Regional honorees: Make A Difference Day Awards, April 2000
Are your neighbors listed among thse special awards for helping others Oct. 23, 1999?

Find honorees in your state! (pull down) Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Two honorees from each state receive $2000 awards from Wal-Mart foundation to continue their good work. State newspaper awards are selected by USA WEEKEND for its carrier newspaper. Back to National Honorees Back to Encore Awards To states Alabama-Montana

Nebraska

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Brule. MaryBeth Sanchez, whose daughter Julee had nearly every bone in her face shattered in a car crash with a drunken driver, rallied 112 volunteers to help raise $2,000 for Regional West Hospital in Scottsbluff, where Julee was treated, by holding an Oct. 23 soup supper. Among the guests were 22 former patients of the hospital, 135 miles away from this town of 411. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Regional West Foundation.

Lincoln. About 250 student members of the Comprehensive School Health Initiative, a Lincoln Public Schools program that provides tutoring and mentoring for elementary pupils, hosted a Fall Festival and collected enough books, food and cash donations to help 700 needy people: 250 pounds of food for the Lincoln Food Bank, 14 large boxes of soap, shampoo, blankets, towels, sweaters, books and more for the People's City Mission; two large boxes of newspaper, detergent, carpet samples, pet food, cat litter and other pet supplies for the Capital Humane Society; $72 in cash for the Social Workers' Emergency Fund; 20 potted plants for the elderly; and 80 place mats and cards for Meals on Wheels. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Lincoln Public School Foundation.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Beatrice Daily Sun. The Wilber Rotary inspired 100 De Witt residents to collect 3,000 pounds of non-perishables for a Saline County food pantry. Most of the donations resulted from a friendly competition among employees of Farmland Foods, Friskies Pet Food and Crete Mills.

Lincoln Journal Star. Forty-eight members of two rural churches -- Trinity Lutheran in Hebron and Zion Lutheran in Shickley -- gave the Orphan Grain Train in Norfolk a boost by traveling six hours round trip to pack 180 boxes of donated clothes for the needy in countries that formerly were part of the Soviet Union.

NATIONAL AWARD

Sparks -- Three kids paint rocks to raise $1,000 for research on lupus, a disease afflicting one of their moms. Last fall, Bobbie Vaden, 41, was hospitalized with complications from lupus, an energy-sapping arthritic illness that forced her to quit her job. Nearly 2 million Americans have lupus; that's more than AIDS, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis combined. "I was kinda scared, 'cause I didn't know what was gonna happen," says daughter Diana, 10, who stayed with her best friend, Kristal DeRuise, 10, while her mom was hospitalized. But then Kristal suggested they raise money for lupus research. Says a choked-up Bobbie: "When I was in the hospital, we were all scared, and to have Kristal, a child, come forth ..." Kristal, brother Trevor, 8, and Diana took action: Collecting round rocks from a nearby lake, they worked at a kitchen table to paint them like ladybugs to be sold for $2 each. For Make A Difference Day, they set a goal: sell 500 ladybug rocks ($1,000) for the Lupus Foundation. "Lucky Ladybugs for Lupus" opened for business Oct. 23 outside Wal-Mart. Not only did the children meet the goal, but continued ladybug production has earned $300 more. "Hopefully," Kristal says, "we'll give the Lupus Foundation enough money so they'll find a cure."

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Las Vegas. Three adults and 27 high school students from DECA, a student marketing organization, and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, ages 14-18, helped 30 homeless adults compose professional-looking résumés during a job fair at the area's largest homeless shelter. At least nine of those helped later found work. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Clark County School District School-To-Work.

Reno. Cathy Levine, who lost daughter Jenny to cancer in 1998, rallied others in her Warm for All Reasons clothing and furniture drive for needy families served by nine community agencies. They collected six vanloads of clothing, baby walkers, furniture and more than 300 baby blankets and 200 new stuffed toys. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Sunvalley Family Resource Center.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Las Vegas Review-Journal. Forty 11th- and 12th-graders in the International Baccalaureate Honor Society at Green Valley High School collected more than 5,000 articles of used clothing for Ann's Spare Duds, a free clothes closet at Ann T. Lynch Elementary School. They also raised $1,000 to buy kids' socks, underwear and tennis shoes. The adult clothing was sent to a missionary school in Kenya and to Ely, Nev., a depressed former mining town.

Reno Gazette-Journal. Seventy-five volunteers from the Undergraduate Student Social Work Association at the University of Nevada in Reno and 16 social-service agencies held a Halloween fair for 1,000 low-income people. They gave away 50 cases of baby juice and cereal, 25 cases of cornflakes and $400 worth of candy and toys. Parents also were given information about various services, including food stamps. Kids played games and had a chance to win free dance lessons or karate lessons, admission to a local water slide or a new winter coat.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Nashua. Nearly 100 members of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church reached outside their church to help the needy. For dentist Harvey Weener and staff, it meant providing $1,800 in free dental work. The church-sponsored Boy Scouts cleaned up and stacked shelves at a food bank. Teens from the church youth group worked at a soup kitchen, and the Lehto family celebrated the 95th birthday of a nursing-home resident with no living relatives. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Immaculate Conception Parish.

Nashua. Thirty-five members of the Human Care Ministry of Grace Lutheran Church spent the day sorting clothing, painting and doing carpentry at two agencies that support the needy several blocks away from each other in an ethnically diverse neighborhood. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Grace Lutheran Church.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Concord Monitor. Thirty members of the Pembroke Academy football team and 10 adults tackled odd jobs for the elderly in four towns, splitting into five teams to rake, mulch, stack wood, clean gutters and cut down trees.

(Dover) Foster's Daily Democrat. For a third year, sisters Meagan, 16, and Laura Corlin, 12, held a car wash in the rain to benefit a non-profit. This year, their $60 targeted science programs at two schools. They also recruited 19 friends to collect 233 non-perishables for the Strafford Food Pantry, 125 books for My Friend's Place in Dover, $32.50 from a raffle for the state Muscular Dystrophy Association and $15 from a bake sale for the Cocheco Valley Humane Society. Also, Oct. 23 was their fifth annual kickoff day to collect sweaters for two homeless shelters.

The Keene Sentinel. Fifteen members of Fun 4-H of North Charlestown, ages 6-17, along with 15 relatives and friends, sewed 200 lap robes, blankets, fleece hats, mittens and cancer caps for seven agencies.

The (Nashua) Telegraph. Forty members of the Hudson Lions Club raised nearly $1,000 at a dinner to help buy a $3,370 reading aid for Carol Ralston, who is legally blind. They delivered and installed the system Oct. 23.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Bradley Beach. Although in constant use by community groups, this town's 1901 centerpiece gym was last painted in 1966. On Oct. 23, 85 community volunteers completed an estimated $62,000 worth of work on the First United Methodist Church gym, including repairing sections of the tin ceiling, ripping out a mildewed wall, installing new plumbing and painting. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit First United Methodist Church.

Trenton. Two highly publicized murders -- one by a past sex offender, the other by a man whose family's request to have him committed to a mental institution had been refused by a judge -- led to a backlash against the developmentally disabled and mentally ill. To counter the negative publicity, the state Department of Human Services recruited 250 volunteers, about a third of them developmentally disabled or mentally ill, to clean up sites in poor sections of three towns. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Mill Hill Child and Family Development Center.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The (Bridgewater) Courier-News. Patricia Riccio of Warren and her friends coordinated a benefit to raise money for area flood victims. The event raised $18,000 in donations to "We Will Rebuild," a multi-faith organization that gives funds to flood victims.

(Cherry Hill) Courier-Post. MAGIC, a community-service group headed by 14-year-old Blair Hornstine, coordinated 100 volunteers to transform an abandoned Camden community center into a library. Other MAGIC-sponsored events around Make A Difference Day included beautification projects, a food drive and a prom-dress drive.

The (East Brunswick) Home News Tribune. The North Brunswick Make A Difference Committee organized the community's eighth annual project, raising money toward the purchase of defibrillators for its First Aid Squad, collecting food for a pantry and helping to coordinate the efforts of 22 participant groups, such as a Girl Scout collection of 500 sweaters.

The Jersey (City) Journal. MaryAnne Kerrigan cooked and served a dinner for 50 elderly people in her building and the building next door. Several local politicians attended and spoke to the seniors, and there was jazz music and dancing.

(Neptune) Asbury Park Press. For Beach Sweeps, a fall cleanup of the state's beaches sponsored by Clean Ocean Action, 1,700 volunteers at 42 locations removed more than 25,000 pounds of debris from shores.

