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Regional
honorees: Make A Difference Day Awards, April 2001
Are
your neighbors listed among thse special awards for helping others
Oct. 28, 2000?
Alabama
$2,000 National Encore award
Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala. The 42nd Air Base Wing received a 2000 national award for fixing up an abandoned 20-room estate for Shepherd's Staff Ministry, a non-profit group that has housed 43 foster children. In October, the wing tackled another abandoned house, this one to be used as a shelter for victims of domestic violence. As of Feb. 23, 612 service members had volunteered 2,662 hours and raised $6,568.20 for the endeavor. $2,000 award from Gannett Foundation benefits Shepherd's Staff Ministry. Want to make a donation? Write to: Shepherd's Staff Ministry, Linney & Debbie Dickson, P.O. Box 201203, Montgomery, Ala. 36120
$2,000 state awards
Huntsville. Many of today's sixth-graders were born just months before Operation Desert Storm and know few who have served in the military. The Academy for Science and Foreign Language staff was faced with teaching its students about World War II and wanted to imbue them with a sense of history, so they turned to veterans for their "Hero Next Door" project. Oct. 28, students paired with veterans, interviewed them for a book and videotaped the conversations. They got to know older men and women and learn about their amazing and often horrifying experiences. The day proved so liberating for the groups, they decided to visit the Mighty 8th Air Force Heritage Museum in Savannah, Ga., for a weekend field trip. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Huntsville City School, The Academy for Science & Foreign Language, The Academy for Science & Foreign Language, 3221 Mastin Lake Road, Huntsville AL 35810
Notasulga. Macon County students have tried for years to raise their state test scores. But even though they live in the shadow of Tuskegee University, many students come from homes where books are scarce. For Make A Difference Day, the children received a boost from the university: Veterinary school students organized a book drive so every child of elementary school age could have a new book. The "Kick Illiteracy Good-Bye!" campaign netted more than 2,000 books and $1,700. The college students also organized a fall reading festival at a Macon County library to share books, mentoring and friendship with the students. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Tuskegee University, School of Veterinary Medicine, Tuskegee AL 36088
Newspaper awards
Decatur Daily. 35 underprivileged children from a youth enrichment club began sewing 150 lap quilts for area senior citizens in September. On Make A Difference Day, the youngsters and 10 adult volunteers delivered the quilts to Sun Bridge Care and Rehabilitation Center.
Dothan Eagle. Children from Sanford Avenue Elementary School and members of community groups held a fair to raise money for the National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation. Inspired by Lee King -- a Sanford classmate who suffers from the rare, fatal disease, in which the body can't process cholesterol -- the groups raised $5,400.
Gadsden Times. 185 children and their "Bigs" from Big Brothers/Big Sisters worked with senior citizens and volunteers from the Gadsden Job Corps to keep a homeless shelter in the green. The groups donated $500 to bring the shelter's mortgage out of arrears; provided clothing, diapers and toiletries; built an access ramp for the handicapped; and made lunch for 200 of the center's patrons and volunteers.
(Jasper) Daily Mountain Eagle. 50 residents of Argo Senior Citizen Community Center beautified their new center with rose bushes, grass and flowers.
Montgomery Advertiser. 22 female prisoners at Julia Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka and the staff and volunteers of Aid to Inmate Mothers spent Make A Difference Day making special coloring books for the inmates' children. The inmates drew the books' contents, and everyone decorated the books with foam animals, shapes and pockets to hold crayons. More than 200 coloring books were created; the mothers gave them to their kids the next visiting day, Nov. 11.
Opelika-Auburn News. 7 members of a group that helps the elderly and indigent maintain their homes worked to convert an office trailer into a temporary emergency shelter. When it is completed, the former Ciba Giegy lab will house victims of house fires or domestic abuse until they are able to get back on their feet.
Selma Times-Journal. Beloit Community Association members and 60 schoolchildren honored retired farmer and teacher Clarence Mauldin who himself cares for a former teacher and her husband. The group planted a Bradford pear tree in his honor in Orrville, planted flowers at his home and presented him with a resolution and plaque from Dallas County and the retired teachers association.
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Alaska
$2,000 state awards
Anchorage. For 10 years, the Anchorage-based RSVP has gathered cast-off and donated yarn and mustered homebound seniors to crochet or knit hats and mittens for the needy. Oct. 28, Project Warm-up became a community effort, drawing 78 volunteers to 3 Anchorage locations for an 8-hour knit- and crochet-a-thon. Using donations and a $1,000 Wal-Mart grant to buy supplies, the RSVP seniors helped advise volunteer knitters, finishing 90 hat and mitten sets, and many took home yarn and needles to make more. The items later were packaged with information on hypothermia and distributed at family health centers and schools. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits South Central Alaska RSVP, 1350 East 19th Avenue, Anchorage AK 99501
Nenana. When R.J. Nelson was fire chief in this town of 463, she made sure everyone had at least 1 working smoke detector. But after she left the department 2 years ago, nobody checked the villagers' smoke detectors -- until Make A Difference Day, when R.J.'s daughter, Cody Sage Nelson, took on the task. First, the 12-year-old traveled 60 miles to Fairbanks to ask for donations of batteries and detectors. After a basketball game on Oct. 28, she started doling out the detectors. She and her mother went door to door, giving batteries to those in need and installing new detectors in houses that had none. They finished the task Oct. 29, covering 87 houses. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Nenana Native Association Spirit Camp, PO Box 356, Nenana AK 99760
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Arizona
$2,000 state awards
Mesa. For the second Make A Difference Day, Lindsey Keeler collected money for her favorite charity, the Child Crisis Center-East Valley. At 13, she was too young to volunteer at the facility, which provides temporary housing for youngsters coming from troubled families and abusive situations, but Keeler went to area businesses, country clubs and sports teams to ask for donations she could raffle off. For $2, individuals could buy a chance to win dinners for 2, rounds of golf or autographed pictures of the WNBA Mercury or Arizona State University teams. Keeler managed to raise $551 -- $200 more than she raised in 1999.The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Child Crisis Center, 604 West 9th Street, Mesa AZ 85201
Prescott. The population of Prescott Valley has recently doubled to 25,000 but the still-rural area has little other than outdoor activities for youngsters. Residents decided to open a Boys & Girls Club but needed a building and had few funds. So they organized a telethon for Make A Difference Day. About 600 volunteers donated music, time, dancing and money during the 28-hour television campaign, raising $30,000. Today, the club serves an area with 6,000 young people and has become a community focal point where youngsters can enjoy sports, arts and crafts, and a game room. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Central Yavapai, 8201 East Loos Drive, Prescott Valley AZ 86314
Newspaper awards
(Bullhead City) Mohave Valley Daily News. Zipp, a dog who didn't quite graduate from guide-dog training but did find a calling as a canine therapy animal, brought sloppy smooches and love to 90 residents of the Silver Ridge Village Nursing Home -- with help from owner Debbie Skiles and another canine playmate.
Casa Grande Dispatch. 50 residents and their children from Estrella Community Church and North Toltec Block Watch in Eloy cleaned up their neighborhood and encouraged neighbors to take pride in their homes. A group of 3 children collected 75 bags of trash.
(Douglas) Daily Dispatch. 20 members of the Douglas for Stronger Families Council rounded up 35 winter coats and 75 other items of clothing for needy families.
Kingman Daily Miner. 250 volunteers from the police department, the Katherine Heidenreich Senior Center and the community joined forces to build the city's first handicapped-accessible park. After receiving an estimate of $60,000, community members pitched in, donating concrete, benches, landscaping materials and labor. On Make A Difference Day, volunteers ran a yard sale to raise more funds, while others planted 100 trees and bushes and installed an irrigation system.
(Lake Havasu City) Today's News-Herald. 300 kids from Smoketree Elementary School, together with their parents, sold homemade book markers to raise $250 for a parent who has breast cancer but doesn't have health insurance.
(Phoenix) Arizona Republic. 78 volunteers from organizations including Medtronic Corp., the United Way, the Phoenix Job Corps and Boulders Resort painted and repaired 4 homes in a barrio where 60% of the housing is blighted or substandard. The volunteers, coordinated by Wesley Community Center, also built 4 playground sets and started work on 23 other properties.
(Prescott) Daily Courier. 20 volunteers from the Granite Gate retirement community organized a yard sale to benefit a hospice and Child Haven, an organization that provides temporary shelter for children. Businesses and residents made donations, and 200 people attended the event, which netted $2,000.
Sierra Vista Herald. 50 children from Bisbee, Ariz., and Naco, Mexico, joined to paint a mural on the 10-foot-high wall that separates the USA and Mexico. Dubbed "Art Without Borders/Arte Sin Fronteras" by organizer Renee Dawson, the project aimed to unite the children. The kids started painting in the summer after receiving the go-ahead from the U.S. Border Patrol. Oct. 28, they finished their self-portraits and held a celebration.
(Sun City) Daily News-Sun. 83-year-old Rita Lucas, who volunteers weekly at Apache Elementary School in Peoria, persuaded 3 second-grade classes to make a difference in seniors' lives. The 75 children created booklets containing verse and drawings for nursing home residents. Lucas delivered them on Oct. 28.
Tucson Citizen. Understanding how important shade is to desert children who want to play outside in summer, 93 volunteers from Honeywell, Raytheon and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base built a large sun shade at the Arizona Children's Association, which serves abused and neglected kids.
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Arkansas
$2,000 state awards
De Queen. Country radio station KDQN was taking requests for Make A Difference Day, and the Sevier County Salvation Army had an urgent one: The shelves of its food pantry were bare. The station decided to throw together an on-air stunt for popular morning deejay Steve Cole. Using a live feed from the parking lot of a grocery store, Cole sat from 11 a.m. encased in a "castle" of 111 cases of canned vegetables. To set him free, listeners could buy the goods -- 2,664 cans -- at 3 for $1 or $8 a case. Residents of De Queen, hometown of country star Collin Raye, responded. In 3 hours, they raised enough cash to feed 1,332 hungry people. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits the Collin Raye Benefit Concert Corporation, PO Box 311, DeQueen AR 71832
Fort Smith. Wayne Midkiff, part-time director of Fort Smith Multicultural Center, part-time pastor and home renovator, decided to "build bridges" with immigrants by rebuilding porches. A month before Make A Difference Day, Midkiff, 37, invited citizens to help replace 4 rotting porches in the city. Stepping up were more than 80 volunteers from Goddard United Methodist Church, ninth-graders from Kimmons Junior High, a Laotian Baptist youth group and Ron Medley, owner of a body shop. The crews raised money and supplies -- wood and concrete, even rare aluminum columns -- and Terri Rogers' ninth-grade honors civics class celebrated homeowner Josie Bozeman's 82nd birthday with cupcakes and balloons. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits the Fort Smith Multicultural Center/Midkiff Ministries, PO Box 417, Fort Smith AR 72901
Newspaper awards
Benton Courier. 5 Golden Key members from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock adopted a room at a Little Rock domestic violence shelter. They painted it green, gold and ecru; decorated it with new window treatments and artwork; and supplied new sheets and comforters.
Blytheville Courier News. In the week leading up to Make A Difference Day, 39 members of the Gosnell High School Key Club, plus 23 peers, presented anti-drug/anti-smoking programs to fourth-graders; collected 4 bags of food, clothes and toys and a case of baby formula for migrant families; sorted clothing and boxed food at a food pantry; created activity booklets for police and fire departments; and made pet biscuits. On Oct. 28, 10 students delivered the biscuits, several hundred pounds of donated supplies, 4 bags of aluminum cans and $50 (donated from tips earned at a pizza parlor) to the humane society. The club also picked up 16 bags of trash around the school.
(Conway) Log Cabin Democrat. Every 3 days, an Arkansas child dies in an car crash. To fight that statistic, 17 members of the Junior Auxiliary of Conway underwent training, recruited and trained 19 other volunteers, and hosted "Safety Seat Saturday" outside a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Of 120 seats checked, only 1 was installed incorrectly. 30 other club members directed traffic and handed out literature.
(El Dorado) South Arkansas Sunday News. With the help of 35 partner agencies, Wind of Life Ministry held a "Rural Communities Family Health Fair" in Strong and Smackover, distributing 140,000 pounds of food, clothing and used computers to 250 needy families. 100 participants received health screenings, and 26 donated blood.
(Fort Smith) Southwest Times Record. 200 students, faculty members and friends of Darby Junior High School fanned out on 10 projects. Highlights: Seventh-grade science classes joined with a senior citizens' gardening club to scrub the campus and plant shrubs. The National Junior Honor Society collected and delivered toiletries to 15 residents of a shelter for girls, while 25 members of the drama club made care kits for a boys' shelter and a battered women's shelter.
Harrison Daily Times. A health fair for kids from birth to age 13 drew 300 volunteers from 40 organizations, including the Times, and 1,000 participants in its 5-county circulation area. DaimlerChrysler checked car seats and gave away 38; healthy habits were promoted and faces were painted amid a "carnival atmosphere."
(Hot Springs) Sentinel-Record. VFW Post 2278 and its ladies auxiliary delivered a pickup truck full of large-sized men's clothes -- waist 33 inches or larger and shirts in sizes large to 3X -- to the Arkansas Veterans Home in Little Rock. including 22 T-shirts donated by an Army Reserve unit. They also delivered boxes of new and used books and magazines.
Jonesboro Sun. 138 Arkansas State University-Jonesboro SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) members gave 54 disadvantaged students a hands-on lesson in business by setting up a village as entrepreneurs. Community members earned play money to spend there by donating real kids' books for the school's literacy program. Payoff: Needy children in 3 districts shared 1,079 books collected.
(Mountain Home) Baxter Bulletin. 200 Actronix employees in Flippin collected school and art supplies for 2 needy schools, and hygiene and cleaning supplies for the Marion County Food Pantry and Gamma House, a women's shelter -- 783 items in all.
Paragould Daily Press. Fourth-grader Seth Dailey raked and bagged leaves in 6 neighbors' yards and left calling cards (handmade posters) advertising Make A Difference Day. The aspiring politician, who read 2,008 books last year, also donated 100 children's books and directed his own get-out-the-vote campaign.
Pine Bluff Commercial. Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, Barnes Community 4-H Club and Master Gardeners teamed up for a community health fair, where 69 attendees were screened for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and prostate and breast cancer. People also were coached on food and fire safety, will-making and anti-drug issues.
(Russellville) Courier. To raise $1,200 for an Arkansas Children's Hospital support group, 16 volunteers from Seven Oaks Assisted Living, ages 40s to 90s, patched together and raffled off a celebrity quilt including signatures from Doris Day, Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy, Jean Stapleton, John Travolta, Loni Anderson and Tim Conway.
