food Pantry.

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. Michelle Turbin, a junior at Lincoln High School, recruited her school's basketball coach and 16 players to mentor 60 fourth- through sixth-graders.

WYOMING

(Rock Springs) Daily Rocket-Miner. The U.S. post office in Green River and National Association of Letter Carriers Branch No. 6175 solicited and collected more than 1,000 pounds of items that cannot be purchased with food stamps for a food pantry.