(Newton) New Jersey Herald. The American Legion Auxiliary, Department of New Jersey, coordinated organ- and tissue-donor information and sign-up booths at 25 sites across the state, resulting in 100 donors registered and hundreds of information packets handed out.

(Parsippany) Daily Record. At a day-long rummage sale, 40 low-income families who are enrolled in the Dover Housing Authority's self-sufficiency program raised $500 for a scholarship fund for the needy.

The (Pleasantville) Press of Atlantic City. Twenty-four members of the Love of Linda Cancer Fund, a fund-raising organization in Wildwood that helps cancer patients with medical expenses, distributed 2,000 cancer-information booklets around Cape May County.

The (Trenton) Trentonian. The New Jersey Tree Foundation's "Make A Difference With Trees" project educated leaders of volunteer groups about running a tree-planting event. Then, on Oct. 23, 1,500 volunteers planted 3,386 trees statewide.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Albuquerque. More than 175 military and civilian workers at Kirtland Air Force Base reached out to residents of the Trumbull neighborhood, home to Cuban, Vietnamese, Native American, Mexican, and Anglo- and African-American residents. It's known as the "War Zone." Volunteers collected a truckload of trash and played games with children, while about 175 residents got free vision, dental, blood-sugar and blood-pressure checkups. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit University of New Mexico Foundation/Young Children's Health Center.

Carlsbad. Fifty-five volunteers led by Carlsbad Habitat for Humanity, including 18 boys from two residential facilities for troubled youths, moved more than 4 tons of gravel and 4 tons of top soil; dug holes for two young apple trees; and planted holly, mums, pansies, honeysuckle and sage to beautify two Habitat for Humanity homes. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Carlsbad Habitat for Humanity.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

(Carlsbad) Current-Argus. About a dozen members of the civic group Carlsbad FIRST! registered 75 voters at five sites. The oldest volunteer was 85; the new voters, mostly in their 20s and 30s. The goal: to make Carlsbad "the votingest little city in America."

Gallup Independent. Seventeen members of the National Honor Society at Gallup High School cleaned the playground at Roosevelt Elementary School. The students hung new basketball nets, painted lines for play areas, swept the asphalt and shoveled away dirt.

Roswell Daily Record. Sixteen members of the District 5 New Mexico Nurses Association dedicated October to teaching students at six elementary schools about bone health. On Oct. 23, they held a story hour attended by 20 children.

The Santa Fe New Mexican. Congregants of St. Bede's and Santa Maria de la Paz churches and the United Church of Santa Fe joined together to collect about 250 items of clothing for needy schoolkids and two shelters serving battered women and the homeless. Among the items were about 20 winter coats bought with a $400 grant from Wal-Mart.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Albany. 3,800 employees and incarcerated men and women of the state Department of Correctional Services tore down the bars dividing them and reached out beyond their prison walls -- for the sixth year -- to help the elderly, disabled, homeless and abused; underprivileged families; domestic shelters; Red Cross blood drives; and family-counseling programs. Cash donations exceeded $18,900, while food and clothing donations weighed in at 10 tons. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Equinox Domestic Violence Shelter.

Johnson City. Thirty members of St. John's Parish began cleaning up and restoring the remains of the home of Ed and Marty Skowronski, both 64, who were living in their car and dining on 99-cent meals nearly a year after a fire destroyed their home and flower shop. On Oct. 23, volunteers filled a dumpster with burned timbers and furnishings, enclosed the house, put in insulation and installed a roof. Among the donated food for the day's workers and the couple were 40 pounds of mashed potatoes, 40 quarts of chili, box lunches and $40 in Wendy's gift certificates. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit St. James Church.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

(Binghamton) Press & Sun-Bulletin. The Parent Advisory Council of the Oneonta Migrant Education Outreach Program and program staffers raised funds to buy enough food to give to 1,200 needy families. On Oct. 23 at a warehouse in Norwich, 30 volunteers distributed bags of food and outerwear.

The (Dunkirk) Observer. Students from the Fredonia High School Key Club and Student Council held a bake sale and car wash to raise funds for Alyssa Cole, a third-grade student with brain cancer. The $500 collected was matched by Wal-Mart; the Cole family requested that the funds be donated to a summer camp for children with cancer.

(Elmira) Star-Gazette. The Schuyler Housing Opportunity Council coordinated 80 volunteers for its annual day of doing home repairs for the elderly and needy. Focusing this year around the town of Reading Center, the volunteers worked on 15 houses, raking leaves, fixing ceilings, winterizing and making other repairs.

The (Glens Falls) Post-Star. More than 30 junior high and high school students in the Youth Ministry Program at the Church of St. Mary's/St. Paul's in Hudson Falls, along with a dozen adult volunteers, cooked and served a spaghetti dinner for 41 residents of an apartment complex for senior citizens.

The Ithaca Journal. A group of Tompkins County parents and grandparents worked to raise awareness in children of the value of giving back, culminating in a dinner, carnival and auction that raised more than $10,000 for needy children locally and abroad.

The (Jamestown) Post-Journal. Healing Hearts of Jamestown held a forum to raise awareness about sexual abuse of children.

(Kingston) Daily Freeman. As part of an ongoing response to the problem of hunger around Ulster County, 20 Communities as Classrooms volunteers gleaned more than 4,000 pounds of fresh produce from local farms and distributed it to food pantries, while 10 more volunteers distributed 1,800 pounds of previously collected canned food to programs for the needy.

New York Daily News. The Highbridge Community Life Center in the Bronx coordinated 38 volunteers in a variety of projects: cleaning up a park, moving the center's soup kitchen to a better location and collecting donations of food and clothing. In addition, a Mobile Care Van screened neighborhood residents for diabetes and high blood pressure.

(Niagara Falls) Niagara Sunday Gazette. Students from Lockport high schools teamed with the Niagara Voluntary Action Center of the Eastern Niagara United Way to organize a "Swing Into the New Millennium" dinner and prom for more than 100 seniors.

The Olean Times Herald. Jared Warner, 12, of Portville set out cans at businesses for donations and contributed $40 of his own for the Cattaraugus County SPCA, which needed a new heating system to stay open. Total collected: $750.

Poughkeepsie Journal. VFW Auxiliary 2946 and several other volunteers collected six cars of clothes, household items, diapers and toys for Our Lady of Comfort Homeless and Hungry Shelter in Newburgh. Volunteers spent Oct. 23 and 24 distributing the items and hot meals to more than 400 people.

(Rochester) Democrat & Chronicle. To revitalize inner-city recreation centers, Rochester AmeriCorps coordinated 90 diverse volunteers, including AmeriCorps members and children from each neighborhood, at seven sites. Volunteers cleaned, painted planted and held information fairs.

The (Saratoga Springs) Saratogian. Davey Kelley, 10, set up a stand outside Wal-Mart to collect money for the Saratoga Center for the Family, raising $100 to help pregnant teens.

The (Schenectady) Daily Gazette. Volunteers with the Palms of the Oasis, a foundation dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by HIV/AIDS, co-sponsored an AIDS awareness table at Albany Medical Center Hospital on Oct. 22, and on Oct. 23 treated patients in the AIDS Unit and their families to meals and gift baskets.

The (Troy) Record. Volunteers from the Troy Housing Authority staff, along with community members and local businesses, organized a flea market and craft fair to build community pride and raise money for the REACT food pantry. The event, at Kennedy Towers Apartments, raised $1,200 to benefit REACT and various tenant programs.

(Utica) Observer-Dispatch. Fifty members of Alpha Chi and Nu chapters of Delta Kappa Gamma, a society of female educators, along with 20 additional volunteers, collected more than 12,000 books at locations in Rome, Utica and Oneida for distribution to 18 agencies, including Head Start and Catholic Charities.

Watertown Daily Times. The Sackets Harbor Chamber of Commerce organized a bottle drive and a day of raking leaves to raise money for the medical expenses of a teen with cystic fibrosis; businesses also donated a percentage of Oct. 23 sales, and the Masons sold painted pumpkins. Overall, more than $2,000 was raised for Jana Boulton's lung transplant.

The (White Plains) Journal News. The Rockland YM-YWHA Teen Program partnered with various social-service groups to coordinate hundreds of teenagers in countywide projects. Activities included raising money for the homeless, raking leaves for seniors, teaching children about recycling and cleaning up a lake.

NATIONAL AWARDS

Henderson -- Family stumbles across a church in need.