(Searcy) Daily Citizen. Retired teacher Zola Staggs and retired principal Mary Pearl Mosley rallied 28 adults to meet at the First United Methodist Church to tutor 32 struggling elementary school students.
(Springdale) Morning News of Northwest Arkansas. 12 Parson Hills Elementary pupils published a newspaper -- setting up a New York-style newsstand the week before Make A Difference Day -- and donated $200 raised by the school's 745 students and faculty to a home for mentally and physically challenged adults.
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California
$10,000 National award
Santa Cruz. As a crack addict sleeping in doorways, Giovanni Jackson relied on small mercies -- a plastic poncho, a bar of soap. Now she donates those items to others trying to do what she did: kick drugs and find work. On Make A Difference Day, Jackson, 42, delivered 100 care packages to a Salinas day shelter. Because Jackson is "one of their own," the shelter director says, she shows other homeless people there is hope for them. Still sleeping in shelters until her truck-driver earnings can cover rent, Jackson shares credit for her Make A Difference Day project: "Me and God did this." $10,000 award from Newman's Own benefits Dorothy's Place, Salinas, Calif. Want to make a donation? Write to: Franciscan Workers, Dorothy's Place, P.O. Box 2027, Salinas, CA 93902
$10,000 National award
Goshen. This impoverished farming town had hundreds of kids, dozens of trash-strewn vacant lots, but not one playground. So Clifton Giddings, 13, and other Goshen teens set out "to make the environment safer for kids to play." They started small on Make A Difference Day three years ago, clearing 40 cubic yards of litter. By Make A Difference Day 2000, it took 13 trips to the dump to haul away what 300 volunteers collected: 40 tons of garbage, 1,000 tires and 5,000 pounds of hazardous waste. On a lot once teeming with trash, teens planted 15 trees -- the start, they hope, of a community park. $10,000 award from Newman's Own benefits Goshen Planning Committee. Want to make a donation? Write to: Goshen Planning Committee, Community Services and Employment Training, Inc., 909 West Murray, Visalia, CA 93291.
$2,000 National Encore award
San Bernardino. Herculean Make A Difference Day efforts since 1995, a national award in 1997, and even greater heights last October when 156,000 volunteers helped 18,900 needy in 10 projects. Their feats are organized by San Bernardino County and Norcal/San Bernardino. The $2,000 award from the Gannett Foundation will continue the community efforts. Want to make a donation? Write to: Rotary Club of San Bernardino, P.O. Box 894, San Bernardino, CA 92402
$2,000 state awards
Los Angeles. Judith Dillard used to be homeless. And she used to be a drug addict. But she has been clean for 4 years and now works at the Los Angeles Family AIDS Network. For Make A Difference Day, she handed out 700 bags of items she had collected -- shampoo, toothbrushes, soap, condoms, perfume and a 10-minute phone card with a list of community resources -- to those down on their luck. She also distributed toys and diapers. Assisted in her donation efforts by the Women's Caucus on HIV/AIDS of Los Angeles County, Dillard personally spoke to every homeless person to whom she gave a tote. The work didn't end on Oct. 28: Dillard and other caucus members deliver goods every 2 weeks and hope to begin an AIDS education effort for the homeless. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Women's Caucus/AIDS Service Center, 1680 North Vine Street, Suite 1200, Los Angeles CA 90028
Sacramento. 350 people -- some of them women with hair to their waists -- shaved off their tresses to raise funds for a Boys & Girls Club in South Sacramento. Agilent Technologies, a manufacturer of communication and life science equipment, organized the drive. Employee Drisha Leggitt said she was shocked by the outpouring of support. "Anybody can go wash a car," she said. "It takes a commitment to go shave your head." Combined with other fund-raisers it orchestrated, Agilent Technologies' Make A Difference Day efforts raised $70,400 and introduced the Boys & Girls Club to the community. On Oct. 28, hundreds who didn't get buzz cuts opted to sign up to volunteer at the club, which will be built in the Lemon Hill section of South Sacramento, a poor area with a high crime rate. The "Shear Madness" event drew myriad volunteers, including the football team from California State University, Sacramento. The shorn locks were given to a cancer organization that makes wigs for patients. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Sacramento, 1117 G Street, Sacramento CA 95814
Newspaper awards
Auburn Journal. American Legion Post 587 of Foresthill gave 200 refurbished bicycles, with helmets, to children unable to afford their own.
(Barstow) Desert Dispatch. Passing up a chance to spend the morning at their school carnival, 18 members of Cheryl Marino's fourth-grade class at Cameron Elementary School decorated 5 boxes and packed them with school supplies bound for Third World classrooms. The class of 32 children had worked since September to raise money to buy items such as pencils, spiral notebooks and compasses for the kits, based on lists supplied by the Red Cross.
Benicia Herald. Challenged by 20 honor students who had hung posters and made daily announcements, 269 Sequoia Middle School students -- a third of the student body -- worked on projects in Pleasant Hill ranging from cleaning up schools, parks and neighborhoods to helping at carnivals, nursing homes and non-profits. A food drive garnered 1,259 items for a food bank and a needy family. Students delivered 33 pillowcases made by the home economics department to the elderly and the sick; 1 delivery was to the school principal, who has since died.
(Chico) Enterprise-Record. Laura's Day Care Center and Preschool held a festival fund-raiser for an 8-year-old boy with leukemia. 25 volunteers raised $1,200 to help pay for gasoline for travel to chemotherapy treatments.
Davis Enterprise. 20 "sewing servants" of the First Baptist Church in Davis made quilts and crocheted and knitted scarves, baby items, hats and blankets for the homeless and needy.
(El Centro) Imperial Valley Press. 130 volunteers from Las Vecinas Auxiliary of Valley Orthopedic Clinic held garage sales, bake sales and a bazaar to benefit the clinic, which helps disabled children in Mexico.
(Fairfield) Daily Republican. For the second year, staff and families tied to Fairfield-Suisun school district's Independent Study program for home-schoolers spruced up Falls School, which is used for special community events and the Independent Study program. 21 volunteers spent 5 hours sweeping the gym walls free of cobwebs, mopping the floors, cleaning classrooms and doing minor repairs.
(Fremont) Argus. Union City mobilized 600 volunteers in efforts ranging from a food drive, litter abatement and landscaping, to making $5,000 in home renovations for a 92-year-old man who was using cardboard for insulation instead of windows and siding.
Hanford Sentinel. In a push to increase literacy in their own back yard, Roosevelt Elementary School collected 2,000 books, 4 for each student's personal collection.
(Hayward) Daily Review. 40 real estate agents helped a widowed colleague make repairs on her home, including painting its interior and exterior, and installing all new carpet and kitchen appliances.
(Lakeport) Lake County Record-Bee. 42 senior citizens from the Sterling Shores Estates Homeowners Association wielded rakes, shovels, brooms and blowers to clean-sweep their mobile home park. A 95-year-old retired teacher helped re-alphabetize books at the clubhouse library and pull weeds.
Lodi News-Sentinel. 1,500 Stockton residents of all ages cleaned downtown, stenciled storm drains, spruced up parks and schools, collected 1,228 cans of food for the needy and ran safety and pet adoption fairs.
Lompoc Record. 16-year-old Jamie Shannon inspired 30 women from her church to make 20 quilts for new mothers at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Madera Tribune. 8 members of Students in Free Enterprise at Fresno City College distributed pamphlets on financial success and health issues outside a grocery store in a poor neighborhood in west Fresno. Also distributed: 200 community college applications. The students talked to 750 adults and 300 children representing 250 families.
(Marysville) Appeal-Democrat. 100 members of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church threw a housewarming for a family of 5 that was exchanging the streets for their first house. Gifts included toys, furniture, linens, appliances, cleaning supplies and $1,500.
Merced Sun-Star. 20 4-H members visited 2 retirement homes, toting balloons, flowers, books, games and toiletries.
Napa Valley Register. 10 members of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary in Sonoma visited the Yountville Veterans Home, delivering toiletry bags to the 21 residents of a ward. The group has adopted the ward, sending cards and letters and planning more visits.
(Novato) Marin Independent Journal. 10 members of Girl Scout Brownie Troop 411 filled the cargo area of 3 minivans with pet items for the Petaluma Animal Shelter. Wearing headbands with dog or cat ears made of fabric and matching tails attached to their pants, the girls, ages 8 and 9, collected the food, chew toys, kitty litter, flea collars, leashes and pet food dishes from shoppers at 3 stores.
Oakland Tribune. 12 members of the Contra Costa Chapter of the National Association of Insurance Women International gave a makeover to the Wardrobe for Opportunity Shop in Walnut Creek. They donated clothes, cleaned inside and out, and reorganized the shop, which dresses needy women who are making the transition into the workforce.
(Ontario) Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. 40 employees of the city of Westminster and 3 Home Depot stores repaired and restored the house of a disabled widow. Materials were valued at $6,000. Volunteers replaced the broken, weather-beaten door, installed a security screen and mailbox, fixed the collapsed back porch and relandscaped the front yard. They also hauled away 4 truckloads of brush and trash from the back yard.
(Oroville) Mercury-Register. Juanita Moxley rallied her "Moxley Crew," including her 2 daughters, and the entire community to collect 150 pieces of luggage for foster children.
(Palm Springs) Desert Sun. 250 Washington Charter School elementary pupils and teachers in Palm Desert gathered furniture, clothing and school supplies for a planned classroom at Martha's Village and Kitchen for the homeless.
(Palmdale) Antelope Valley Press. Frances Thompson collected 268 cans of food from civilian co-workers at Edwards Air Force Base, delivering the items to the Salvation Army's food bank in Rosamond. The collection was double her Make A Difference Day effort last year.
(Pleasanton) Tri-Valley Herald. For the second year, 10-year-old Amelia Pennewell of Livermore collected socks for the homeless, giving away 500 pairs on Make A Difference Day.
Red Bluff Daily News. 300 residents of Shasta County cleaned the Martin Luther King Jr. Multicultural Center in Redding and sorted 2,000 books for distribution at low-income housing complexes, community centers and hospital waiting rooms; donated 32 pints of blood; and visited an information fair that included free eye-screening, face-painting, entertainment and 27 booths staffed by non-profit groups.
Redlands Facts. Brownie Girl Scout Troop 974 -- all 6 members -- filled 15 shoeboxes with toys, school supplies and toiletries for distribution to children in war-torn countries via Operation Christmas Child of Samaritan's Purse.
Sacramento Bee. 16 incarcerated young men spent the day sewing baby blankets, quilts, hats and toys for Newborns in Need. The day's tally: 470 items.
(Salinas) Californian. Noel Kelsch organized dental hygienists and businesses in Salinas to provide 1,388 bags full of dental hygiene supplies to homeless people.
San Bernardino County Sun. Jerry Stoops and 50 volunteers, including schoolchildren, planted 160 trees in San Bernardino National Forest.
(San Francisco) Sunday Examiner & Chronicle. 250 Girl Scouts filled wish lists from several wings at Oakland's Children's Hospital, delivering 2 truckloads of books, toys, videos and other items.
San Mateo County Times. Cecile Winton and the Beth El Senior Friendship Club treated the homeless and shut-ins to 6,000 cookies.
Santa Barbara News-Press. The Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Red Cross shared information about organ and tissue donation at booths in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.
Santa Cruz County Sentinel. The Volunteer Center and United Way of Santa Cruz spearheaded such projects as painting, landscaping, graffiti removal and making hygiene bags for homeless people. 2,000 volunteers helped at least 100 agencies.
Santa Maria Times. 214 volunteers from Your Helping Hands Referral Service escorted elderly and disabled clients on shopping sprees, painted their homes, worked on craft projects and landscaped their yards.
(Santa Rosa) Press Democrat. Using an old family recipe from Scotland, Jean Duffy of Gualala made shortbread and sold it for $7 a batch, raising $200 for The Attic, a clothing and medical equipment exchange service for people with multiple sclerosis. The Attic was started by Duffy's daughter, who recently was diagnosed with MS.
Tulare Advance-Register. 75 people in Pixley (pop. 2,488), of all ages, picked up 100 bags of trash.
Turlock Journal. 149 volunteers cleared 52 tons of debris -- everything from tires and furniture to weeds and grass clippings -- from a low-income neighborhood of 935 households. The volunteers -- including Target employees, Turlock High School students, United Way members and city workers -- also painted over graffiti.
(Vallejo) Times-Herald. Despite a driving rain, 30 volunteers from 9 service clubs and the Vallejo Wal-Mart raked, painted, pruned and poured concrete for a pavilion at Children's Wonderland Park, a 39-year-old city-owned playground with an Alice in Wonderland theme that has been closed for 2 years because of concerns about the safety of its aging equipment. The park is slated for a $1.8 million renovation.
(Victorville) Press-Dispatch. Home Depot and volunteers remodeled the Red Cross building's kitchen and office space. The materials cost $1,500.
Visalia Times-Delta. Members of Phi Beta Psi held a run/walk-a-thon, raising $8,000 for the University of California-San Francisco School of Nursing and its program for cancer patients.
(Woodland) Daily Democrat. The Volunteer Connection in Yolo County enlisted 15 members of AmeriCorps to collect 500 gently used coats and 150 new pairs of socks for the needy of the county.
(Woodland Hills) Daily News of Los Angeles. 100 youth and 50 adult volunteers divided into 15 teams to crisscross Los Angeles, visiting ill or dying children at 26 hospitals and group homes for the chronically disabled. In tow were child actor Tahj Mowry of TV's Smart Guy, Olympic hurdles medalist Mark Crear and original members of the R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire -- plus hundreds of donated videos, compact discs, toys, books and handmade bracelets with the "CHIC Pediatric-Pals" logo. CHIC, the sponsoring group, stands for Children's Hope International Coalition, founded by a Tarzana couple in honor of their 2-year-old daughter who died after a year in a coma following a pool accident. Their mission: to steer kids clear of trouble.
