Colorado Springs. "Once you get started volunteering, you want to keep going," says Carey Hadley, above, whose work at a therapeutic riding center benefits little Rebeka Lucero, 3, who is working to recover from an accident. Below, Air Force Academy cadets were part of the massive volunteer force helping a youth center.

uilding fences. That's how Carey Hadley spent Make A Difference Day. He and other military volunteers used their strong muscles to fence in the Pike's Peak Therapeutic Riding Center, where people with disabilities learn muscle control and balance through riding horses. Recently, Hadley met Rebeka Lucero, a bubbly 3-year-old overcoming injuries from a car crash through riding therapy. It was then he realized the true impact of the day's work. Now, he and other volunteers hope to do more for the Lucero family. "It's infectious," Hadley says. "Once you get started volunteering, you want to keep going."

On Make A Difference Day, Hadley and other volunteers from Peterson Air Force Base joined hundreds from the Air Force Academy, Hewlett-Packard, the Army's Fort Carson and the city of Colorado Springs to give an estimated $250,000 worth of free labor in one day. A major project: the Youth Outreach Center a former K mart, now a gathering place for kids. They painted, picked up trash, pulled weeds and stripped the floor of a 16,000-square-foot music room. Having so many enthusiastic volunteers creates a good problem how to keep them busy so the town has a new database to funnel volunteers to community needs. Many of the Make A Difference Day volunteers at the youth center already have found their niche: 80% continue to volunteer with the kids there. $10,000 award from Paul Newman benefits Monroe Elementary School, Pike's Peak Therapeutic Riding Center, Youth Outreach Center.

Paul Newman funds awards

The actor and founder of the food company Newman's Own Inc. gives $10,000 to the charities of each of the 10 Make A Difference Day Award recipients. This is Newman's fifth year as a Make A Difference Day supporter; his contributions to local charities through this day total $500,000. He will give another $100,000 to charities of participants in the next Make A Difference Day, Oct. 23.

Newman, who donates 100% of after-tax profits from Newman's Own to charitable and educational causes.