Raleigh -- Congregation pours money, love and labor into flooded towns. The Tar River turned into a flood-swollen destroyer last September and took away thousands of residents' homes. For Make A Difference Day, the 2,800 members of Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh passed the plate to collect $50,000 and promised to help flood victims until they are back home, a commitment that could last three years. On Make A Difference Day, church members cleaned out nine houses in Princeville, where a damaged impanelled dike left thousands homeless. Volunteer Louis Wilkerson vividly recalls the backbreaking work of lifting waterlogged furniture, the sadness of seeing a family's possessions stacked in huge piles on curbs. He recalls a 92-year-old man who'd lived for 75 years in the same house -- now filled with eight feet of water -- watching Wilkerson's crew throw all his possessions into a heap on the street. The man stayed because the process promised his return.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Ahoskie. Eight Hertford County churches banded together in the wake of Hurricane Floyd to help flood victims recover. Within a week of the hurricane, six white congregations and two black congregations had formed an interfaith group to coordinate volunteers for three Oct. 23 cleanup and repair projects: repairing a fence at a restaurant, replacing floors at an elderly couple's home and building a wall at another house. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Hertford County Interfaith Council.

Concord. The entire Sidestown/Shankletown neighborhood, where Laura Stovall, 92, lives -- a community of about 200 houses, owned mostly by lower-income, elderly African Americans -- plus many residents of surrounding communities gave money, supplies and labor to help fix up Stovall's dilapidated home over 18 months. Estimated value of the work: $30,000. After adults painted, installed insulation, rewired and rebuilt, about 13 children, ages 3-16, planted pansies, shrubs and ornamental cabbages on Oct. 23. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Logan Community Day Care Association.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The (Asheboro) Courier-Tribune. About 55 migrant students, members of the AIM (Action, Inspiration and Motivation) clubs at Randleman Middle School, Randleman High School and Southwestern Randolph High School, collected toiletries at the schools, packaged them into 70 bags and delivered them to two nursing homes and the county jail.

Asheville Citizen-Times. Led by the Asheville-Buncombe County Volunteer Center, 100 volunteers, age 12 and up, raked and did yardwork at the homes of 10 low-income elderly Asheville residents. The volunteers represented churches, schools, a low-income housing complex and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

(Burlington) Times-News. Three volunteers from Light of the World Ministry took 24 seniors from two Burlington nursing homes and an Elon church to Mount Airy for the day, treating them to a tour and lunch. Light of the World Ministry is an outreach group dedicated to improving seniors' lives through day trips.

The (Durham) Herald-Sun. Students involved in No Limit Inc., a school-based business at Person High School in Roxboro, visited about 80 Person County residents age 90 or older at five nursing homes and 15 private homes. They gave the seniors handmade gifts that included sweets, hand-sponged clay flowerpots and hand-stamped stationery.

The (Elizabeth City) Daily Advance. About 100 volunteers, mostly parents, staff and students at Moyock Elementary School, landscaped and cleaned hurricane debris from the school grounds. In addition to planting, raking and mulching, volunteers painted a mural on a fence at the bird-observation area, decorated concrete stepping stones for a garden area and washed cars to raise money for flood victims.

The (Eden) Daily News. Ernestine Hampton and Iris Ray held a fish fry at Hampton's home, raising $77 for a picnic shelter at a neighborhood park.

The (Forest City) Daily Courier. Fifty-four volunteers from churches and businesses performed repairs at six houses in Rutherford County. The repairs, ranging from floor and ceiling replacement to exterior painting, were coordinated by Rutherford Housing Partnership.

The (Gastonia) Gaston Gazette. Fourteen members of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America club at Kings Mountain High School prepared meals of honey-mustard chicken, green beans, corn and cocoa-fudge brownies for 35 senior citizens. The teens delivered the meals with the help of 10 parents, siblings and school staff members.

Goldsboro News-Argus. Twenty-five volunteers from Pike Crossroad Pentecostal Church in Pikeville and Pleasant Plain Free Will Baptist Church in Selma delivered 400 dolls and stuffed animals to four nursing homes in Selma and Smithfield. The dolls and stuffed animals, collected for months, were cleaned and repaired the week before Make A Difference Day.

The (Henderson) Daily Dispatch. The long-neglected King Daughters Park downtown got a face lift thanks to about 100 volunteers from churches, a youth-wilderness camp, 4-H clubs and Kittrell Job Corps. The workers, organized by the Vance County Volunteer Center, removed debris, raked, pruned, reinforced a shelter, repaired tennis courts and cleaned and painted picnic tables. Kittrell Job Corps volunteers, who removed a lot of debris before Make A Difference Day, built two footbridges across a creek.

Hickory Daily Record. Catawba Memorial Hospital's second health fair drew about 2,000 people, almost double 1998's attendance. The fair featured free bone-density exams and mammograms and free screening for cholesterol, prostate cancer and stroke. Entertainment included a barbershop quartet, a Harlem Globetrotter, a Winston Cup race car, bingo and raffles.

High Point Enterprise. About 270 volunteers worked on more than a dozen projects, including yardwork, cleanups, painting, landscaping, collection drives for flood victims and a survey of housing conditions in the Southside neighborhood. One group delivered items to flood victims in Ayden; another sent a work crew to help with cleanup there.

The (Jacksonville) Daily News. The new Jacksonville-Onslow Volunteer Center coordinated nearly 300 volunteers who completed 17 projects, ranging from a flu-shot clinic and neighborhood cleanup to park renovation and ramp and handrail construction for senior citizens. Some projects were rescheduled to free up more than 30 volunteers, mostly Marines from Camp Lejeune, to go to Pender County, where they helped 15 families clear their flood-damaged homes.

(Kannapolis) Independent Tribune. About 44 students from Cabarrus College of Health Sciences in Concord worked on three projects: Nursing students prepared for a silent auction to benefit Cabarrus Victims Assistance Network, gave flu shots to more than 100 people at Cabarrus Health Alliance and painted the interior of a Lutheran Family Services temporary home for foster children.

The (Kinston) Free Press. The Kinston-Lenoir County Girl Scouts held a fall festival that raised more than $1,000 for flood victims. About 75 volunteers helped with carnival games, face painting, bingo, a cupcake walk, a science show and a silent auction.

The (Monroe) Enquirer-Journal. Ten Johnson C. Smith University students, most of them members of Students in Free Enterprise, prepared meals for the homeless at Temple Baptist Church in Charlotte. The students delivered some of the meals to homeless people on the streets.

The (Morganton) News Herald. About 55 art and health-occupations students from Freedom High School brightened the adolescent unit of Broughton Hospital, a state psychiatric facility, with cloud murals, stencils and wallpaper. They also patched up a concrete basketball court and painted a shuffleboard court.

The Mount Airy News. About 17 Salem College students washed walls, installed vinyl siding, set up scaffolding, built a small deck and painted ceilings at Habitat for Humanity houses in a low-income neighborhood in Winston-Salem.

The (New Bern) Sun-Journal. Nine parents and six members of Cub Scout Pack 442 of Bridgeton surprised 90 seniors and shut-ins with a homemade meal of turkey, stuffing, gravy, string beans, potatoes, corn and lemon cake. Moms prepared the food and the boys, ages 7-11, boxed the plates for delivery. The group got the seniors' names from churches.

The Reidsville Review. The Rockingham Humane Society collected sitting fees in the form of pet food and other items for its foster-pet program at a pet portrait day in Reidsville. A dozen Humane Society volunteers used the opportunity to inform pet owners of the need for a county animal shelter.

(Roanoke Rapids) Sunday Herald. The Northampton County Volunteer Center collected about 1,200 items such as linens, toys and cleaning supplies for 78 families affected by flooding.

Rocky Mount Telegram. To help elderly flood victims, the Rocky Mount Area United Way sponsored a four-hour forum with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross, utilities, health and safety agencies, housing inspectors and non-profit organizations that could provide labor or goods such as furniture. About 35 seniors attended.

Salisbury Post. About 25 Army JROTC cadets from South Rowan High School in China Grove went door to door asking for canned food and winter coats. They collected more than 4,000 cans, including 500 brought in by cadets during the preceding week, 21 coats and three sweaters. The items went to Rowan Helping Ministries Homeless Shelter in Salisbury.

The Sanford Herald. About 90 volunteers (about half teens), more than double 1998's total, worked with the Lee County Enrichment Center on seven projects, including painting rooms at a women's shelter, landscaping a group home for the disabled, sorting donations for flood victims, and feeding and bathing animals at a shelter.

The Shelby Star. About 91 students from Crest, Burns and Shelby middle schools sorted, labeled and boxed more than 21,000 school supplies for Wayne County flood victims. The students, members of CHAMPS (Caring Hands and Minds Pursuing Success), an after-school academic and enrichment program targeted at potential dropouts, collected the items at their schools, a church and stores.