Colorado
$2,000 state awards
Brush. 13 volunteers from Banner Home Care went the extra mile for 2 clients, renovating and reorganizing their homes to make them more accessible for disabled residents. For Brent Wilkison, 30, paralyzed since a motorcycle accident 15 years ago, the group installed a new mailbox, removed walls, installed wheelchair-level shelving, added a washer and dryer, washed windows, hung curtains and reorganized. The group also came to the aid of Tammy Linker, who has given round-the-clock care to her 14-year-old son since he was hit by a truck 4 years ago while riding his bicycle. They helped clean her home and unpack. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits East Morgan County Hospital Foundation, 242 Cambridge, Brush CO 80723
Fort Collins. 6 boys from "Starflight" Camp Fire Boys and Girls were saddened by the idea that Santa Claus would be unable to find kids who live at a domestic violence shelter. So they organized their own version of the Marine Corps Reserves' Toys for Tots campaign and collected 86 toys and lots of necessities -- 220 new pairs of snow boots, 12 pairs of new sneakers, 800 pounds of food, winter coats and books -- for the shelter children and other agencies. For the shelter kids' mothers, they collected prepaid phone cards and 62 alarm clocks. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Foothills Gateway, Inc., 301 Skyway Drive, Fort Collins CO 80525
Newspaper awards
Denver Post. Project Angel Heart is a non-profit providing 3 meals a day, 6 days a week, to 225 area residents infected or "affected" with AIDS/HIV. For Make A Difference Day, 125 volunteers drawn from the Internal Revenue Service, ThunderRidge High School Interact Club and an HMO made "blizzard bags" filled with non-perishables for clients to keep as backups in case bad weather prevented food delivery.
Durango Herald. 15 volunteers from the Southern Ute Community Action Program collected and cleaned 100 coats and donated them to needy families in Ignacio.
Fort Collins Coloradoan. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County collected 587 pounds of cans and took them to Colorado Iron & Metal, which ground them up and gave them $254. The Fort Collins-based Stryker Short Foundation matched the amount. The money will be used to build a Boys & Girls Club, which will provide a safe place for Larimer County youth.
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Connecticut
$2,000 state awards
Bridgeport. Groundwork Bridgeport, a non-profit agency that focuses on cleaning up urban blight, drew 500 volunteers to work on 11 landscaping and cleanup projects. Volunteers from groups ranging from the African American Club at Central High School to AmeriCorps, Fairfield University and community leaders, removed trash and planted 17 trees at a site, fixed basketball courts and nets, spruced up a park and playground in a poor neighborhood and brightened a street corner with trees. In a city where the skyline is marked by empty factories, the landscaping makes a difference, says organizer Brian Gockley. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Groundwork Bridgeport, 515 Washington Avenue, Bridgeport CT 06604
Stratford. Motivating themselves with the chant "Why are we here? Because we matter and we make a difference and we are the future!" seventh-graders and teachers of the "Orange Team" at Wooster Middle School collected 3,800 items -- scarves, gloves, mittens and toiletries -- and boxed them in decorative gift baskets for residents of a homeless shelter. The teachers adopted 2 bathrooms at the home being renovated for transitional housing. On Make A Difference Day, they rolled up their sleeves and tackled years of soot and grime, and decorated with wreaths, knickknacks and potpourri. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Orange Team Wooster Middle School, 150 Lincoln Street, Stratford CT 06614
Newspaper awards
(Bridgeport) Connecticut Post. 50 students and staff from Frank Scott Bunnell High School in Stratford spent 2 months securing items to furnish and decorate 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom at Bethlehem House, a transitional housing facility. Oct. 28, volunteers refinished kitchen cabinets, painted, cleaned and did minor carpentry work.
(Manchester) Journal Inquirer. 800 family and consumer science students at Illing and Bennett middle schools and Manchester High School spent 3 days baking and sewing in preparation for Make A Difference Day, when they delivered 816 cookies, 280 muffins, 93 loaves of bread and 18 pies to a homeless shelter; 243 "comfort pillows," 48 neckrolls and 141 "comfort caps" to hospitals; and 12 pairs of mittens, 25 pairs of socks and 44 fleece hats to a clothing closet.
(Meriden) Record-Journal. In Meriden's first citywide effort, 89 volunteers from community and school clubs and city agencies tackled beautification projects: landscaping and daffodil planting, and porch repair and leaf raking for 10 elderly homeowners. A winter clothing drive netted 20 garbage bags full of items for residents of shelters for battered women and the homeless.
(New Britain) Herald. For the fourth year, nurse Lisa Knapp organized volunteers -- 25 friends, relatives and co-workers -- to visit 2 nursing homes, delivering personalized pumpkins, mums and lots of attention to residents who rarely get visitors. Some volunteers are continuing visits.
New Haven Register. In its first townwide effort, North Haven's 6 schools raised $9,300 at a walk-a-thon from the middle school to the town green and back. 500 people, from the stroller crowd to seniors, walked the 2-mile route. The money went to the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital.
(Norwalk) Hour. In Westport's fifth effort, 1,480 volunteers helped on 76 projects throughout the week, including 38 organized by Temple Israel as part of its Mitzvah Day. Projects ranged from collections of books, cell phones, socks and sports equipment to cleanups, painting at non-profits and construction of a shed.
Norwich Bulletin. Schoolchildren and other "artists" painted murals on 5-by-12-foot panels at Alice Acres Farm in Gales Ferry, raising $128 for charities by donating money for the chance to paint. The Make A Difference Day artwork will be added to a 3-mile mural being prepared for a children's environmental conference. The mural also will be submitted to the Guinness Book of Records.
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Delaware
$2,000 state awards
Dover. 50 volunteers logged 150 hours repairing 8 homes of elderly and poor residents. The First State Resource Conservation and Development Council of Wilmington coordinated the effort, joined by Bank of America and Christ Episcopal Church volunteers, to replace unsafe doors, repair rotting floors, fix windows and install new roofs. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits First State Resource Conservation and Dev Council, 1203 College Park Drive, Suite 101, Dover DE 19904
Georgetown. In a program called Seniors Helping Seniors, high school seniors made 250 storm kits containing donated flashlights, batteries, transistor radios, candles, first-aid items, bottled water, crackers and tuna, and delivered them to 250 homebound senior citizens. Along with the kits came "Storm Buddy" cards that read, "Call me if you're feeling lonely and want to talk or need a visit. I'm only 15 minutes away." The idea was developed by coordinator Elizabeth Walls after rolling blackouts last summer. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Sussex County Senior Services Inc./THEER, 546 South Bedford Street Extended, Georgetown DE 19947
Newspaper awards
(Wilmington) Sunday News Journal. Shoes That Fit secured 80 volunteers -- Girl Scouts, Montessori schoolchildren, a church youth group and 3 corporations -- to collect 1,243 items of clothing for 180 needy kids.
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District of Columbia
$2,000 awards
23 volunteers from the Foster Grandparent program, which coordinates volunteer opportunities for senior citizens in schools and at day-care facilities, pampered 10 women who are rearing their grandchildren. They treated the women to a day at the beauty parlor, lunch and seminars on health and their rights as grandparents. They also gave the women the precious gift of time at home without the kids. While several of the volunteers were with the grandmothers, others were chaperoning the children on a field trip and a pizza party. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Foster Grandparent Program, 2451 Good Hope Rd, SE, Washington DC 20020
Volunteer chefs in Washington, Dallas, Boston and Providence, R.I., held nutrition programs and cooking classes at food banks and shelters. In Washington, 2 volunteers with Operation Frontline, an arm of the D.C.-based national service group Share Our Strength, taught courses on healthful eating and how to prepare low-cost meals. 40 participants at the Capital Area Food Bank learned to cook chicken soup and bake pumpkin pie from two top Washington chefs, Jeff Bubin and Ron Reid. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Share Our Strength Operation Front Line, 733 15th Street, NW #640, Washington DC 20005
Newspaper awards
Washington Times. 200 volunteers from D.C.'s "Green Team" -- the National Tree Trust, the Urban Forest Council, the D.C. fire and parks departments, KaBoom! and Tim Womick's traveling "Treetures" troupe -- planted 500 trees at 5 struggling rec centers and visited 2 children's hospitals to cheer patients.
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Florida
$2,000 state awards
Immokalee. Tucked in the sawgrass swamps of the Florida Everglades, Immokalee is a farming town where migrants live and work in the fields. The community has a Boy Scout troop, a football league and Little League, but not much to offer adolescent girls. So AmeriCorps mentors coordinated a men's softball tournament to raise funds for a girls' softball league. On Oct. 28, the tournament netted $1,200, enough to buy a batting machine, bases, balls, gloves, helmets and uniforms to field 4 teams. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Immokalee Community Charter School, 908 Roberts Avenue, Immokalee FL 34142
Palm Bay. On Oct. 1, 1999, Andrew Labib, 9, a quiet, fun-loving fourth-grader at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Melbourne, was returning home with his family from a social event when a tire -- a Firestone ATX -- shredded, sending their Ford Explorer tumbling. Andrew and his mom, Maggie, 42, were thrown from the car and died instantly. His dad, Medhat, 46, was paralyzed, and brother Ramy, then 13, received minor injuries. The school community rallied to help Ramy and Medhat. But they were inspired to do more for people in wheelchairs. For Make A Difference Day, they held a walk-a-thon for Canine Companions, a non-profit that raises money to provide service dogs for the disabled. The event raised $6,763, two-thirds the $10,000 cost of placing a dog. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits St. Joseph Catholic School, 5320 Babcock Street, NE, Palm Bay FL 32905
Newspaper awards
Boca Raton News. 25 teenagers from the Carver Estates Youth Program, an after-school enrichment activity, cooked and delivered barbecued ribs, chicken, rice, macaroni and cheese, and collards to 46 senior citizens and disabled residents of public housing.
Bradenton Herald. Elinor Wade McCune, 96, sewed 12 canvas bags for Anchor House, a ministry that fills the bags with toiletries for merchant mariners passing through Port Manatee during the holidays.
(Brooksville) Hernando Today. 70 volunteers from 5 churches revived a ministry for single-parent families by raising $800 for the group's building, which burned down last May. County churches and Christian bands held a day of music, food and celebration.
(Crystal River) Citrus County Chronicle. U.S. Postal Service workers from all 9 county branches joined volunteers from the Salvation Army, Sprint, schools and the Department of Social Services to collect for food pantries. The project, coordinated by Citrus County Harvest, garnered 45,000 pounds of food, 27,000 more than the county's first Make A Difference Day food drive.
(Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Susan Mercado feted granddaughter Sassy, 5, and 74 other children with terminal illnesses by holding an Oct. 28 birthday party at Give Kids the World Village in Orlando. Mercado was motivated to throw the party by Sassy's bravery while undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor.
(Fort Myers) News-Press. 40 students joined forces with Eagle Scout candidate Preston Campbell to beautify a park that had been vandalized by arsonists in August. The students raised $1,400 to install a butterfly garden, and planted 143 bushes, flowers and exotic specimens.
(Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel. Cheryl Spalter's third-graders at Silver Lakes Elementary in Miramar coordinated a schoolwide book drive that netted 2,100 books for Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood and the Salvation Army. On Oct. 28, 10 of Spalter's 33 students delivered the first 4 boxes of books to the hospital.
(Leesburg) Daily Commercial. 97 American Legion Auxiliary members, volunteers and friends presented food to the food bank, took personal items and baked goods to the VA hospital in Gainesville, donated homemade afghans for a fund-raiser to help disabled kids and collected items for Ronald McDonald House. 561 people were helped.
(Melbourne) Florida Today. 35 women of the Swan Lake seniors community in Titusville began knitting and crocheting lap robes Oct. 28 and are still going. As of last month, they'd knitted 330 robes for nursing homes.
(Panama City) News Herald. 200 members of a soccer league in Panama City Beach raised $1,810 to help a beloved coach with esophageal cancer travel to Houston for chemotherapy.
Pensacola News Journal. 80% of students at Pensacola Catholic High School participated in the school's annual Make A Difference Day commitment. The teenagers painted 7 houses, built 8 picnic benches, cleaned 2 cemeteries, built a playground and held 7 car washes to fund the other projects.
(Port Charlotte) Charlotte Sun. 2 sisters, 1 with multiple sclerosis, informed residents how to receive free or reduced-cost medications. Judy Federico and Joyce Schoonover of Port Charlotte also took blood pressure readings and raffled off 2 handmade quilts, raising $200 to help pay for 1 woman's medications.
St. Augustine Record. 20 students and staff members from Gaines Alternative Center, a middle and high school for teens who have gotten into trouble, built the first of 4 wheelchair ramps for needy community members. The youngsters drafted the blueprints, obtained the materials and built the ramps from scratch.
(Sebring) Highlands Today. 7 volunteers collected pencils, crayons, coloring books, small toys and candy to fill 280 treat bags for children at 3 hospitals, a migrant camp and home for neglected youngsters.
(Winter Haven) News Chief. 60 members of Keep Winter Haven Clean & Beautiful cleaned a city park and picked up trash around a lake. The group planted 100 plants and picked up 1.2 tons of trash, including a microwave, tires and auto parts.
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Georgia
$2,000 state awards
Atlanta. Residents of the Cabbage Town area have made a concerted effort to turn around their run-down neighborhood. Homes have been spruced up and a former cotton mill recently was converted into residential property. But an underpass near a commuter rail stop was an eyesore and a hazard. The graffiti-scarred bridge served as a magnet for late-night drug use, prostitution and violent crime. Oct. 28, 53 community volunteers from a neighborhood association, a church group and Morris Brown College tackled the blight, pulling weeds, priming and painting the underpass and picking up trash. Passers-by were so inspired they picked up brushes and joined in. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Wholistic Stress Control Institute, 2545 Benjamin E. May, Atlanta GA 30311
LaGrange. 6 volunteers from Communities in Schools arrived at the home of an elderly man Oct. 28 to do yardwork: pick up trash, rake leaves, cut grass. They had time to spare, so they decided to go inside to see if they could help. Garbage was strewn about and roaches darted among the piles. Dog feces and urine covered the floors. The sink -- piled high with dishes -- was infested with maggots. The workers cleaned the unsanitary house from ceiling to floor and contacted social services to get help for the elderly man. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Communities in Schools of Troop County, 1220 Hogansville Road, La Grange GA 30241
Newspaper awards
Albany Herald. Culminating a year-long project on diabetes, a Dougherty County School assistant principal and a Palmyra Diabetes Treatment Center nurse performed 60 free screenings in 4 hours in the center's lobby. 1 man registered 503 -- a life-threatening level -- and was taken immediately to the ER, where doctors said the test may have saved his life.
Americus Times-Recorder. 134 adult and child volunteers, recruited through Habitat for Humanity and KaBoom!, erected a playground on a vacant lot with $67,000 worth of equipment donated by the Aid Association for Lutherans.
(Canton) Cherokee Tribune. 15 employees of Bass Hotels and Resorts spent 8 1/2 hours cleaning, landscaping and painting 2 group homes for developmentally disabled adults.