Washington Daily News. Six members of the Mattamuskeet Senior Beta Club delivered small gifts, ranging from toiletries to picture frames, to nine Hispanic women enrolled in an English class. The club also cleaned flowerbeds at the school and collected 605 items for a food bank.

The Wilson Daily Times. Anna Johnson, 12, who was born with cystic fibrosis, collected 227 baby items for flood victims and raised more than $1,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation with a "cutest baby" photo contest. Voters cast their ballots for the cutest baby with either baby items or a donation to the foundation.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Hatton. Widowed at 27 with a new baby and a house in the midst of renovations, Lisa Newquist received $5,000 in help from 44 caring neighbors, who hosted a benefit supper for her. At the event, she also found a job as a bookkeeper. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Hatton Community Centennial Center.

Wahpeton. Six members of Girl Scout Troop 244 set up tables at two grocery stores and exchanged home-made goodies for cleaning and personal-care items donated by shoppers. The event, which benefited the Richland County Social Services Department, garnered eight boxes full of items, and cash donations to buy candy, coloring books and crayons for 40 needy families. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit United Way of Richland-Wilkin.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Grand Forks Herald. Lisa and Bart Burford, parents of a "preemie" who is now 3, created and delivered 35 care packages for neonatal intensive-care sites in Grand Forks and Fargo, an hour and a half away.

The (Wahpeton) Daily News. Sixty Hankinson volunteers, from 7-year-old Scouts to 70-something Legionnaires, raised $3,500 in a fish fry to help with the medical expenses of a 20-year-old Kosovo refugee and new neighbor with cancer.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Portsmouth. Gennifer Davis, 16, rallied 113 volunteers to raise $2,300 to save the 14th Street Community Center, which serves 60 kids from low-income homes daily and was to be demolished. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit 14th Street Community Center.

Streetsboro. Deirdre Svab and friends JoAnn Marcini and Ann Ameling handed out 21 coats, 70 pairs of socks, 15 blankets, 37 pairs of gloves and 150 peanut butter sandwiches to the homeless in downtown Cleveland, after Svab spent months scouring garage sales for items. When they ran out of clothes, the girls literally gave the coats off their backs and the gloves from their hands. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church/David's Ministry.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The (Ashtabula) Star Beacon. Twelve members of the Jefferson Community Church of God in Christ Helping Hands Ministry collected enough clothing for 23 poor families and a week's supply of food for seven families.

The Athens Messenger. Two hundred kids played games while learning about health and safety issues, including drug prevention, at a fair organized by the Zaleski Super Kids 4-H Club.

The (Canton) Repository. Volunteers from 52 organizations and families collected food, toiletries and baby supplies for the Stark County Hunger Task Force. Total: three days' worth of food and supplies for 255 people.

Chillicothe Gazette. Twenty volunteers from Ross County Master Gardeners Association started a community garden on a vacant lot by planting 800 daffodil bulbs.

The Cincinnati Enquirer. From midnight Friday, Oct. 22, until midnight Saturday, Oct. 23, volunteers from the Ronald W. Beshear Agency of Northwestern Mutual Life reached out to help others. Round-the-clock helping included cleaning and cooking at a homeless shelter, cleaning parks and visiting with elderly people.

The Columbus Dispatch. Twenty-one Muslim high school and college students spent the day making food packages at a pantry; cleaning a women's shelter; organizing the shelter's donations of clothes, toys, books and appliances; and delivering food to local refugees from Kosovo.

Coshocton Tribune. Nearly 130 volunteers from Mohawk VFW Ladies Auxiliary Post 2040 held a Halloween costume party for 100 disabled teens and adults and organized a toiletry drive for homeless vets.

The (Defiance) Crescent-News. Twelve past and present Sprint workers collected 287 baseball caps and other hats for young cancer patients. They also raffled off tickets at an Ohio State football game to raise money for four free-standing wardrobes for Serenity House, a shelter for women recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.

The (Findlay) Courier. Twenty-five girls from Appleseed Ridge Junior Girl Scout Troop 126 and their parents made 17 quilts for critically ill children. They also built a bookcase and collected more than 300 books for a center where children from divorced families go for supervised visits with non-custodial parents.

The (Fremont) News-Messenger. Ten employees from the WSOS Community Action Commission and their families raked leaves and washed windows at the homes of three seniors, washed the outside of an elderly couple's trailer home and painted the combination bathroom-laundry room at the Liberty Center homeless shelter.

(Gallipolis) Sunday Times-Sentinel. Ten children from the County Liners 4-H Club and 10 parents collected a vanload of food, clothing, cleaning supplies and bedding for North Carolina flood victims.

(Greenville) Daily Advocate. Thirty members of the Ladies Auxiliary to VFW Greenville Memorial Post 7262 held a bake sale that raised $152 to buy a Ping-Pong table for Gateway's after-school program for at-risk youth.

(Hamilton) Journal-News. In Fairfield, 40 volunteers from three churches, five organizations and Fairfield Senior High School raked 800 bags of leaves, pulled weeds, trimmed shrubs, cleaned windows and gutters, and organized garages and storage sheds at 60 houses whose elderly or disabled owners couldn't do the work. In return, recipients gave the volunteers more than 400 items of food for the Fairfield Food Pantry.

The Ironton Tribune. About 70 members of Coal Grove Church of the Nazarene collected clothes, blankets, car seats, cribs, baby carriers and blankets for the area's needy. About 75 families came to the church on Make A Difference Day to receive the donations and eat a free hot lunch prepared by volunteers. In addition, the church's youth group did yardwork and home maintenance for five homeowners in need.

Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Teen sisters Bethany, Elena and Alyssa Larue put the finishing touches on 30 quilts for Haven House, a shelter for battered women and children.

The Lima News. More than 200 members of 10 neighborhood associations tackled 10 projects. Included: Riverside North collected more than 54 tons of trash and held a Health Fair at which 60 people received free health screenings and flu shots. Westgate collected three tons of pet supplies for the Humane Society. And Kibby Corners held a shower for the BABY Project, a non-profit group that helps teen mothers.

(Lisbon) Morning Journal. 260 Garfield Elementary School pupils collected 1,000-plus items of food for the Wellsville Area Resource Center's food bank.

The (Lorain) Morning Journal. Ten Lorain Catholic High School students and five parents got a men's homeless shelter at St. Joseph's Church ready to open for winter. They cleaned and painted a large room at the church, decorated it with a mural and set up cots with blankets.

(Mansfield) News Journal. Forty Carpenter Elementary School pupils collected a pickup truck full of food for Catholic Charities' food bank. With the help of five parents and the school principal, they spent Oct. 23 stocking the shelves.

The Marietta Times. Sixty-five volunteers from Cutler, a village of about 100 people, and the surrounding area helped six low-income, mostly elderly homeowners. Volunteers built two porches and replaced the rotted floor of a third at three houses and installed a wheelchair ramp at one. They also painted a storage building for a widow and did yardwork for two other elderly homeowners. And they mowed an overgrown lot next to the town's only church so it could be used for parking.

The Marion Star. Lion Club members James B. Stewart and Wayne Haines collected 175 pairs of used glasses for Ohio State University's Optometry Department to recycle and send to needy people abroad.

The (Martins Ferry) Times Leader. Twenty-three volunteers from Habitat for Humanity of the Bellaire Area helped build two houses for poor families and rebuilt the collapsed porch on a 100-year-old house owned by a single mother.

The (Massillon) Independent. Fifteen members of VFW Auxiliary Junior Girls' Unit 5047 cheered 160 residents of two nursing homes by visiting in Halloween costumes.

Middletown Journal. One hundred volunteers from Middletown High School, Fenwick High School, Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church and Breile Boulevard Church of God cooked dinner for 500 people at the Dream Center Feed the Hungry Project soup kitchen and delivered some of the meals to shut-ins.

The (New Philadelphia) Times-Reporter. Students, parents and staff from the Starlight School and SEI Adult Services, a school and workshop for the disabled, along with students from 15 other schools, seven businesses and the National Guard, collected 5,000 pounds of food and $450 for the Salvation Army.

The (Newark) Advocate. 750 volunteers from Newark and Heath joined in seven events, including gathering 3,200 pounds of food for the Food Pantry Network of Licking County, collecting about 75 bags of trash along roadsides, and holding an Oktoberfest and car raffle that raised $19,500 for the Hospice of Central Ohio.

(Port Clinton) News Herald. 1,000 volunteers, including pupils from 14 elementary schools, collected 30,000 articles of children's clothing. On Oct. 23, about 500 low-income families came to buy the clothes for $1 a bag, raising $538 for the Family Emergency Fund. Leftovers were given to a free clothing store and a shelter for abused women.

Portsmouth Daily Times. 141 fourth-graders from Minford Middle School, parents and staff held bake sales and collected coins to raise $1,245.98 for the Homeless Veterans of Scioto County.

(Ravenna) Record-Courier. Fifty-eight kids, ages 6-16, from First United Methodist Church of Cuyahoga Falls adopted a needy family for a year starting Oct. 23. The single mother of two toddlers has been out of work since her foot was crushed while working at her construction job in early October. The Methodist church kids cooked the family's meals, including holiday dinners, did their grocery shopping, collected clothes and gave them a decorated tree and gifts for Christmas.

Salem News. Six members of Quota International of Salem cleaned the home of a single mother in a wheelchair and bought her a new wardrobe. Members also donated a new stove to the Christina Center, a shelter for abused women and children.

Sandusky Register. About 75 kids and 30 adults, including members of the Boy Scouts, Family Career and Community Leaders of America, fifth- and sixth-graders from Shumaker Elementary School and Bellevue Friends of the Environment, did landscaping work at the town's Environmental Enhancement Project, an educational environmental center. They planted trees, shrubs and flowers; cleared away rocks; weeded; installed a split-rail fence; and put down wood chips.

(Steubenville) Herald Star. Eleven volunteers from two Presbyterian churches, Starkdale and Two Ridge, made 100 bags of toiletries and other supplies for parents whose kids must go to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for medical emergencies. They also donated 50 prepaid phone cards. Businesses, including Wal-Mart and State Farm Insurance, contributed cash and goods.

(Warren) Tribune Chronicle. About 100 Altrusa International and Youngstown State University volunteers collected 6,300 pounds of peanut butter for the Second Harvest Foodbank, which supplies 100-plus pantries.

The (Willoughby) News-Herald. Twenty-two women from Donna's Body Express aerobics class and their teacher held an aerobics marathon that raised $6,350 for Clothe-a-Child, a charity that buys new clothing for needy kids. It was enough to help clothe 33 children. After the marathon, five volunteers each took a child shopping.

The (Wooster) Daily Record. The principal, 39 teachers, secretaries, custodians and kitchen workers at Wooster Township Elementary School washed about 50 cars, raising $825 for Habitat for Humanity. An anonymous donor matched their contribution, providing enough money for Habitat for Humanity to buy new scaffolding.

The Xenia Daily Gazette. 400 members of American Legion Auxiliary Post 776, their families and friends raised $8,700 to buy 500 pieces of luggage, toiletries, underclothes and baby supplies. On Oct. 23, they delivered the items to the Montgomery County children's services agency in a caravan with six police-car escorts and the mayor of Dayton.

(Zanesville) Times Recorder. Fifteen people held a bake sale that raised about $500 for nine charities, including disaster and refugee relief, assistance for the terminally ill and shelters for runaways. Volunteers also visited five shut-ins.

NATIONAL AWARD

Tulsa -- Homeless man pays back a kindness with a $1,000 concert.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Lawton. Pat Hood's family spent Oct. 23 reaching out to others: twins Tony and Chris, 12, picked up 111 gallons of trash in their neighborhood while their dad delivered three pickup loads of food and clothes collected from neighbors to a homeless shelter and food bank. He also spent time watching the World Series with a dying cancer patient. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Hospice of the Lawton Area Inc./Boys Scouts of America.

Oklahoma City. 30 student volunteers -- two thirds Oklahoma City Community College students, the rest high-schoolers -- tutored 50 Vietnamese senior citizens in computer basics and finding sites on the Internet, including Vietnamese chat rooms. The area is home to an estimated 12,000 Vietnamese Americans. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Vietnamese American Community of Oklahoma.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Enid News & Eagle. About 100 volunteers planted 82 trees -- maples, pears, oaks, sycamores and other varieties that grow quickly -- throughout Dover in the wake of a tornado six months earlier. Country Friends Family and Community Education Group organized the effort and secured $1,300 to pay for the trees.

The (Lawton) Sunday Constitution. About 50 volunteers coordinated by the Jackson County Association for Family and Community Education inspected car seats for proper installation. Of the 52 inspected, only five were installed properly. New car seats were given to several families whose children had none.

McAlester News-Capital & Democrat. A wiener roast and auction in Kiowa, a town of about 800, raised $12,000 for a former student recently stricken with viral encephalitis. The Kiowa Student Council, which sponsored the auction, also awarded winners of its Make A Difference Day essay contest by turning their proposals into reality. One contest winner donated her $500 prize to the viral-encephalitis victim; the other, whose family had struggled financially since the loss of their home in a fire, used the money for a heater, food and clothes.

Muskogee Daily Phoenix. Eighteen members of First Baptist Church in Warner, including 12 children ages 4-11, entertained residents of Warner Nursing Home with religious songs. The children also delivered laminated place mats they had designed, balloons twisted into the shape of a tulip, slippers and sugarless candy.

The Norman Transcript. About 50 volunteers from local colleges, businesses and law enforcement treated 40 children ages 7-13 to a picnic lunch at Lion's Fun Park in Oklahoma City. The children, on the waiting list at Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Oklahoma City, were paired with an adult for the day and rode in police cars with the lights flashing in addition to enjoying regular park activities such as miniature golf and batting cages.

(Stillwater) News-Press. About 50 Stillwater High School Spanish Club members planted $600 worth of pansies, mums, bulbs and forsythia and picked up litter on the school grounds.

Tulsa World. About 80 volunteers, more than half representing Young Christians in Action, the Bristow Church of Christ youth group, completed 13 projects at Right Path Riding Academy near Shamrock, a therapeutic riding center for the disabled. Projects included painting fences, removing a barn roof and repairing 200-pound stall doors. Six of the youths have since become regular volunteers at Right Path.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Medford. Twenty-one Southern Oregon Special Olympics athletes and family members split, stacked and delivered eight cords of wood (estimated value: $1,200) to six families, four of whom have no heat source other than wood-burning stoves. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Special Olympics.

Salem. The Interfaith Hospitality Network, which houses the homeless in its 16 member churches in Salem and Keizer, rallied schools and the community to launch a YWCA program called Family Adventures, aimed at providing homeless guests with singing, reading, writing and art activities. Going door to door, 125 volunteers collected several hundred books and 5,638 pounds of food. Kids received shoeboxes covered with contact paper to decorate and use to store the books they are given each week. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

(Albany) Mid-Valley Sunday. Students at South Albany High School organized 500 students communitywide to kick off a year-round Kids Making Miracles fund-raising effort for Doernbecher Children's Hospital. Starting on Oct. 23, the students collected $2,200 in a campaign that lasted through Halloween.

The (Coos Bay) World. The Southwestern Oregon Community Action Committee collected about $3,500 in items and cash donations from Coos Bay residents to aid the Temporary Housing in Emergencies (THE) House, which provides short-term housing to families in transition. THE House's wish list was fulfilled, including cleaning and paper supplies, toiletries, food, games, even a food processor.

(Corvallis) Mid-Valley Sunday. 105 parents and students from Jefferson Elementary School planted native bulbs, grasses, trees and shrubs in a one-acre natural area on the school playground designed as a wetland prairie. Boy Scouts spread mulch over the plantings.

(Salem) Statesman Journal. In Dallas, 20 volunteers at the non-profit Career Closet outfitted 10 low-income clients to enter the work force. They received two professional outfits, haircuts and styling donated by beauty salons, and facial makeovers by a Mary Kay volunteer. One woman won a donated car in a lunchtime drawing. Mock job interviews by community business volunteers resulted in at least one real hire: A volunteer later hired a client he had met that day for a job in his high-tech company.

NATIONAL AWARD

Schuylkill County, Pa. -- 9,700 volunteers tackle 146 projects.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Boothwyn. Jessica Randall, Allie Carr, Leah Lockand Priya Talim, eighth-graders at Garnet Valley Middle School, visited a transitional housing center for women and their kids toting five board games, 10 stuffed animals, a bag full of clothes, a TV and an air-filtration system. They worked on the playground, cleaned and oiled swings, retrieved toys and played with 15 kids. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit WAWA Women's Shelter.

Warren. Nearly 100 volunteers at the Warren Area Student Union, ages 11-80, worked to convert a former armory in the center of town -- and within walking distance of schools -- into a place where kids can meet. Estimated value of materials and labor: $10,000. More than 20 gallons of paint helped brighten the interior. One group of students decided to paint the art room lavender (a big hit); others painted the door of every room a different color. Volunteers also repaired a fire escape and stairway, hauled away debris, landscaped the front yard, and cleaned the back yard, including cutting away barbed-wire fencing. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Warren Area Student Union.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Altoona Mirror. After a two-year fund-raising effort, Geesey Park Partnership for Parks volunteers restored an East End park without a proper place for children to play by installing $24,000 in new play equipment paid for with private donations and a $2,500 grant.