(Carrollton) Times-Georgian. Parents and students from Sewell Middle School in Bremen planned a 3-pronged attack: 55 students repainted fire hydrants that had faded from bright red to gray; 25 students gathered school supplies for the needy in a neighboring school system; and 8 parents landscaped a courtyard between the middle and high schools, planting 100 flowers and installing lattices to hide air-conditioning units.
(Cartersville) Daily Tribune News. 14 Rowland Springs Baptist Church volunteers helped 3 widows with extensive yardwork, including cleaning gutters, raking, planting flowers and cleaning lawn furniture. 1 woman even had her dog washed.
(Dalton) Daily Citizen-News. 15 Bagley Middle School Junior Beta Club members collected and delivered 600 cans of food for the Red Cross Food Pantry as part of its annual food drive.
(Douglasville) Douglas County Sentinel. 18 first-graders at Cumberland Christian Academy in Austell spent the week before Make A Difference Day creating books about their favorite animals for the library. The bound, laminated editions were delivered Oct. 28.
(Dublin) Courier Herald. To address adult literacy and education in Laurens County, the Oconee Regional Library offered literacy evaluations for all comers as well as a computer skills workshop. 26 people took standardized reading and writing tests and signed up for free tutoring toward their GED tests.
(Gainesville) Times. Directed by their Make A Difference Day steering committee and organized through the Volunteer Center, 500 volunteers from 55 organizations, including businesses, youth and civic groups, swept through Habersham County cleaning roads, landscaping schools, weatherizing homes for the elderly, and collecting food, clothing and other items for the needy. In addition, a food-drive run through schools culminated in 7,000 items for a soup kitchen.
Griffin Daily News. Using money from the year's fund-raisers, the Moose Lodge spread its wealth Oct. 28, giving $400 to a nursing home for a fence, buying a TV for another nursing home, giving $250 to a family in need, buying materials for 10 roofs for Habitat for Humanity, and contributing $100 to Disabled American Veterans and $400 to Eagle Scouts. The lodge organized a blood drive and gave 110 cases of canned food to a food pantry and winter clothes to the Baptist Children's Home.
La Grange Daily News. 11 LaGrange College volunteers painted 2 houses, capping off a week-long event in which 11 houses were painted or refurbished by 60 volunteers.
(Lawrenceville) Gwinnett Daily Post. 25 adult volunteers planned a weekend camping experience in Rutledge for 12- to 16-year-olds who had been abused or neglected and raised in foster care. Their Make A Difference Day goals: raise awareness about community service and landscape the grounds.
Marietta Daily Journal. 562 Ackworth Elementary pupils received a hands-on lesson in commerce when each was presented with a seedling -- which they bought for a token fee -- to raise and nurture. Oct. 28, the kids held a community plant sale, calculating their success based on expenses.
(Milledgeville) Union-Recorder. The Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce recruited 1,700 volunteers to help the elderly, disabled, animals, the environment, the needy and children. Projects included cleaning nursing homes, landscaping a home for the disabled, bathing dogs, cleaning highways and packing overnight bags for displaced children.
(Newnan) Times-Herald. 12 members of the Newnan High School Psychology Club collected 75 boxes of clothing in the school's parking lot and gave them to a homeless shelter and a mental health facility.
Rome News-Tribune. The 21-member Armuchee Elementary School Nutrition Council, made up of a student from each class in the school, collected 3 truckloads of books, clothes, toys and food for families staying at homes for battered women and children. Several students donated their own stuffed animals.
Statesboro Herald. 15 members of Georgia Southern University's Sigma Phi Epsilon Project America chapter spent 5 hours erecting the frame of a Habitat for Humanity house.
Thomasville Times-Enterprise. To honor the Oct. 31 birthday of Girl Scout founder Juliette Low, 72 Girl Scouts of Thomas County visited 5 nursing homes in Thomasville and threw "birthday parties." They performed songs and skits, and served cake to 400 residents.
Tifton Gazette. Students from George Spencer Elementary, ages 9-12, invited 30 seniors into their school for a Senior Citizen Fair, featuring a meal, sing-alongs, an original play and book sharing. Leftovers were donated to a food pantry.
Valdosta Daily Times. 50 Hahira citizens landscaped a new city park, painted playground equipment, picked up litter and cleaned the home of an elderly resident.
(Warner Robins) Daily Sun. 197 people received free diabetes, cholesterol, pulse rate, blood pressure and oxygen screenings at a health fair sponsored by 40 help organizations. 70 more patients had free skin-cancer screenings and checkups with podiatrists; 36 were urged to follow up with a doctor, 18 arranged treatment and 1 person was sent directly to an urgent care facility because of wildly high blood pressure.
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Hawaii
$10,000 National award
Honolulu. Wheelchair-bound Satsue Abe savored views she thought she'd never see again -- because on Make A Difference Day, Army volunteers transported Abe and other nursing home residents to a scenic Oahu mountaintop. Majestic Diamond Head no longer wears a halo of trash -- Army volunteers rappelled off the volcanic crater's steep slopes, removing debris. Across the island last Oct. 28, more than 2,100 soldiers, family members and Department of Army civilians participated in more than 100 projects -- showing, says Major Gen. William E. Ward, "the kind of caring people we have." $10,000 award from Newman's Own benefits the Hawaii Food Bank, Honolulu and the Hawaii Chapter of the Association of the United States Army. Want to make a donation? Write to: Association of the United States Army, Hawaii Chapter, P.O. Box 861601, Wahiawa, HI 96786 or Hawaii Food Bank, 2611 A Kilihau, Honolulu, HI 86819
$2,000 state awards
Pearl City. In October, August Ahrens Elementary School was among the largest grade schools on the island of Oahu, with 1,300 students -- 1,300 youngsters who need not only education, but also fresh air, exercise and fun. Yet the school's playground equipment was deemed unsafe. So 15 University of Hawaii West Oahu Students in Free Enterprise adopted the playground, raising $484 by hosting car washes. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits August Ahrens Elementary School, 94-1170 Waipahu Street, Waipahu HI 96797
West Hawaii. 30 kids at the Kona Association for Hebrew Education, joined by children from 3 schools, youth groups of Christian churches and a Buddhist missionary, collected 1 ton of food and $5,000 for various causes around the Big Island. The 350 children raised the money from families and businesses and chose 10 individuals and charities to benefit. The 2,011 pounds of canned food went to the Hawaii Island food bank. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Kahea Association for Hebrew Education, PO Box 207, Honaunau HI 96726
Newspaper awards
(Hilo) Hawaii Tribune-Herald. A dozen Special Olympians, their families and members of the Hilo High School Key Club and Hilo Women's Republicans cleaned the picnic area and black-sand beach at Richardson's Park, a popular surfing and snorkeling area.
Honolulu Advertiser. 100 volunteers from Kilauea School, the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, seniors and a neighborhood association spent 4 hours cleaning up a school nature center. The day was designed to provide students with a place where they can learn the importance of the environment.
(Kailua-Kona) West Hawaii Today. 90 Buddhist volunteers with Kamuela Hongwanji Mission cooked dinner for 55 hospice volunteers. The event included a traditional Japanese dinner, origami decorations and karaoke.
(Lihue) Garden Island. 8 youngsters from a Buddhist youth group and 16 adults contributed 85 volunteer hours to pulling non-native weeds in Kokee State Park. The project, which involved businesses that pledged 10 cents for each weed gathered, raised $1,800 for the Kokee Resource Conservation Program.
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Idaho
$2,000 state awards
Boise. At the Idaho Boys Ranch, a facility for teens who have been in trouble with the law, abused or neglected, boys learn many coping mechanisms, including community involvement. Oct. 28, 15 residents and 4 staff members launched a project to help convert a warehouse into offices for El Ada Community Action Agency. They sanded and painted floors and walls, transformed a chain-link fence into a privacy fence, built shelving and installed toilets. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Idaho Youth Ranch, PO Box 8538, Boise ID 83707
Twin Falls. A group of parents who know what it means to be poor joined forces with 66 community groups to reach out to the impoverished. South Central Head Start families coordinated a collection that netted 2,130 cans of food and 300 pairs of gloves and hats to be distributed at 5 soup kitchens, 1 mission, 13 food banks, 1 women's center and the Boys & Girls Club. 1,174 volunteers helped. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits South Central Habitat for Humanity, 232 12th Avenue East, Jerome ID 83338
Newspaper awards
(Boise) Idaho Statesman. 45 Soroptimist International volunteers collected 300 "interview suits" for low-income women trying to get jobs. Mary Kay and Jafra Cosmetics pitched in $2,000 in cosmetics.
Coeur d'Alene Press. 27 members of the North Idaho Quilters Guild
made 23 quilts and distributed them to 4 charities. They will be used to swaddle the newborns of teen mothers, warm chemotherapy patients and comfort abused children and the homeless.
10 Sons of Norway's Young Vikings, ages 8-14, made 15 quilts for the Primary Children's Medical Center Foundation, which supplies quilts to kids in Salt Lake Primary Children's Hospital.
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Illinois
$10,000 National award
Mundelein. When Ryan Fosnow bought school supplies last fall, the suburban-Chicago fourth-grader asked his mother: Can we get extras for my class? At Washington Elementary, where nearly a third of students are low-income, Ryan noticed classmates using crayon stubs, or bashfully borrowing paper. Instead of handing her son a $5 bill, Mary Fosnow gave Ryan a copy of USA WEEKEND that invited people to help others on Make A Difference Day. The Cub Scout typed a school supply donation list on the computer and solicited friends and relatives. Then four days before Make A Difference Day, an Arlington Heights Daily Herald article mentioned Ryan's project, and gave his phone number and address. When Joyce Wagstaff saw the article, she says, "I just melted." Though emphysema keeps her constantly on oxygen, Wagstaff, 65, went shopping, then drove to Ryan's home. When Mary Fosnow saw Wagstaff, "it broke my heart -- a complete stranger with an oxygen tank connected to her. She had gone by herself, dragging this heavy thing and bought two bags full. And I thought, 'This is what it's all about.' " When fellow Mundelein resident Chuck Killian dropped off a load of school supplies, Ryan thought, 'That guy must be rich!' " Only later did the Fosnows learn that Killian, 43, has terminal cancer. By donating, Killian says, he's living his belief -- and, he hopes, reinforcing Ryan's -- "that doing good things for other people is a nice way to live." Ryan's drive netted 1,429 items to help 430 students. $10,000 award from Newman's Own benefits Washington Elementary School's Family Resource Center. Want to make a donation? Write to: Washington Elementary School, Family Resource Center, 122 South Garfield Avenue, Mundelein, IL 60060
$10,000 National award
Chicago. Thanks to the service organization Altrusa International,which is based in Chicago, the light of literacy beamed on Make A Difference Day. In Quincy, Mass., 350 poor children left a "literacy party" with new books. In Eugene, Ore., housing project residents got their own library. And in Denton, Texas, when mentally disabled adults got a truckload of colorful magazines, "their faces lit up," says volunteer Lisa Kennon. "You could hear the rustle of turning pages." In all, 2,040 Altrusans touched 24,000 lives across the U.S. and in faraway New Zealand and Russia. $10,000 award from Newman's Own benefits Altrusa International Foundation, Inc. Want to make a donation? Write to: Altrusa International Foundation, Inc., 332 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1123, Chicago, IL 60604-4305
$2,000 state awards
Arlington Heights. 10 Pace Suburban buses were taken out of service on Oct. 28 for community service, docked at 10 suburban Chicago Wal-Marts -- a 3,500-square-mile market -- where drivers and Wal-Mart managers encouraged shoppers to dig deep and donate items on wish lists of 10 charities serving 6 counties. 60 Pace volunteers then donated $2,000 toward unfilled needs, and the stuffed buses delivered their goods. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Mutual Ground, PO Box 843, Aurora IL 60507
Wheaton. In its first Make A Difference Day effort, 800 volunteers in this Chicago suburb of 58,000 touched 5,000 lives through 115 projects. 160 students from Wheaton College's Christian Outreach Program winterized 100 homes for needy elderly. 85 Cub Scouts intersected on citywide projects, like the 4 who sat at the post office collecting 452 first-class stamps to donate to the Love Letters organization, which mails 1,000 letters weekly to terminally ill children. Boy Scout Troop 303, along with their parents and siblings, raked the 5-acre property of Hope Presbyterian Church in just 1 hour and 15 minutes, bagging and recycling 200 sheet bundles of leaves. And Cub Scouts Pack 365 (dens 7, 8 and 12) sold popcorn outside the historic Wheaton Theatre, while Girl Scouts held a bake sale, to help raise funds for its renovation. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Wheaton History Center, 303 West Wesley Street, Wheaton IL 60187
Newspaper awards
(Alton) Telegraph. 45 members of the GFWC Illinois Indian Head Park Women's Club donated $1,105 in toiletries and white socks to 300 veterans at Hines Veterans Hospital in Hines, then 10 ladies spent the day visiting with 62 vets and playing bingo. The club collected $300 worth of clothes and school supplies, plus 72 winter coats, 40 pairs of shoes and 50 bow ties, for Native American children served by the Indian Center in Chicago.
(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald. 8 North Central College SIFE members gave on-site computer training to 14 residents at 2 Naperville retirement homes.
(Aurora) Beacon News. 30 Klingon warriors in full makeup, 6 Bearcare volunteers who corral teddy bears for pediatric wards, and WUSN-FM country radio deejay Mike Meyers staked out a spot on the Sonny Acres Farm pumpkin patch in West Chicago to collect $630, a 5-by-5-foot bin full of clothing and 500 pounds of foodstuffs for St. Mary's Pantry in Crystal Lake and a Lincolnshire/Lake in the Hills program that collects business clothes for the job-hunting needy.
Carmi Times. 18 West Village Christian Church members, ages 3-65, of Albion retooled a children's shelter an hour away in Oblong, where 18 abused or troubled kids ages 12-18 were living. The handy crew caulked and replaced damaged windows, hung drywall, repaired plumbing and painted a garage, while resident teen girls took care of the volunteers' children, taking them horseback riding, watching videos and serving lunch for all.
Chicago Sun-Times. 150 employees of United Airlines and their families painted a Roselle day facility for disabled kids and adults purple, and collected 150 bedspreads from the airline's training center for enrollees to use at home.
(Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald. 12 volunteers, ages 16-63, from Barrington decluttered, cleaned and painted the fire-damaged downtown Chicago apartment of a 71-year-old man known as "Junkyard Dog" because of his propensity for collecting. The effort was part of an ongoing Housing Authority project to renovate a mixed-race, mixed-income neighborhood.