Beaver County Times. Volunteers from New Salem Presbyterian Church of Ohioville, ages 25-65, hosted a Halloween costume party for physically and mentally challenged children, complete with games and treats.

(Bloomsburg) Press Enterprise. Employees of Strick Corp., a chassis manufacturer in Berwick, replaced a porch at a shelter for abused women valued at $1,000 in supplies and labor, and collected 50 pairs of socks for American troops in Bosnia and 950 pounds of food for a Salvation Army food bank.

The Bradford Era. McKean County Family Centers Teen Councils, ages 13-18, in Bradford, Port Allegany, Smethport and Kane collected food, household items and cash for needy families and food pantries.

Butler Eagle. The Girl Scouts of Trillium neighborhood in Saxonburg, ages 5-15, constructed 125 personal-care bags with toothbrushes, soap and other items for foster children and collected baby clothing, toys and strollers for needy mothers-to-be and 10-12 bags of winter clothing for homeless people and low-income families.

The (Carlisle) Sentinel. Lamberton Middle School students, ages 11-13, helped by family and staff, stitched together 100 learning dolls, complete with zippers, buttons, snaps and ties, for kids in homeless shelters to give them a head start on learning. They also cut out wooden building blocks and other manipulative learning games for children and the elderly.

(Chambersburg) Public Opinion. Fifty students from Greencastle-Antrim High School cleaned up and painted the town's historic train station; beautified the town square and a playground; collected 80 bags of leaves and trash, saving the town at least $850 in labor, and 400 canned-food items for two pantries; raised $175 from a bake sale for the train station's upkeep; and took part in an anti-tobacco seminar for teens.

The (Clearfield) Progress. Seventh- and eighth-graders from St. Francis School, aided by their congregation, raised more than $2,000 from a spaghetti dinner they prepared. The money helped a family that had lost a son in a car accident (which also paralyzed another son) establish a memorial fund.

The (Easton) Express-Times. The Slate Belt Service Unit of Girl Scouts Greater Valley Council, aided by women from Hope United Church of Christ in Wind Gap, made 11 quilts and more than 30 care packs for a homeless shelter and delivered them on Oct. 23.

(Greensburg) Tribune-Review. Robert Roche, 16, of Wexford cleaned out not only his mother's attic, but also his aunt's, and with the clothes he collected from them and some neighbors, he and his 9-year-old brother, Danny, delivered a trunkload of items to the Light of Life Ministries shelter in Pittsburgh.

The (Hanover) Evening Sun. With the help of a $1,000 Wal-Mart grant, six volunteers from Take Off Pounds Sensibly Pa. No. 983 made 5 gallons of chili, 5 gallons of chicken corn soup, 4 gallons of vegetable soup, five pans of lasagna, five pans of chicken-and-rice casserole, baked ziti, macaroni and cheese, pork and sauerkraut, 30 pounds of ham barbecue and 20 pies for the Gettysburg Community Soup Kitchen.

(Hazleton) Standard-Speaker. Friendly Caregivers found volunteers including Anthony Luciano, 7, to go door to door to collect cleaning items, toiletries, stationery and games for 25 homebound seniors and disabled people.

The Indiana Gazette. Led by Jenny Hayes, 16, 21 teens from the Indiana Area Senior High School Volunteer Club pampered dogs and cats at the Indiana County Humane Society.

The (Lansdale) Reporter. Corpus Christi School rallied three other schools -- Gwynedd Square Elementary, Lansdale Catholic and St. Stanislaus Catholic -- to collect enough food to fill a yellow school bus, plus a small truck and two vans, for a food cupboard.

Lebanon Daily News. Palmyra High School PALTAG rallied 70 volunteers to collect a box of books for young patients at a local hospital and the Ronald McDonald House; clean up a trash-strewn section of Swatara Creek and a road; and help work on a new house for Habitat for Humanity.

The Meadville Tribune. Beginning a week before Make A Difference Day, 1,535 residents of Crawford County, including 535 Allegheny County College students, worked on 126 projects for the needy, from cleanups to food and clothing collections. It was their sixth annual event.

The (McKeesport) Daily News. More than 100 volunteers, ages 2 to 70-something, beautified Port Vue Elementary School by painting bright color-by-number murals, including the ABCs and a time line for the millennium, along the hallways of three floors.

New Castle News. The Rainbow Girls of Pennsylvania Grand Assembly -- 300 strong -- from 60 assemblies statewide collected 6,000 food and other items and $500 for food banks and needy families and seniors.

(Norristown) Times Herald. Ten members of Trinity Lutheran Church cleaned up overgrown, untended sections of a 52-acre memorial site in Valley Forge commemorating Americans awarded the Medal of Honor dating back to the Civil War.

The (Pottstown) Mercury. For its sixth Make A Difference Day, the Pottstown High School student government rallied 400 volunteers and collected $1,900 to take on 30 community projects from cleaning parks and neighborhood streets to helping seniors, the disabled and other needy people.

The Pottsville Republican and Evening Herald. Frackville Boy Scout Troop 791 collected nearly two tons of dog and cat food, snacks and blankets for the Hillside SPCA animal shelter, where they spent the day caring for animals. That day, Scout Matthew Prock's family adopted a beagle that had suffered a stroke and renamed her Lucky; she accompanies Prock's mother, Carolyn Tenaglia, daily to her job at a nursing center to cheer residents suffering from strokes.

The (Primos) Delaware County Sunday Times. Friends Justin Lamparella, 13, and Steve Long, 14, passed out fliers Oct. 23 and collected 2,000 canned-food items for flood victims in nearby Darby.

The (Sharon) Herald. Members of the 4-H Explorers Club, ages 8-17, adopted "grandfriends" at the Vermier Manor's senior-citizen apartment complex. They spent the day and served a homemade spaghetti dinner, sharing histories and new friendship.

(Somerset) Daily American. Alternative Community Resource Program volunteers, ages 11-16, readied a vacant house to be used as a shelter for homeless families by landscaping the outside and cleaning inside.

(Tarentum) Valley News Dispatch. The non-profit Community Health Clinic administered 556 free flu shots and 172 free pneumonia vaccinations (combined worth: $9,800) at New Kensington city hall.

(Warren) Times-Observer. To give their school a more caring climate, the Warren Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth Committee rallied 800 students and 200 community volunteers. They collected $5,000 and spent a school day and Oct. 23 painting murals, repairing stage curtains, landscaping and cleaning Warren High School. Donors signed a gift registry at five stores.

(Washington) Observer-Reporter. Volunteers from the month-old Salvation Army Greene County Service Center went door to door to needy and elderly neighbors across the county changing batteries and installing free fire alarms in homes. They also rallied Waynesburg College football fans to collect enough warm clothing for needy residents to fill a room.

(West Chester) Daily Local News. 125 Kennett High School students and community members brightened State Street by painting window murals; helped out at a mission, nursing home and senior center; cleaned parks; repaired flood damage on trails; and helped businesses in need of cleaning and other services.

The (Wilkes-Barre) Citizens' Voice. Project Smile Again in Kingston raised $2,486 from three area dental associations to provide free dental care for residents of the Catherine McAuley Center for homeless women and children and enough dental supplies to last a year. They also provided a day of pampering for 16 residents, ages 1-30, who got limo rides to a mall for hair and clothing makeovers, thanks to local businesses.

$2,000 AWARDS

San Antonio. For El Día de Hacer la Diferencia, teenagers with the English Tutor Voluntary Service at Fuente Valentin vocational high school invited their peers -- 17 in all -- to take part in a discussion of teen issues and community commitment.

San Juan. Ten members of the Golden Key National Honor Society at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras campus took 20 new books to neighboring Auxilio Mutuo Hospital's pediatric ward and read to 40 ill children.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Newport. To honor and remember women killed through acts of domestic violence, 25 Newport volunteers built 20 life-sized wooden silhouettes of murdered victims and painted them red. A shield with the name, age, date of death and story of the woman or child was placed on each figure. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Silent Witness Initiative.

Warwick. Students in Winman Junior High School's Enrichment Opportunities Program created a garden in memory of Mark Asadoorian, a beloved teacher who died in 1996. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Winman Junior High School (Peace Garden).

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The (Pawtucket) Times. Sixteen members of the International Keystone Club of the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket raked leaves for the elderly, while a "girls only" group hung curtains for an elderly resident. That night, the club sponsored a dance for 152 kids ages 13-18; proceeds bought food for the Leon Mathieu Center Soup Kitchen.