(De Kalb) Daily Chronicle. 20 members of the Maple Park Cloverbuds 4-H club, ages 5-7, collected 100 gently used toys and 100 pounds of food from half the town's 700 residents to benefit the Elburn Food Pantry and 2 De Kalb shelters.
Sauk (Dixon) Valley Sunday. For the fifth year, Kate Ann Pfoutz delivered pet food, litter, blankets and detergent to the Tri-County Animal Protection shelter; a case of toilet paper, 12 packages of Ramen noodles, 8 bars of soap and canned food to the First United Methodist Church food pantry; and bedding for 9 beds at PADS homeless shelter. She also doled out $2,000 worth of coupons to send to U.S. military families based in Germany.
Du Quoin Evening Call. In their second year of participation, 3 volunteers from Least of the Brethren Food Pantry in Pinckneyville filled a 25-foot truck with 10 tons of food -- half of it donated, the other half bought -- to feed 800 needy people in Perry County for a month. The county has the highest unemployment rate in the state.
Eldorado Daily Journal. In their first communitywide effort, 100 Eldorado citizens -- including many hospital staff and schoolchildren -- collected 150 pairs of blue jeans for disadvantaged teens, raised $500 in pennies for the United Way, raked leaves for 5 elderly shut-ins, landscaped along Main Street and picked up trash along the highway leading into this town of 4,500 nicknamed the "City of Daffodils."
(Elgin) Courier News. For their sixth Make A Difference Day, 1,643 volunteers from the City of St. Charles, including 800 schoolchildren from Thompson Middle School and many Scouts, fanned out on projects cheering seniors, hospice patients and sick kids; cleaning parks and roadways; showing appreciation to police and fire officials; and collecting food and blankets for the homeless. 31 women from the Congregational United Church of Christ threw a baby shower with 70-plus gifts, many handmade, for a domestic abuse shelter. All told, 2,553 people were helped through 45 United Way agencies.
(Galesburg) Register-Mail. 3 members of the VFW Post 2257 Ladies Auxiliary carted 600 cookies, their manpower and good cheer to a community bash at the Galesburg Outreach volunteer center.
(Harrisburg) Daily Register. 11 members of the Carrier Mills-Stonefort Junior High Student Council spent the day distributing pamphlets on organ donation and signing up donors outside the Wal-Mart in honor of reading teacher Sharon Rodocker, a heart-transplant recipient.
Jacksonville Journal-Courier. 32 members of the Christian Women's Fellowship of Virginia corralled a dozen community leaders to help with a Safety Awareness Day Oct. 28. Experts checked and reinstalled 25 child car seats, replacing 8 damaged seats with new ones, gave away 25 bicycle helmets, and screened many of the 150 participants for high blood pressure.
(Joliet) Herald News. 35 gifted third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from Thomas Jefferson School, led by an artist and 14 adults, joined with 35 children in downtown Joliet to carve and decorate 35 pumpkins as surprise gifts for the homebound and elderly in the Warren-Sharpe neighborhood. They also used 25 gallons of paint creating a mural with the motto: "Aspire, Inspire."
(Kankakee) Sunday Journal. 250 Pembroke Township volunteers kicked off an intergenerational program by pairing teens with the elderly to exchange stories and write "historical storybooks." They also upgraded Martin Luther King Park, focusing on a fire-damaged building that will be a community center and renovated a senior center for use as an adult day-care facility.
(La Salle) News Tribune. 12 members of the Peru Pouncing Panthers 4-H Club, ages 5-14, conducted a food drive at 2 grocery stores, bagging 493 pounds of food and $153 for a La Salle food pantry.
Macomb Journal. 15 Delta Chi Fraternity brothers from Western Illinois University cheered 43 residents at the Macomb Senior Living Center, playing Yahtzee and cards, reading books and newspapers to them, and performing light maintenance and yardwork.
Marion Daily Republican. 5 Boy Scouts from Troop 63 in Carlinville, along with 2 adult leaders, spent 3 hours baling a ton of cardboard and half a ton of shredded office paper for a recycling center and, as a result of the project, plan to recycle newspaper biweekly.
(Mount Vernon) Register-News. In its third effort, 10 Angels on Assignment volunteers, dispatched from the First United Methodist Church in Mount Vernon, built a wheelchair ramp for a couple living in a mobile home, both of whom have cerebral palsy.
(Pontiac) Daily Leader. 33 employees of State Farm and students from Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities joined 20 residents to reclaim their 16-block gang- and drug-infested historic section of Bloomington. Crews painted an 1880s-era home, rebuilt a fence to protect children playing near a seedy alley, cleaned up another alley and sketched out a locomotive mural under a railroad overpass.
(Rock Island) Dispatch. For the eighth year, 20 Illinois Bell retirees, men and women in their 60s and 70s, combed 38 acres on Sylvan Island for trash; installed 30,000 Christmas lights along Ben Butterworth Parkway, covering 14 blocks; made 25 lap robes for nursing home residents; delivered 2 carloads of food, paper goods and clothing to a shelter for abused women and children; repaired a dozen "Talking Book" machines for the blind; and celebrated the day with a wiener roast.
Rock Island Argus. 750 members from 47 Royal Neighbors of America lodges nationwide pitched in on projects from collecting teddy bears for kids in crisis to running a free taxi service for those in need. At the national headquarters in Rock Island, members went trick-or-treating for canned goods (donating 1,170 pounds of food to the River Bend Foodbank) and cleaned up a highway.
Rockford Register Star. 7 AmeriCorps*VISTA members and an RSVP Senior Corps member joined 15 citizens in clean-sweeping a sleazy 6-block section of Seventh Street -- washing windows; spraying down rubbish from vacant, crumbling buildings; clearing debris from a demolished house; and working to get attractive trash receptacles installed.
(Springfield) State Journal-Register. 120 youth and adult volunteers pitched in 725 hours and $24,000 in labor to help save Jacksonville's Western Illinois 4-H Camp, catering to low-income, at-risk and disabled kids. Electrical crews rewired 10 of its 13 cabins, donated $3,000 for appliances and rewiring of the kitchen, donated fabric and made curtains. Boy Scouts installed a new cabin roof, 4-H members from 8 counties painted a walking bridge and the dining hall, and $4,000 was raised in cash donations to be applied to new mattresses and a new diving board.
(Sterling) Sauk Valley Sunday. 75 members of the East Coloma Student Council & Natural Helpers, a peer counseling group, collected 774 pounds of human and pet food plus $30 in donations for 2 food pantries in Rock Falls and Sterling, and the Tri-County animal shelter.
(Tinley Park) Daily Southtown. 200 volunteers from Orland Township -- everyone from schoolchildren to VFW members -- collected 35 large boxes of brand-new sweatsuits, towels, recorded books, toiletries and snacks, plus $1,300 in cash, for the 300 veterans at the Illinois Veterans Home in Manteno.
(Waukegan) News Sun. The College of Lake County in Grayslake drafted 40 volunteers, mostly students, on 8 projects including tuning up furnaces for low-income residents, tape-recording newsletters for the visually impaired, hosting a party for a transitional women's shelter and tutoring at a new resource center for Hispanic families.
(West Frankfort) Daily American. 30 Country Clovers 4-H Club members winterized yards for elderly homeowners in Dale -- they raked and burned leaves, emptied birdbaths, put away flowerpots and cleaned gutters.
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Indiana
$2,000 state awards
Cutler. When fourth-grader Kaitlin Kennedy learned about a Nicaraguan village's health-care crisis during a school assembly, she couldn't get the image of a 20-year-old woman with no teeth out of her mind. In a region without doctors, dentists or drugstores, and where impoverished children grow up sucking on raw sugar cane for sustenance, few adults there have healthy teeth, if any at all. So on Oct. 28, she and her mother, Donita, collected 7 boxes of toothpaste and toothbrushes outside a Flora gift shop, which were delivered later to Nicaragua by volunteers who provide 1,714 villagers with medical assistance. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Appalachian People's Action Coalition, 204 N. Plains Road, The Plains OH 45780
Wheatfield. In a 90-minute scavenger hunt, 40 Kankakee Valley High School students collected 2 pickup trucks, a van and a sport utility vehicle full of donations -- 1,000 items in all, including 3 couches, dining room chairs, a microwave oven and an organ -- for the Rensselaer Crisis Center, a regional shelter for women. They also collected 300 items of clothing and several hundred pounds of food for the food shelf. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits North Central Indiana Rural Crisis Center, Inc., PO Box 212, Rensselaer IN 47978
Newspaper awards
(Anderson) Herald Bulletin. Second Harvest Food Bank energized 108 high school and college student volunteers to sort a tractor-trailer load of donated food -- a month's worth of work -- in just 6 hours.
(Auburn) Evening Star. In Garrett, Girl and Boy Scouts collected previously distributed grocery bags from the doorsteps of residents, garnering 3,397 pounds of food. That was added to 1,881 pounds collected earlier in the week by schoolkids and delivered to a food bank Oct. 28.
Bluffton News-Banner. 17 South Adams Elementary third-graders, led by teacher Jeni Lingo, "reverse trick-or-treated" and paraded in costume for residents at the Swiss Village retirement home in Berne.
(Columbus) Republic. 400 kids from Mount Healthy Elementary School tackled activities ranging from random acts of kindness to collecting food for a pantry and winter clothes for the Salvation Army.
(Crawfordsville) Journal Review. 21 second-graders from Debbie Howard's Sugar Creek Elementary class in Crawfordsville performed a play adapted from an Arthur the Aardvark book for 10 preschoolers at Darlington Library. The students also shared original stories and bookmarks with their audience, and taught them to draw Arthur.
Decatur Daily Democrat. 100 volunteers, most from Belmont High School, performed a yardwork blitz throughout the community. Along the way, they saved an elderly woman from getting her gas cut off by cutting, hacking and even sawing a path to her gas meter.
Elkhart Truth. 100 Heritage Middle School students and adults tackled a variety of projects including landscaping at Goldenrod, a residence for disabled adults, planting bulbs at a historic community garden and lawn work in a city park. They also collected $620 from Middlebury residents for Goldenrod.
(Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel. 20 Mothers for Mothers members collected 250 personal-care items -- from baby ointment to curling irons -- filling 4 shopping bags for the Charis House, a shelter for battered women and their children.
(Franklin) Daily Journal. Retired electrician Craig Johnson of Greenwood became aware through his church of a needy family whose home wiring had become a fire hazard. On Oct. 28, he rewired their basement, putting in new circuits for their furnace, washer-dryer and sump pumps.
(Gary) Post-Tribune. 65 Starke County Extension Homemakers dedicated their Make A Difference Day project to The Phoenix House, a brand-new transitional house for victims of domestic violence. The group obtained a $500 grant from the Indiana Extension Homemakers, raised another $186 at a bake sale that day and worked on furnishing and organizing the house.
(Greencastle) Banner Graphic. 150 DePauw University volunteers joined as many as 400 volunteers in activities ranging from food drives, to yardwork and Habitat for Humanity projects.
(Greenfield) Daily Reporter. Hancock County's only homeless shelter rallied 66 volunteers to help move the shelter into its new space, clean the old site and complete interior construction. Businesses donated a moving van and food for the project.
Indianapolis Star. 1,000 walkers raised $90,000 in a 2.6-mile walk downtown to benefit the Indiana Down Syndrome Foundation.
(Kendallville) News-Sun. In LaGrange, 25 Emergency Medical Service staffers raised money through grants and personal donations to purchase playground equipment for a battered women's shelter, which they installed Oct. 28. They got the idea while on emergency calls to places where children had nowhere to play.
Kokomo Tribune. Make A Difference Day capped off a 2-month drive to raise awareness about domestic violence throughout Kokomo. On Oct. 28, the 16 members of YWCA Teens Against Domestic Violence spent the day at the YWCA-sponsored domestic abuse shelter helping with child care, making meals, preparing a mass-mailing for a fund-raiser and assembling therapeutic board games.
(Lafayette) Journal and Courier. 400 middle school students raised $5,000 by selling pencils and pizza they made themselves. On Make A Difference Day, checks were presented to organizations representing cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and the Indiana School for the Blind.
(Logansport) Pharos-Tribune. The Make A Difference Committee mobilized 500 volunteers who swept through Cass County doing yardwork, park cleanups, clothing donations and even a blood-drive challenge between county police and Emergency Medical Service staff.
(Marion) Chronicle-Tribune. Riverview Elementary teacher Julie Moore sent her 33 kindergartners home to do something for someone over the weekend. The 5- and 6-year-olds raked leaves, picked flowers, wrote get-well cards and replaced batteries in smoke detectors for elderly neighbors.
(Michigan City) News-Dispatch. A 6-day playground construction blitz by 700 parents and children culminated on Oct. 28, with kids performing the final sanding and tree-planting. 6 families had spent a year raising money, including city grants, totaling $120,000 to erect the custom-designed 26,700-square-foot playground where an older one had fallen into disrepair.
(Monticello) Herald Journal. 11 employees and their families from Fielder's Choice Direct, an agricultural company, did extensive landscaping to a play area at a city park. Landscaping fabric and a foot of mulch was laid to provide a soft landing for rambunctious kids.
(Muncie) Star Press. 19 Marie Thurston Elementary student council members spent a week creating crossword puzzles, knickknacks and personal items for seniors in 2 Alexandria nursing homes. The students spent time with the 150 seniors and delivered their gifts Oct. 28.
(Richmond) Palladium-Item. 100 members of the First Christian Church congregation identified shut-ins and spent Oct. 28 reaching out to them -- either by paying visits, preparing meals or snacks, delivering flowers or sending cards.
Rushville Republican. In an effort to raise awareness of the needs of those less fortunate, 16 members of St. Mary's Junior Girl Scout Troop No. 620, ages 10-12, collected 200 cans of food for the regional food shelf in Connersville.
(Seymour) Tribune. 6 members of the Rotary Club of North Vernon built a tournament-quality wheelchair-accessible horseshoe pit at North Vernon City Park, near a senior housing project, using donated concrete.
Shelbyville News. 400 St. Joseph religious studies students collected and delivered winter clothing, toiletries, paper products and cash to 4 charities, including a free clinic, a Hispanic cultural center, a center for abused women and children, and the Salvation Army.
(Terre-Haute) Tribune Star. The non-profit Downtown Terre Haute came to the rescue when city crews became bogged down repairing streets and couldn't keep pace with falling leaves. 20 volunteers cleaned 4 blocks in the heart of downtown adjacent to a nursing home and a home for those with cerebral palsy.
Vincennes Sun Commercial. 19 kindergartners at East Richland Elementary School made a set of alphabet books for an adult literacy class at Olney Central College. The children drew, pasted, colored and decorated the 26 books -- 1 for each letter -- and teacher Joyce Anderson delivered them on Make A Difference Day.
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Iowa
$2,000 state awards
Iowa City. In an all-out effort by 4,600 Johnson County students to stock the Crisis Center Food Bank, 19 tons of food were collected. Students from the county's 7 high schools motivated others to participate, including middle and elementary school students, community members and AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers, by stirring up friendly inter-school competitions. The teens successfully defeated the food bank's previous collection record of 6 tons. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Iowa City Community School District Foundation, 509 S Dubuque Street, Iowa City IA 52240
Rake. For 22 years, this town of 238 used an old school building as a library. But the facility was expensive to operate and the city sold it in 1999. Rather than turn in their library cards, town residents banded together to raise money for a new library. A run-down building on Main Street was donated, and residents spent a year raising $59,000 to fix it up. In only 3 hours on Oct. 28, moving day, 5,000 books were moved using cars, trucks and a "book brigade." The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Rake Public Library, 113 North Main Street, Rake IA 50465
Newspaper awards
Clinton Herald. Pulling little red wagons and waving magic wands, 11 kindergartners from Daisy Girl Scout Troop No. 84 in Bellevue went door to door collecting canned goods for the Bellevue Bread Basket. Their haul: 7 wagonloads.
(Council Bluffs) Daily Nonpareil. The Council Bluffs Jaycees brought together 15 agencies for a Child Safety Fair at a mall. 25 volunteers from the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, police and fire departments and others distributed information on child safety and handed out 300 child-identification kits. A child's car-seat checkpoint revealed 71 improperly installed seats; 40 were replaced for being faulty or recalled.
Des Moines Sunday Register. The 40-member Prairie City Champions 4-H Club canvassed the city of 1,500, and many homes in the outlying rural area, to collect 1,000 non-perishables and $35 for a food pantry.
(Dubuque) Telegraph Herald. 250 Girl Scouts, troop leaders and volunteers created 100 fabric bags, then filled them with donated toiletries for delivery to 3 homeless shelters and domestic abuse programs.
Iowa City Press-Citizen. Richard Campagna, whose son, Robert, plays on the football team of Lawrence University, organized a cash and signature drive against hunger during the school's Oct. 28 game against Monmouth College. $675 was sent to the Feinstein Foundation, a Rhode Island-based international charitable organization.
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Kansas
$2,000 state awards
Hesston. A couple who built a new laundromat in this town 3 years after the previous one was flattened by a tornado coordinated a coat drive dubbed "the Coat of Many Colors" at 3 laundry facilities they own, collecting and cleaning 500 for the needy. It's the third year Sandy and Ken Welsh have gone the extra mile; they also try to keep all 3 laundromats stocked with a reserve of coats for customers in need. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Hesston United Methodist Church, 600 North Ridge Road, Hesston KS 67062
Ottawa. Residents of this prairie city doubled their Make A Difference Day efforts this year, bringing in middle and high school students to help with 8 community projects. In 1999, 78 volunteers propelled by the non-profit East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corp., logged 150 hours planting 58 trees. This year, the number of volunteers skyrocketed to 175, and volunteer hours topped out at 550. Students removed weeds and painted street markers along 18 city blocks, painted bleachers and dugouts, raised $350 for charity, collected 125 pounds of food, donated time at a senior center and stocked a food pantry, collected trash and assembled activity bags for Head Start students. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits ECKAN Volunteer Center, PO Box 100, Ottawa KS 66067
Newspaper awards
Hays Daily News. 130 Fort Hays State University and community volunteers ventured to Nicodemus, a town touted as the only 1800s African-American settlement west of the Mississippi River. Its 27 residents, ages 68 and up, have no trash service or street-repair help. Several homeowners were unable to look out their windows because of overgrowth. Job Corps volunteers built covers for open wells and cisterns, while others hauled away 2,000 60-gallon bags full of trash and old appliances, repaired a playground and hacked back weeds on lawns and streets.
Hutchinson News. In a first-time effort, 11 "Caring & Sharing Grandparents" of Hutchinson treated 102 boys in 4 group homes in Salina and Ellsworth to bags of goodies: homemade cookies, candy, board games, books, sports balls, drawing pads, markers, colored pencils and pens.
Kansas City Kansan. 50 Kansas City Kansas Community College students joined 15 senior citizens from North American Croatian Relief in boxing and loading 3 semi-trailers with medical supplies and non-perishables -- 290,000 pounds' worth -- for a non-profit that aids Croatian refugees. The donation benefited 300 children at 2 orphanages and 600 at 2 refugee camps in Karlovac.
Lawrence Journal-World. 97 Country radio's "Mid-Day Mom," Patti Cheek, coaxed 300 listeners to donate $5,000 worth of clothing, a year's supply of detergent and cleaning supplies, $1,000 in diapers, a 6-month supply of baby wipes and a computer for the YWCA battered women's shelter in Topeka. With their new clothes, many of the residents were able to attend church for the first time in years on Oct. 29.
Leavenworth Times. 20 OutFront volunteers and Wal-Mart employees staked out the Leavenworth Wal-Mart for 6 hours flagging shoppers with information on the county's only literacy center. They recruited 4 volunteers and a half-dozen enrollees.
Olathe Daily News. Rachele Davis, 16, with a passion for history and muscle power from brother Ryan, 18, tended to an unkempt 1906 marker at the intersection of the pioneers' Oregon and Santa Fe trails. She repainted the lettering and planted 4 blue-mist spirea bushes while Ryan dug holes and installed a cement post sign.
Salina Journal. The Volunteer Connection drafted 56 residents -- half of them teens -- to scrape and prime the home of Margaret Roudybush, 77, which hadn't been painted in 30 years. The crew was so efficient that before the day was through they also had raked the whole neighborhood and cleaned out storm sewers.
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Kentucky
$2,000 state awards
Georgetown. Students at Georgetown College, a liberal arts school of 1,300 undergraduates, coordinated an arts fair for elementary students and their parents. Children and parents -- 100 in all -- attended the "Community Arts Day," where children participated in science experiments and ate lunch at a cookout. The youngsters also attended a football game, courtesy of the college's athletic department and student government. This is the second time the college has been recognized for its Make A Difference efforts. In previous years, students focused mainly on helping the needy at Scott County Family Resource center. This year, they included those families but expanded the effort to include all county children. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits S.C.A.D. Designated to C.A.S.A., 400 East College Street, Georgetown KY 40324
Madisonville. 100 members of a service-oriented high school club bagged groceries for free at a discount grocery as part of their Make A Difference good-deed campaign. The students from the Teen Outreach Program at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School performed 40 to 50 good deeds apiece and had the newspaper, The Madisonville Messenger, distribute 18,800 yellow business-sized cards encouraging recipients to do the same. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Madisonville North Hopkins High School, 4515 Hanson Road, Madisonville KY 42431
Newspaper awards
(Henderson) Gleaner. Operation Community Pride coordinated 63 volunteers -- from a chemical plant, schools and the community -- at the recently opened Riverview School, a private, non-profit facility for physically and mentally challenged kids ages 2-6. Workers painted picnic tables, installed a fence, dug holes for trees, picked up trash, planted flowers and raked 150 bags of leaves. Junior high girls collected art supplies, paper products, canned goods and books for the school; another group installed a wallpaper border of teddy bears in the foyer.
(Hopkinsville) Kentucky New Era. 30 volunteers began work on the 14th house built by Hopkinsville/Christian County Habitat for Humanity. The 3-bedroom house is on a site donated by the parents of 2 young children killed in a fire at the house that originally occupied the site.
(Louisville) Courier-Journal. The Woman's Club of Louisville collected 285 school uniform-related items and 2,000 pieces of clothing and distributed them to families of children at Engelhard Elementary School, where the student body is highly transient and 85% live below the poverty level. Club members, who plan to continue the project, also donated $2,900 to the school.
(Madisonville) Messenger. 13 Caldwell County Middle School students in a program aimed at enhancing minority achievement donned plastic gloves to pick up trash in a park near their Princeton neighborhood, filling 2 pickup trucks with debris. The success of the cleanup inspired the students to plan more work in the spring.
Paducah Sun. Volunteers cleaned and painted at the Abraham Hall Emergency Youth Shelter, which has been unable to open because of a lack of funding for a director. That night, community and church groups sang, danced and acted in a benefit that raised $2,000 for the shelter for runaways.
Richmond Register. St. Mark Middle School students -- all 41 of them -- worked on many projects, including a parking lot cleanup at a grocery store; leaf raking and flower planting at the home of the school's elderly former custodian, and individual projects such as collecting canned food and delivering meals to old people.
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Louisiana
$2,000 state awards
DeRidder. 30 leather-clad motorcyclists raised $4,300 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana in a 24-hour tour de force. In an idea fueled by Air Force Lt. Col. Gary "Mad Dog" Ducote -- also first officer of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club 152 -- 10 riders rode 1,000 miles from DeRidder to Pensacola, Fla., finishing Oct. 29 at 10:35 a.m., with only 1 hour and 25 minutes to spare. The donation will help in hiring a second caseworker for the Fort Polk-DeRidder-Leesville BBBS chapters, which serve 110 youngsters, ages 5 through high school, on an annual budget deficit of $25,000. Roaring publicity surrounding the event also made a "Big" difference: 4 men, 3 women and an entire family signed up on the spot as "Bigs." The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Big Brothers/Big Sisters, 1403 N Pine Street, DeRidder LA 70634
New Iberia. Taylor DeGroat, 10, was moved by stories from her mother, a parole officer, about terrified children fleeing their homes in the middle of the night, with only the clothes on their back, to escape an abusive parent. For Make A Difference Day, Taylor collected 150 school uniforms for these children who would otherwise have to miss class, too. She challenged 565 pupils at Daspit Elementary School to donate navy and khaki coordinates, belts and shoes, plus 200 brand-new stuffed animals, which she hugged "so the next kid who holds the stuffed animal gets a hug from me." The goods were delivered Oct. 28 to a domestic violence shelter, SNAP (Safety Net for Abused Persons). In a separate project, brother Trey, 7, spent a week raising $145 selling lemonade to buy canned goods and staples for needy families. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits S.N.A.P., PO Box 10207, New Iberia LA 70562
Newspaper award
(Alexandria) Town Talk. Teens from Anacoco High School Leo Club helped make 30 care packages -- toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, deodorant, shaving supplies, reading materials -- for needy elderly served by the Vernon Home Health group.
(Bogalusa) Daily News. 75 volunteers, led by the St. Tammany Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and AmeriCorps, spruced up Slidell Village North, a rental community in Mandeville that is home to 50 families mostly headed by single moms (150 of its 200 residents are kids). Helpers decorated 17 units with new curtains, mirrors, rugs and silk flowers; stocked shelves with kitchenware, books and cleaning supplies; and planted gardens.
(Hammond) Daily Star. 35 members of the Belle Oaks Garden Club collected $5,000 in linens, furniture, dishes, appliances, books, clothing and other items -- enough to fill a 10-by-20-foot storage unit -- to furnish 2 apartments for the Southeast Spouse Abuse Program. They also planted a magnolia in a downtown park to remember victims and survivors of domestic violence.
(Lafayette) Daily Advertiser. 140 African-American boys, ages 8-14 -- many from single-parent homes -- touched the hearts of 300 poor, elderly and disabled residents at Turner Plaza housing project, a neighborhood plagued by crime and drugs. The volunteers, who attend The Young Leaders' Academy of Baton Rouge, collected and distributed 600 bags and boxes of food and cleaning supplies to the residents and spent the day playing checkers, ring toss, basketball and horseshoes with them.
(Monroe) News-Star. 75 Winnsboro neighbors and community leaders, ages preschool through 70, worked 8 hours to start transforming 6 unsightly lots -- the scene of lewd, illegal activity just 75 feet from a Head Start center -- into a garden and learning center. The facility serves 200 kids and their families.
(New Iberia) Daily Iberian. 250 students at Epiphany Day School spent a week collecting a ton of canned goods for Solomon House, a pantry run by the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany that serves 400 people a month, including many needy elderly who stand in line for their food bags, rain or shine.
(Opelousas) Daily World. 20 Girl Scouts from Troop 154 held a 2-hour reading fest at the Opelousas library for 25 book-thirsty kids, ages 2-5. 10 books were read aloud, then the kids made pumpkin puppets while their moms crafted bead jewelry and key chains.
(Shreveport) Times. 130 Fort Polk military and community volunteers refurbished 23-year-old South Polk Elementary, an overhaul begun Dec. 4, 1999, to boost morale. The "Warrior Brigade" cut carpet for reading areas, painted the library and playground equipment, landscaped the entrance and donated $40,000 in labor for the 700 children in grades 2-4, 99% from military families.
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Maine
$2,000 state awards
Presque Isle. 35 members of Caribou United Baptist Church, Presque Isle Congregational Church, the Maine Army National Guard, Catholic Charities, Loring Jobs Corps and Maine Building Materials Bank helped 13 homeowners complete minor repairs, including plumbing and carpentry, cleaning and home winterization. The biggest project was to move a 16-foot wheelchair ramp. The ramp was no longer needed by a resident, so she donated it to a neighbor. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Aroostook Agency on Aging, 33 Davis Street, Presque Isle ME 04769
Waterville. 30 volunteers from Lutheran Church of the Resurrection and its youth group spent 9 hours cleaning and fixing up a city playground structure. The group replaced boards and wood, cleaned the area and weeded. The project helped raise awareness of the need to replace the entire wooden unit, which would cost $100,000. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 36 Cool Street, Waterville ME 04901
Newspaper awards
(Augusta) Kennebec Journal. All 900 students at Maranacook Community School, along with Saunders Manufacturing, collected 7,775 pounds of food for 4 area food banks and the Family Violence Project.
Bangor Daily News. Whitcomb-Baker Veterans of Foreign Wars and Ladies Auxiliary No. 4633 gathered 936 items of food and paper products and 517 clothing items to distribute among 8 agencies that help the homeless.
(Biddeford) Journal Tribune Weekend. 300 Kennebunk Girl Scouts rounded up 500 hats and mittens for York County's needy.
(Lewiston) Sun Journal. 31 members of the St. Catherine of Sienna Youth Ministry Group held a rummage sale and collected 3 laundry baskets full of clothing and household items for the Abused Women's Advocacy Program.
(Waterville) Sunday Sentinel. The Alfond Youth Center held a battle of the bands, raising $400 for a new family homeless shelter. 9 youth bands, involving 100 musicians, participated.