The (West Warwick) Kent County Daily Times. Six members of the West Warwick Jaycees of Kent County recruited 12 students from Johnson and Wales University, four senior citizens and four mentally challenged group-home residents to help plant 72 bulbs along a new riverfront park.

The Westerly Sun. At a quilt show Oct. 23-24, four members of the Ninigret Quilters group worked with about 60 children to make 75 cat-face pillows for Westerly Hospital to give to pediatric patients.

The (Woonsocket) Call. After a bread-making project fell through, 400 students from North Smithfield Junior and Senior High rallied to collect soda tabs for the Providence Ronald McDonald House. They also joined in on a community-wide apple pie sale to raise $252 for Greg Joseph, a seventh-grader severely injured in a car accident.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Beaufort. Alzheimer's Family Services sent 25 volunteers, mostly from the Parris Island Marine base and Beaufort Naval Hospital, to five homes of people suffering from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease to make home repairs and do yardwork. Volunteers also took care of 15 patients so their caregivers could get out of the house for a day, and donated tapes of old songs created especially for people with Alzheimer's. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Alzheimer's Support Group.

Swansea. Twenty-six members of the independent Henhouse Ministry tidied the grounds of Myers Residential Care Home, a low-income facility housed in two mobile units, and visited with and cooked dinner for its 10 residents. Volunteers spent the two weeks before Make A Difference Day painting, landscaping and shopping for the home. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit His Acres.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The Aiken Standard. About 35 volunteers, including students from South Aiken High School and Millbrook and Kennedy elementary schools, spread seeds and planted dozens of perennials in a two-acre meadow at the Carolina Bay Nature Reserve. Volunteers, coordinated by the Aiken County Open Land Trust and the city parks and recreation department, also picked up trash along trails, in the woods and on the shore of a pond at the 24-acre wildlife sanctuary.

The Beaufort Gazette. Members of Wesley United Methodist Women organized a job fair and clothing giveaway at Wesley United Methodist Church. Health professionals conducted blood-pressure and diabetes checks. In addition to clothes and household items, each of the 47 families attending received a bag of food.

(Florence) Morning News. Fifteen members of the Sisters Improving Self Club at Conway High School treated 30 children, most of them from needy single-parent homes, to a day at Collins Park, complete with a picnic and games. Ever since, club members have kept in touch with the children, ages 18 months to 11 years.

The Greenville News. Thirteen Sans Souci Elementary fourth-graders collected canned goods at Wal-Mart, bringing the total for their six-week drive to 1,500 items, which they gave to Meals on Wheels.

The (Hilton Head) Island Packet. About 40 volunteers from the Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue and the Hilton Head Island Rotary painted the two hallways of the Children's Center, a day-care facility that serves low-income families. An NBSC bank supplied the paint.

The (Rock Hill) Herald. Nearly 50 volunteers from Senior Companions, Communities in Schools, 4-H clubs and Girl Scout Troop 264 decorated and filled 350 bags of food for homebound Chester County seniors.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Aberdeen. AmeriCorps*VISTA staff in the Northeast Council of Governments rallied the community -- including students at Roncalli and Central high schools and Northern State University -- in a month-long drive to collect 4,500 food and other items. Result: 550 care packages for needy families and the elderly. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Northeast Council of Governments.

Yankton. More than 300 students at Mount Marty College pitched in on 25 projects all month long. Two samples: painting an elderly woman's house, building a wheelchair-ramp railing for her and raking 44 bags of leaves; and cooking and serving an Italian dinner for an adult day-care program. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Mount Marty College United Way and Volunteer Services.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

(Aberdeen) American News. Thirty members of the Presentation College Nursing Student's Association's three-pronged project included a blood drive, helping a family move into their Habitat for Humanity home in Aberdeen and donating $500 to help fulfill the wish of a boy with cancer who wants to go to Disney World with his family.

(Sioux Falls) Argus Leader. Eighty Girl Scouts, ages 5-12, fanned out on three projects: 26 fourth- through sixth-graders collected 58 videos for pediatric hospital patients; 36 Brownies collected two vanloads of toys, books, bedding and coats for a Sioux reservation devastated by July tornadoes; and 18 Daisies and Brownies collected 65 books for a Head Start program.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

McMinnville. Betsy Hillis led 200 community volunteers to reclaim Rocket Park, neglected for 15 years and located in a neighborhood with a history of drug trafficking and crime. They collected $5,000 in donated materials, graded the area near the river and poured concrete for a boat ramp. Volunteers also renovated a public bathroom and playhouse, hauled away debris, painted fences and trash cans, stripped and repainted all playground equipment, made a volleyball court and planted 50 trees.

Memphis. About 400 volunteers through the Volunteer Center of Memphis and four other groups descended on three low-income neighborhoods to haul trash, clean school and park grounds, plant flowers and spruce up a neglected cemetery in a first-time Make A Difference Day collaboration between area service organizations, BellSouth employees and neighborhood residents. Volunteers ranging in age from 12 to 80 tackled some of the city's most blighted areas: They cleaned 65,000 square feet of land and mowed or trimmed 17,000 square feet; tossed 884 bags of garbage; hauled off 103 heavy items; planted 36 flowers; and painted six rooms. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit The Volunteer Center of Memphis.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The (Athens) Daily Post-Athenian. Sarah Lewis, a McMinn Central senior, rallied 60 students to collect 2,500 cans of food for four church food banks and six pickup trucks full of clothes, then led 50 students in cleaning the school grounds.

The (Clarksville) Leaf-Chronicle. Forty-two Good Samaritans of Dover -- 26 teens, 10 men and six first-graders -- made major repairs to a widow's house, including foundation work, new stairs and exterior painting. The first-graders painted the fence, planted tulips and raked.

Cleveland Daily Banner. 4,015 Clevelanders, for a fifth year, followed the mayor's lead and logged 20,075 volunteer hours on Make A Difference Day. Highlights: 25 Housing Authority volunteers, including a teen Safety Patrol, performed on-demand chores and favors for 80 elderly or disabled tenants, and 96 volunteers spruced up 71-year-old Mayfield Elementary School.

The Jackson Sun. 950 Girl Scouts collected more than 10,000 bedtime items and 300 duffel bags for foster children and treated them to a day of hiking and wildlife at a 27-acre Girl Scout property.

Kingsport Times-News. 2,561 volunteers from 32 groups focused on the conversion of a historic African-American school into a community center. Other projects included park cleanups, a march for safe schools and a bicycle and food drive.

The (Maryville) Daily Times. Six volunteers from Greenback Senior Citizens bought health/beauty aids for 16 residents of Blount County Children's Home and planted two pear trees.

The (Nashville) Tennessean. Forty-two volunteers from McMinnville, Crossville and Warren County started transforming a rundown Olympic-sized pool at the Taft Youth Development Center for serious juvenile male offenders into a theater. They also tiled the floor in the visitation room and painted dorms. Twenty-five Taft boys, ages 15-19, pitched in; they also made crafts for 60 residents at Bledsoe County Nursing Home and packaged 100 bags and boxes of donations for students in a boys' shelter in Ayden, N.C., who were flood victims.

The Oak Ridger. Nine St. Mary's School third-graders and 22 family members collected nine carloads of household donations from 19 families to donate to the White Elephant Thrift Store in Oak Ridge.

The (Sevierville) Mountain Press. Fifty-five Kroger workers rallied 15 businesses to collect 50,000 pounds of non-perishables to pack and donate for the Sevier County Food Ministries pantry. Half of the food was collected at the Gatlinburg-Pittman vs. Seymour High football game.

NATIONAL AWARD

El Paso -- One woman drives two projects in two countries.

Houston -- In the Aldine Independent School District, a record 50,000 volunteers in 64 schools took part, from Head Start tots who gave soap to the needy, to custodians who bought cleansers for a shelter. $2,000 to North Harris College.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Laredo. About 300 students, teachers and families of John B. Alexander High School amassed 2,500 gallons of water and delivered it to the homes of needy residents of nearby communities of Mexican Americans with an infrastructure so minimal and primitive they often lack running water, sewerage and electricity. On Oct. 23, two 28-foot U-Haul trucks took the water to Texas A&M University, where it was transferred to pickup trucks and vans for the slow, bumpy ride over narrow dirt roads to 400 families. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Texas A & M University.

Victoria. Forty Target employees, their family members and other employee-recruited volunteers spent more than 12 hours painting, tiling, carpeting and otherwise restoring and decorating the first floor of a run-down two-story house to create a haven for homeless kids, run by activist Martha Escalona. The playroom, in particular, was a labor of love: Volunteers painted a rainbow on a wall, and some of "Miss Martha's children" dipped their hands in green, yellow, blue and red paint and left handprints on the walls. Escalona's own home had been her base for dispensing aid to homeless families for 10 years; it was destroyed in 1998 flooding. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit American Cancer Society.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

Arlington Morning News. Ten members of the Arlington Navy Mothers' Club No. 984 retrieved 213 new but non-deliverable magazines from the local post office and delivered them to the Department of Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care Systems in Dallas.