Maryland
$2,000 state awards
Baltimore. 10 Knights of Columbus councils helped put homeless men back on their feet by spending the month before Make A Difference Day collecting men's suits, sport coats, trousers, dress shirts, T-shirts, jackets, winter dress coats, sweaters, hats, gloves, summer clothing and socks -- 1,400 pounds in all. The clothes were given to the downtown Franciscan Center, which daily helps as many as 150 homeless or working poor get meals, clothing, financial aid, housing, medical attention and jobs. The most appreciated item, says the center's Sister Barbara Barry, was new underwear. "When it comes to the Knights," she says, "I almost feel I should genuflect." The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Franciscan Center, 101 West 23rd Street, Baltimore MD 21202
Jessup. 40 volunteers spent 3 weekends renovating the dilapidated house of Eddie Aist, a former Navy cook who has played Santa Claus for kids for the past 36 years. The home, which had fallen into disrepair because the disabled Aist could no longer keep it up, needed a new roof, windows, gutters and electrical system. "He was living on borrowed time, a hair away from disaster," says Marilyn Henderson, vice president of the Annapolis chapter of Christmas in April. Volunteers decided to kick off a year-round renovation campaign with Aist's home Oct. 28. The crew, from Allstate, construction companies, Frederick County emergency services, a high school, Delta Sigma Theta sorority and an Army reserve unit, replaced the entire roof, kitchen, and septic and electrical systems. The exterior was painted baby blue to match "Santa's" eyes. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Christmas in April, 1119 Bay Ridge Ave., Annapolis MD 21401
Newspaper awards
(Annapolis) Capital. 90 volunteers opened the doors of Centro de Ayuda, a facility to help 150 low-income Latino families learn, live and link up. They stocked a food and baby-supplies pantry, cleaned and arranged furniture, converted a room into a tutoring center, set up a computer lab, distributed winter outerwear, fenced a dangerous slope behind the playground, and finger-printed the children.
Cumberland Times-News. 200 Western Maryland Reading Center tutors and Silver Liners dancers collected clothing, small appliances and other flea-market items to raise $500, which helped the center move to a new building and reach as many as 50 at-risk kids.
Easton Sunday Star. 42 volunteers sold and served 236 chicken and dumpling dinners and held a raffle at the Moose Lodge in Queenstown, raising $1,936 for a fund to help needy Queen Anne's County residents with utilities and prescriptions.
Frederick News-Post. In a citywide effort, 60 Fort Detrick soldiers and family members collected 2 pickup loads of food and 3 pickups of winter gear for the homeless during an anti-drug/anti-gang rally targeting youth. Volunteers went to 8 different sites, including parks and public housing projects, to clean up trash and deliver 50 free bag lunches to homeless men and women living in the woods and on the streets of Frederick.
(Lanham) Prince George's Journal. 10 primary schoolchildren cleaned and sorted 3 large boxes of toys collected by their own Cool Spring School library for dozens of needy pre-kindergarten pupils served by the school.
(Rockville) Montgomery Journal. 7,500 Montgomery County volunteers, rallied by the county Volunteer Center, seized the day with 117 projects that helped 52 agencies. 50 kids made and delivered crafts to sick children while others gave blood, cleaned parks and boat docks and cheered nursing home residents. A carpenter helped repair the stage at a children's theater; a crew of brothers attending a family reunion chopped down trees for a shelter; and a high school Hispanic Club spruced up a lakeshore park.
(Salisbury) Daily Times. About 750 volunteers -- double last year's turnout and about half of whom were Salisbury State students -- helped on 47 projects orchestrated by Shore CAN Volunteer Center during a week-long effort that concluded Oct. 28, benefiting schools and non-profit agencies on Maryland's lower Eastern Shore.
(Westminster) Carroll County Times. 200 county volunteers -- including 4-H and Scout groups, schools, churches, and 8 teens and 6 adults who loaded the goods -- filled 2 51-foot tractor-trailers with 354 "love boxes" stuffed with school supplies and jewelry, plus tons more clothing, toys and household goods for needy families in Appalachia's Corbin, Ky.
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Massachusetts
$2,000 state awards
Fall River. $10 may not sound like much, but for abused and neglected kids living in public housing, it can make a world of difference. Members of First Congregational Church, in their sixth Make A Difference Day project, figured they could stretch a little money into a fun-filled Christmas stocking for some of the 2,300 disadvantaged children identified by city officials as emotionally, physically or sexually abused. 40 volunteers spent the summer organizing an Oct. 28 yard sale on the church lawn. They sold new wicker furniture sets, lamps, baskets, books, toys and new curtains, raising $1,200, enough to treat 100 kids with a gift stocking of crayons, coloring books and small toys, and to split small gifts among another 150 kids. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits First Congregational Church of Fall River, 21 June Street, Fall River MA 02720
Vineyard Haven. When beach season is over, the population of Martha's Vineyard drops from 150,000 to 15,000. Unemployment rises in this summer enclave of the rich and famous, and residents start focusing on themselves -- on raising families, working on their homes and helping others. 2 residents, Colleen Leland and Tisha Capello, volunteers with the Stone Soup Foundation, a non-profit group promoting leadership in young people, decided that for the island's first Make A Difference Day effort they would focus on hunger, illiteracy and the environment. Oct. 28, 100 volunteers, including eighth-graders and 30 British exchange students, collected 600 canned food items and handed out fact sheets about national and world hunger. They also organized read-a-thons. Elsewhere on the island, a team of Brazilian and American students worked on a mural at the Massachusetts Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, and volunteers raised $800 for an after-school program. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Stone Soup Leadership Institute, PO Box 4301, Vineyard Haven MA 02568
Newspaper awards
(Attleboro) Sun Chronicle.Students, staff, parents and community members of the Charles G. Taylor Elementary School in Foxborough organized four projects for Make A Difference Day. More than 500 books, 200 coats, and 500 pounds of food were collected and distributed to needy townspeople. And 12,000 cans and bottles collected and turned into a redemption cneter netted $600. This was the schoolıs fifth Make A Difference Day project, and a record-high 98 percent of the schoolıs students joined in.
12 members of Ladies Auxiliary VFW Post 9059, plus a 6-month-old grandchild, dressed in costumes and threw a party for 60 nursing home residents. The volunteers handed treat bags of toiletries, writing paper and other necessities to the seniors.
Boston Sunday Herald. 6,000 City Year volunteers blanketed Boston to complete 133 service projects. Workers picked up trash at 38 schools and 20 parks. They also painted a teen residential center and spiffed up a housing development in the city's South End.
(Brockton) Sunday Enterprise. 25 AmeriCorps*Vista volunteers at Attire for Hire, a non-profit agency that provides interview-appropriate clothes for people in need, gleaned 2 trucks full of clothing from donors in a "Business Clothing Harvest." The drive garnered enough outfits to dress 100 people for success.
(Fall River) Herald News. 300 Talbot Middle School students donated 300 items, including food, blankets and treats, to an animal shelter. The young teens brought the items as admission to a school dance. Oct. 28, parent Marilyn Edge and daughter Katie presented the items to Forever Paws.
(Fitchburg) Sentinel & Enterprise. 50 senior citizens who stay active at the YMCA held a dance party for 150 peers from nursing facilities and rest homes. The seniors Lindy-ed the afternoon away with volunteers from a teen center and children's programs. They also collected 200 canned goods.
(Framingham) MetroWest Daily News. 70 members of the Women's Ministries of Trinitarian Congregational Church in Sudbury gave 2 tons of clothes and 100 canvas totes of household cleaning items and toiletries to Starlight Ministries in Boston. Starlight provides shelter, clothing, food and job training for people on the streets.
Gloucester Daily Times. 5 Brownies from Troop 1013 collected 100 pounds of food in Ipswich.
(Greenfield) Recorder. 18 Pearl Rhodes Elementary fourth- and fifth-graders launched a campaign to knit scarves for needy children. Oct. 28, the youngsters gathered at school to learn how to knit. They also made their own needles out of dowels. In the following weeks, they knitted at school in their spare time and created 12 scarves for their charity.
(Lawrence) Eagle-Tribune. 8 adults and 25 youngsters from the Haverhill High School Key Club and Junior Football League tackled underbrush in a park favored by drug and alcohol abusers. The cleanup eliminated many hiding places for criminals and gave police a clearer view of the 14-acre green space.
(Lowell) Sun. 70 volunteers from Lowell service groups and Middlesex Community College retrieved trash and debris from the Concord River for 4 hours. The volunteers found 100 tires and 20 shopping carts, and picked up 350 bags of garbage.
(Newburyport) Daily News. 2 members of Greater Georgetown Women of Today held a food drive, collecting a carload of non-perishables for the elderly.
North Adams Transcript. 19 third-graders at St. Stanislaus Koska School in Adams pooled their pocket money to buy books for a homeless shelter. They collected $183.50 and bought 40 new books, including early-reading materials and science-interest guides.
(Northampton) Daily Hampshire Gazette. 40 volunteers from For Community Services, Sunshine Village, an organization that provides day care for the developmentally or mentally disabled, helped a Holyoke homeless shelter by painting, cleaning, wallpapering and decorating a family room there.
(Quincy) Patriot Ledger. 75 Rogers Middle School fifth-graders helped blaze a trail between their town and a neighboring village. They cleared brush and rocks and removed large roots to prepare the trail for mulching. The fifth-graders also received grants to pay for a chipper-shredder, which they donated to the city to help maintain the trail and town forest.
Salem Evening News. Parents and pupils at Ivan Smith Elementary in Danvers cleaned up a neglected pond and wetland on the school grounds to prepare it to become an outdoor classroom and nature lab. Before Make A Difference Day, the children interviewed environmental professionals and studied wetlands restoration.
Taunton Daily Gazette. 30 volunteers from the Taunton Ecology Awareness Movement, the Taunton/Attleboro Division of Youth Services and Bishop Coyle Cassidy Memorial High School spent 6 hours pulling tires, furniture, factory debris and trash out of a river behind the school. The group chose the site because a child had drowned there a month before; debris had made it hard for her to get to shore, and hampered rescue efforts.
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Michigan
$2,000 state awards
Coloma. As a volunteer in her daughter's first-grade classroom, Karin Thomas saw students so needy they didn't have books or, in some cases, homes to keep them in. So she roused Coloma Congregational United Church of Christ members, whose median age is 70, plus fourth-graders from Kathy Owen's class at Washington Elementary School, and Girl Scouts -- 125 volunteers in all -- to collect more than 1,000 books to create and stock libraries at 3 Benton Harbor shelters. Chairs and pillows were purchased with extra donations, and on Make A Difference Day volunteers sorted and divided the books evenly among the three libraries, and decorated. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Coloma First Congregational United Church of Christ, PO Box 247, Coloma MI 49038
Detroit. Carolyn Adams was just beginning to absorb the death of her youngest brother, Rodrick, when a disaster struck: On May 9, a freak tornado ravaged several homes in her southwest Motown neighborhood. The 55-year-old grandmother was the only victim without homeowner's insurance. The storm left her roof gaping, tore the walls off her garage and enclosed porch, and uprooted trees. Electrical wires entangled in those tree parts were sparking, and Adams lived for a week in the dark with no power till emergency crews came by in mid-May. To the rescue on Make A Difference Day: the Barton-Wetherby-Diversey-Eagle Block Club, whose members banded together to raise $2,000 and raise Adams' roof. Electrician Cecil Gardener rewired the panel, and 2 dozen volunteers spent the day cleaning up debris from her yard, while comforting their new friend. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Mid West Radio Watch, 6460 Eagle Place, Detroit MI 48210
Newspaper awards
(Adrian) Daily Telegram. 58 students from 2 Morenci High clubs went door to door to collect 1,400 toiletry and pantry items for the Lenawee County American Red Cross, the Catherine Cobb Domestic Violence Program in Adrian and the Salvation Army.
Alpena News. 25 children and adults spruced up a ballfield for use by the newly formed Little League Challenger Ball Team for disabled kids. They mended fences, uprooted bushes, raked fields, raised $80 in a bottle-recycling drive and, with a $100 Wal-Mart grant, will spread gravel in the spring.
(Bad Axe) Huron Daily Tribune. 32 North Huron National Honor Society juniors and seniors renovated 2 ballfields, painted and tiled a new fence, built dugouts, picked up litter at a football field, and ran concessions and officiated at a Pee Wee basketball tournament.
Battle Creek Enquirer. For a second year, 24 RE/MAX agents, along with 30 co-workers, relatives, Scouts and a youth hockey team, gleaned 2,782 pounds of food and $1,276 for the Food Bank of Central Michigan's Kid's Cafe Program, enough to feed 7,886 children. They parked a city bus and a RE/MAX cold-air balloon at a grocery store all day to entertain and "accost" shoppers, while stocking up.
Cadillac News. For a fourth year, the Wexford 4-H YES Club (Youth for Environment and Service) cleaned up forest land south of Lake Mitchell, removing 3 TVs, 4 microwave ovens, a washing machine, 9 tires, a sofa and enough debris to fill a 10-cubic-foot dumpster, paid for by a $500 Wal-Mart grant.
Detroit Free Press. In Ypsilanti, 60 Henry J. Kaiser Elementary School students and adults held a reading rally with the theme "Carry a Book, Not a Gun," in honor of 2 boys, ages 9 and 16, killed by stray bullets a year ago. Then volunteers took a peaceful stroll carrying books through the West Willow neighborhood, the scene of the crime, led by a bagpiper. Hundreds more community members, including 10 Elks from Anna G. Parker Temple No. 1283, embraced the effort, giving $400 and 300 books for libraries set up in honor of the victims.
Detroit News. The Jewish Association for Residential Care's Social Action Committee in Southfield -- 50 adults with developmental disabilities -- planned to create gift bags for a Detroit shelter, but 2 weeks before Make A Difference Day, on Friday the 13th, a water pipe burst, destroying the stockpile of toys, clothes and treats. With the help of a $1,000 Wal-Mart grant, they bounced back, collecting enough items to fill 100 bags for 80 HIV-positive homeless kids, ages 4 months to 18. The volunteers, many of whom have childhood memories of being the kid who never received an invitation or valentine, also made greeting cards and let each child choose which bag he or she wanted.
(Greenville) Daily News. Spurred by EightCap volunteer agency, thousands of Montcalm County citizens -- from youth to seniors -- collected 8,000-plus children's books for needy kids served by 14 agencies. Oct. 28, 50 volunteers sorted, packed and delivered their bounty.
Holland Sentinel. 26 volunteers gave away 100 books, 200 pamphlets on parent resources and 84 prizes -- Beanie Babies and family survival kits -- to 300 families attending an open house sponsored by Life Services System of Ottawa County, a parents network targeting at-risk schools.
Lansing State Journal. 8 Girl Scouts from Troop 645 hosted a 5-course dinner, complete with a live cellist, for 57 shut-in seniors at the East Glen Retirement Center in East Lansing.
Midland Daily News. 27 Catholic Family Life Insurance volunteers sorted 2,100 boxes, bottles and packages of toiletries (soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo), paper goods (diapers, paper towels, toilet paper) and cleaning supplies (toilet cleaners, detergent) -- items not covered by food stamps -- for Bay County's neediest families.
(Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun. 30 volunteers from Central Michigan University, including many athletes, collected 1,000 books, primarily at the Oct. 28 football game, for half a dozen after-school programs in the area. Football fans who brought a book received free concessions or a free child's admission.
(Owosso) Argus-Press. 50 Washington Elementary School second-graders urged the student body to donate a pickup-load of pet food and supplies to the Shiawassee Humane Society, which they delivered Oct. 28.
(Petoskey) News-Review. Through a spaghetti dinner, 58 volunteers from Christ Lutheran Church and Boyne City raised $2,500 toward a $10,000 goal to help K.C. Smith, 11, recently diagnosed with cancer, afford a prosthetic leg. The Aid Association for Lutherans matched the donation.
(Port Huron) Times Herald. 25 Leonard Center volunteers spent the day calling and reminding registered voters to vote. They also donated 2 dozen bags full of clothes for a thrift sale to benefit the community center and shared a potluck lunch.
(St. Joseph) Herald-Palladium. 150 Whirlpool volunteers had a whirlwind day on 5 family-themed projects: rebuilding trails at Sarett Nature Center in Benton Harbor and stringing holiday lights at Fernwood Botanical Gardens in Niles; hosting a Halloween party at the Lakeland Continuing Care Center; raking the yards of 38 elderly people; and mentoring kids on the waiting lists of YMCA and Big Brothers/Big Sisters buddy programs. 10 Whirlpool employees signed up as long-term matches.
(Sault Ste. Marie) Sault Sunday. 17 members of Students in Free Enterprise at Lake Superior State University ran a computer lab for 12 women at the Diane Peppler Women in Crisis Shelter to sharpen their job and money skills and to restore their self-confidence.
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Minnesota
$2,000 state awards
Brooklyn Park. Crest View Elementary School has seen an influx of kids from Somalia, Liberia and the Southeast Asian Hmong community. These children have one thing in common: They have a hard time dealing with Minnesota's harsh weather, because few have appropriate winter clothing. So co-workers at Northwest Hennepin Human Services Council collected enough hats, coats, mittens and boots to completely outfit 32 children. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits North West Hennepin Human Services Council, 7601 Kentucky Avenue North, Suite 101, Brooklyn Park MN 55428
Richfield. Each Sunday, Nicole and Nicholas Hayden, both 12, bring food for their church collection. The ritual prompted the 2 to think about the families -- and the children -- who receive the goods, and Nicole said they realized "how they must not have such great things for their birthdays." So Nicole and Nicholas decided to put together birthday kits containing cake mix, frosting, party hats and party favors to make the children feel special. By pooling their baby-sitting money, the pair put together 25 bags -- some of which contained special mixes for diabetic children. They delivered the bags to the food program manager at Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People in Bloomington. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Veap, Inc, 9731 James Avenue South, Bloomington MN 55431
Newspaper awards
(Hibbing) Daily Tribune. 100 high-schoolers, steered by SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving), made "table tents" bearing reminders for imbibers to use designated drivers, taxis or rides with friends. Then a dozen students went into 16 drinking establishments and distributed safety reminders with the cooperation of the owners of the establishments.
(Minneapolis) Star Tribune. 125 Girl Scouts, ages 7-13, drawn from the Greater Minneapolis Girl Scout Council of West Tonka-Orono, divided into 12 teams and made 47 quilts in 3 hours for needy families. The quilts, along with "birthday bags" filled with children's party supplies (put together during breaks in quilting), were donated to the Westonka Community Action network.
(Rochester) Post-Bulletin. 75 citizens age 8 and up, recruited by Winona Communities in Schools, cleaned up an environmental area near an elementary school. A nature trail that had become overgrown was restored and covered with wood chips, seedling trees that had been taken over by raspberry bushes were rescued, a pond was cleaned and overgrown prairie grass was control-burned.
St. Cloud Times. Rocori Community Partners in Service spurred 45 walkers and runners -- from toddlers to senior citizens -- to raise $325 in a 1-mile fun run/walk to help keep the heat on for needy families.
(Virginia) Mesabi Daily News. In an area hit hard by layoffs in the steel industry, 10 youth members at St. Mark's Lutheran Church brightened the holiday season for 5 needy families. With a $500 grant from the Aid Association for Lutherans and the names of economically struggling families given by school principals and members of the clergy, they bought Christmas presents and laundry baskets full of household items for each family.
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Mississippi
$10,000 National award
Hattiesburg. One man couldn't see to work, one woman couldn't see to shop, another couldn't find her fork on the table -- until Make A Difference Day, when their lives were transformed by free cataract surgery. That day, the Southern Eye Clinic did $32,000 of surgery on eight patients, tough cases whose cataracts went untreated for years because they couldn't afford it. Now Bertha Martinez, 77, can find her fork and even read: "I will never be able to repay their kindness." $10,000 award from Newman's Own benefits United Way of Southeast Mississippi. Want to make a donation? Write to: United Way of Southeast Mississippi, P.O. 1648, Hattiesburg, MS 39403
$2,000 state awards
Jackson. The "Physability" program at the Jackson YMCA is designed to give individuals with physical disabilities and other chronic conditions regular exercise and support. For Make A Difference Day, program participants collected $10,000 worth of furniture, clothes and household items and $1,200 in cash for a family who lost their home to a fire. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits YMCA, 800 East River Place, Jackson MS 39202
Natchez. Teenagers from the Mayor's Youth Council organized a rally addressing racism for 75 students and adults from Natchez High School and private schools. Modeling the program on the National League of Cities' "Undoing Racism" plan, students spoke on stereotypes, myths and how racism affects their lives. Some were glib: A black student opened with "It's not true that all blacks can sing and dance." Others were poignant: A student talked about how, even in the 21st century, 2 proms are still held: 1 attended mainly by white students, the other attended by blacks. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits United Way of the Greater Miss-Lou, 55 Seargent S. Printiss Drive, Natchez MS 39120
Newspaper awards
(Corinth) Daily Corinthian. 42 Iuka residents visited nursing homes, collected canned goods for a food pantry and picked up roadside trash. Iuka 2000, a non-profit group that tries to help people with emergency needs, used a $1,000 Wal-Mart grant to help a Girl Scout troop, a Christian school, the VFW, needy high school teens, a city park and a Little League ballfield.
(Greenville) Delta Democrat Times. Washington County Community partnership, for the ninth year in a row, coordinated a countywide Make A Difference Day blitz. An army of 1,586 volunteers in 25 different projects worked on food, clothing, book and toy drives, programs for the elderly, downtown beautification projects, painting projects, fire safety campaigns and youth fellowship programs.
(Gulfport) Sun Herald. Jackson County Children's Services Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to helping children in crisis, held a Children Services fair at a mall. The group organized 20 children's agencies who put on workshops and presentations to raise awareness about the county's many abused, neglected and delinquent kids. They also collected 300 suitcases, duffel bags and backpacks for foster kids.
Hattiesburg American. A cooperative effort among 3 volunteer groups manned tables at a mall, near the regional Veteran's Memorial Museum, soliciting "Tell Them You Care" letters for active military and veterans. More than 500 cards, letters and drawings were submitted by passers-by of all ages, expressing gratitude to those in active service and residents of veterans' homes.
(Jackson) Clarion-Ledger. After voters rejected a school bond referendum, 300 volunteers in Cleveland spent Oct. 28 doing much-needed repairs to a high school, including painting, landscaping, plumbing and carpentry. The project was funded by $30,000 raised through soliciting alums and holding various sales and an auction.
Meridian Star. Calvary Baptist Church recruited 172 volunteers to tackle projects from yardwork to baby-sitting: 18 kitchen workers cooked 275 meals for elderly people; 15 homes were cleaned; 35 yards were raked and trimmed; and significant repairs were made to a housing project. Also, a choir sang for nursing home patients.
Natchez Democrat. In response to the disappointing reading scores of students, teachers in the reading department at Natchez Middle School organized a Reading and Character Education Fair, held in a tent on the school's lawn. 75 parents and students heard how to encourage and develop reading skills. 165 books for pleasure reading were given to the kids.
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Missouri
$2,000 state awards
St. Joseph. 50 volunteers led by Neighborhood Housing Services of St. Joseph repaired, landscaped and painted the homes of 4 elderly residents. 1 homeowner was on the verge of leaving, fearing her roof was about to collapse. The volunteers -- from the housing services office, Lafayette High School, Caring Communities/Youth Alliance of St. Joseph, Zion United Church of Christ, AmeriCorps*VISTA, a Catholic confirmation class and a Benedictine seminary -- fixed roofs, replaced rotting wood, built steps, added porch rails and uncovered brick sidewalks. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Neighborhood Housing Services, 1823 Jules Street, St. Joseph MO 64501
Sedalia. More than a quarter of the city's 19,000 families collected food and clothes for the Salvation Army and other charities. Residents from preschoolers to seniors collected 4,200 food items, 400 blankets and 500 winter coats. Volunteers also passed out 500 smoke detector batteries, flipped mattresses at nursing homes, painted over graffiti, cleaned and landscaped yards, signed up organ donors, served hot meals, made potpourri for seniors and tidied up the city's historic train depot. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Pettis County Community Partnership, 515 S. Kentucky, Sedalia MO 65301
Newspaper awards
(Cape Girardeau) Southeast Missourian. 7,800 Girl Scouts of Otahki Council, funneling from 11 counties in southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois, each made and mailed 2 handmade cards: 1 for someone who has made a difference in their lives and 1 to someone for whom they hoped to make a difference, such as an ill child, lonely senior citizen or grieving neighbor.
Columbia Daily Tribune. In their third year, 9,289 students from 15 public schools and service groups such as T-NADO, a junior high drug-awareness peer-counseling force, and WRAD (Wildcats Resisting Alcohol and Drugs) collected 15,682 pounds of food -- 3 trucks full -- and $2,264.50 in cash for the Community Harvest Food Pantry. That translates into 98,196 meals.
Hannibal Courier-Post. Pediatrician Michael French and bride Alisa, who live on the grounds of Norwood Golf Club, orchestrated a benefit golf tournament to raise $10,000 to help with medical expenses for Shay Wade, a 3-year-old with leukemia. Shay was given a crown to wear and rode around in the "Hucklemobile" (a golf cart) with town mascot Huckleberry Bear, schmoozing with the 100 golfers.
(Independence) Examiner. Breckenridge CARE, a group committed to improving run-down parts of this town of 400, led 50 volunteers -- young and old, including prisoners -- in painting, scraping, boarding up buildings and hauling away trash along Main Street.
(Kennett) Daily Dunklin Democrat. 60 Campbell employees collected and recycled aluminum cans, raising $800 toward a new dishwasher for Campbell Nutrition Center, which serves as many as 150 needy people daily.
(Park Hills) Daily Journal. In Bismarck, 20 Play Land of Tomorrow volunteers hooked up with 20 others in a fall festival to raise $600 for a fund to repair and replace 50-year-old playground equipment at Bismarck R5 Public School, attended by 500 kids in all grades.
(Poplar Bluff) Daily American Republic. For the second year, Malden Senior Citizens Nutrition Center rounded up 15 volunteers -- as young as 6 and as old as 92 -- to do yardwork for 8 elderly or disabled neighbors.
Sedalia Democrat. 126 members of the Odessa High School Chapter of Future Business Leaders of America hosted a Halloween safety day for 32 kids. Each child got a glow stick, a sack of treats and a head full of safety rules. That night, FBLA members went trick-or-treating to collect 1,732 non-perishable items and $45 for a food pantry.
(Sikeston) Standard-Democrat. For a sixth year, the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce spurred citizens to make a difference: 320 hauled away 1,340 cubic yards of trash, plus mountains of concrete, dirt and plant waste, and did yardwork and made repairs to bring dozens of houses up to city code.
Springfield News-Leader. St. John's Health Center and the Council of Churches of the Ozarks instigated a communitywide drive for kids' clothing, toiletries, toys and school supplies that filled 361 donated duffel bags for children in foster care. $525 was donated for 200 more bags.
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Montana
$2,000 state awards
Choteau. This scenic mountain town may be the proverbial 1-horse town -- with 1 hospital, 1 theater, 1 elementary school and 1 veterinarian. But, while most residents do own at least 1 horse, there are no animal shelters. Strays are either picked up by locals or left on the streets. Residents Terrie and Steve Nylund have been working to raise money for a shelter, and for Make A Difference Day, Choteau Elementary School students helped by running an Oct. 23-27 "penny war" to raise money for animal vaccinations. Each grade competed to hoard the most pennies. Classes could sabotage the penny totals by dropping other coins and bills into opponents' jars -- canceling out credits but increasing the donation. In the end, $1,352.83 was delivered to the director of the future Bright Eyes Care and Rehabilitation Center. To date, the Nylunds have raised $23,000 toward the $105,000 facility. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Bright Eyes Care and Rehabilitation Center, PO Box 220, Choteau MT 59422
Joplin. 16 members of a weekly quilting group gathered to make quilts for foster children awaiting adoption. The Bethel Lutheran Quilting Gals, most in their 70s and 80s, usually meet on Tuesdays to stitch for the needy. But after reading about Make A Difference Day, they held a rare Saturday session. Using donations from Wal-Mart, the Lutheran Brotherhood and the community, the women made 26 60-by-80-inch quilts. Several foster kids helped with lunch and pieced together material. The $2,000 award from Wal-Mart benefits Awaiting Child for Adoption, PO Box 907, Helena MT 59624
Newspaper awards
Great Falls Tribune. 85 kids and adults -- 10% of White Sulphur Springs -- helped on projects coordinated by the Stevens Youth Center. They painted fire hydrants, spread gravel under play equipment at a park, washed windows and picked up 30 bags of litter along highways and streets. Perhaps the most strenuous effort was the removal of fences burned in summer fires. Kids delivered carved pumpkins and personalized cards to 22 nursing home residents and 14 shut-ins.
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Honorees