The Athens Daily Review. Forty-five volunteers from the Kilgore Improvement & Beautification Association, Turn Around Kilgore and Kilgore Baptist Church cleaned tombstones, pulled weeds, painted a chain-link fence and planted maples and crape myrtles at historically black Kilgore Baptist Cemetery. The project drew volunteers from all ethnic groups in Kilgore, and the cemetery has become the site of a memorial to African-American veterans.

The Baytown Sun. One hundred volunteers painted and spruced up the grounds of the Bay Area Transitional Living Center, a 26-unit complex of duplexes. Volunteers included about 35 residents, six Baytown Housing Authority staffers and members of St. John Catholic Church, Word of Faith Church and Fellowship Community.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle. Twelve volunteers from the Health for All Clinic, including five optometrists, provided free eye exams for 46 kids with no health insurance. Thirty-five received free glasses.

(Clute) Brazosport Facts. Twenty-one employees from Zachry Construction Corp. in Old Ocean completed a six-week renovation of 73-year-old Mount Zion Baptist Church in East Columbia, damaged by four feet of floodwaters in 1998. The volunteers replaced rotten boards, beams and siding; leveled the structure; and installed hand rails on the porch and a new door. Volunteers from Brock Maintenance then painted the exterior.

The (Conroe) Courier. Twenty-four members of Aid Association for Lutherans Branch 4253 began repairs on the floor and siding of a needy woman's double-wide mobile home. Volunteers logged 358 hours on the project over five weeks.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times. 650 volunteers from 30 groups collected almost 20 tons of litter and debris from the communities surrounding five schools on the north side of town. It was the largest one-day collection in the city's history.

Corsicana Daily Sun. The Discovery Club, a group of 13 fifth- and sixth-graders in the Corsicana CampFire Boys and Girls, sponsored a Halloween carnival to benefit the Rainbow Room, a program that provides toiletries and other necessities for kids in protective custody. Seven other CampFire Boys and Girls distributed literature about the Rainbow Room at a mall and accepted cash donations. Altogether, the children collected $26 and about 50 toiletry items.

Denton Record-Chronicle. The VFW and Ladies Auxiliary of Post 2205 and Newton Rayzor Elementary School collected more than 4,200 non-perishables for the Salvation Army's homeless shelter and Friends of the Family, a women's shelter.

El Paso Times. 722 volunteers from 10 El Paso schools and the Fort Bliss Army Air Defense Center refurbished the schools with projects ranging from landscaping and painting to playground construction and cleanup. Volunteers logged 4,332 hours.

The Galveston County Daily News. The Robin Foundation raised $1,199 at a festival featuring local entertainers, a raffle and craft sales. The money paid for a Halloween party for seriously ill children at the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital. A blood drive in conjunction with the festival collected 16 units of blood.

Greenville Herald Banner. 285 volunteers turned out to work on two major projects: painting the homes of nine disabled or elderly residents and cleaning up downtown. Volunteers included members of service clubs, churches and the Greenville High School National Honor Society. A food drive garnered more than 600 food items for the Hunt County Shared Ministries pantry.

Killeen Daily Herald. 16,000-plus volunteers in Killeen and Fort Hood joined forces for a second year -- doubling 1998's turnout -- to tackle 103 projects, including landscaping, playground refurbishing, home repairs and construction, nursing-home visits and collections of everything from socks to pet food.

Laredo Morning Times. Ten teens from the South Laredo Youth Alliance distributed about 100 blankets and more than 100 gallon jugs of water to fifth-graders at Sen. Judith Zaffirini Elementary School. Church of the Crossroads donated the blankets; West Wind Homes paid for the water.

Midland Reporter-Telegram. 504 volunteers, including 46 residents of three public-housing complexes, picked up almost 12 tons of trash in Odessa in four hours. Adopt-a-Highway groups collected an additional 6.5 tons of trash. Volunteers included students, the largest single group, and representatives of civic clubs, business groups and churches.

The Orange Leader. Charlene Granger and a friend, Sheryl Myers, sold homemade cakes and cookies, raising $100 for a woman in Deweyville suffering from a brain tumor.

Plainview Daily Herald. In her sixth Make A Difference Day yard sale, Maudine Miller, 76, of Plainview raised $502, which she gave to a church in India that works with orphans.

Plano Star Courier. Students at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas invited 100 needy children to the grand opening of an in-school clothing shop they called "Care Wears." The children used pretend "Care Wears" cash to buy clothes, shoes, backpacks and school supplies.

(Sherman) Herald Democrat. About 50 CampFire members, adult volunteers and teens from four high schools raised $2,767 through a penny drive at their schools and four Wal-Marts. The money paid for items needed by agencies serving at-risk children and abused women.

Texarkana Gazette. Forty-five volunteers, including 15 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, began renovations on a Boys and Girls Club shut for three years and in disrepair. Volunteers removed walls, did plumbing and electrical work, painted and cleaned the grounds.

Texas City Sun. The Word of Faith Christian Life Center targeted drug addicts from treatment centers and shelters with an anti-drug rally featuring speakers who'd beaten their addictions. Volunteers cooked meals for about 100 attendees. Church members also gave food baskets to 15 senior citizens.

The Victoria Advocate. Eighteen members of the Yoakum High School Anchor Club canvassed Yoakum businesses and residential neighborhoods, collecting more than $2,200 to donate to the families of three slain police officers. Anchor Club members also solicited donations from service clubs, bringing their total to more than $3,700.

(Wichita Falls) Times Record News. Andrea Samuelson, 15, her brother Alex, 13, and a friend, Giovanni Saldarriaga, 15, raised more than $1,000 and collected about 200 bags or boxes of clothes, toys, books and toiletries for the Children's Home and Rainbow House, which serves foster children, and the Wichita Falls Independent School District's fund for needy children. Boy Scout Troop 15 helped pick up and deliver the items. The day concluded with a bowling party for 11 Children's Home residents.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

North Ogden. College freshman Emily Nofsinger's idea to include the disabled on the giving instead of the receiving end of doing good led her youth group from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 17th Ward to pair its 30 members with 15 mentally retarded community residents to serve breakfast at St. Anne's homeless shelter in Ogden. They also collected two vans' worth of clothing and 200 pairs of new socks for needy schoolchildren.The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Ogden. The Mormon-led non-profit Disability Action Team rallied Baptist, Presbyterian and other volunteers, including 23 Cub Scouts, to help produce and distribute copies of a therapeutic video to 500 Alzheimer's patients statewide. The hour-long video of 17 hymns -- coordinated by Gracia Roemer, whose mother has the disease -- stars Baptist Bible Church pastor and guitarist Terry VanBuskirk, whose mother also is afflicted. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Disability Law Center.

NEWSPAPER AWARDS

(Ogden) Standard-Examiner. About 60 members of the North Ogden Utah Stake Young Men/Young Women collected socks and $597 in cash donations to buy socks and underwear for needy kids at six elementary schools. The youths donated 2,350 pairs of socks and about 325 pairs of underwear to the schools, the majority of whose students live at or below poverty level.

The (Provo) Daily Herald. About 25 volunteers from the Franklin neighborhood hosted a Pedestrian Safety Awareness Day at Franklin Elementary School for about 100 kindergartners and their families. The event was part of the city's month-long pedestrian-safety campaign and included presentations by representatives of the police and fire departments.

The (St. George) Daily Spectrum. In Cedar City, the Volunteer Center of Iron County and the Southern Utah University Service Center organized a communitywide food drive that netted nearly 1,000 pounds of food for the town's Care and Share Food Pantry. The three-day Make A Difference Day event included a free tailgate party and reduced-price tickets at an SUU football game for anyone who donated a can of food on Oct. 23.

$2,000 STATE AWARDS

Hardwick. In a sparsely populated area near the Canadian border known for its high rate of poverty, limited resources and inevitably harsh winters, PATCH, a non-profit organization serving Hardwick, a town of 3,000, and six other towns, collected three truckloads of non-perishables in a six-week drive to replenish three food pantries. The honoree's $2,000 award from Wal-Mart will benefit Hardwick Area PATCH Office.

Starksboro. Robinson School teacher Donna Shepardson, classroom aide Barbara Bordeaux and 16 of their fifth- and sixth-graders donated 40 backpacks and duffel bags stuffed with goods to foster