Painting a New Future

Trevor DeRuise was one of three Sparks, Nev., kids honored for a "Lucky Ladybugs for Lupus" idea, begun in 1999. Since then, he's raised "Pennies for Puppies."

Friends Kristal DeRuise and Diana Vaden of Sparks, Nev., were only 8 when they teamed up (along with Kristal's 6-year-old brother, Trevor) to raise money for lupus research after Diana's mom was diagnosed with the incurable disease. Their "Lucky Ladybugs for Lupus," rocks hand-painted as ladybugs and sold for $2 each, raised $1,300 in 1999. To date, Kristal, now 12, has raised $16,000 for the cause. Trevor, now 10, branched out on his own in 2000 when his beloved dog died from cancer. His "Pennies for Puppies" has since netted more than $1,000 for animal cancer research.

Enter Kristal's friend Corrine Coyne, also 12, who has been in a wheelchair since she was struck by a drunk driver at age 5. The DeRuises inspired Corrine to pursue her own Make A Difference Day project; since 2000, she has collected $4,400 for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (and earned a 2001 state award for the effort). On Oct. 27, the trio joined forces in a Walk-(and Roll)-A-Thon. Of the more than $2,000 raised, $1,210 was donated to Reeve's group, $764 to the American Veterinary Medical Foundation and $175 to the Lupus Foundation of America.

The $2,500 award benefits the Lupus Foundation of America.

Freeing a Dream

Maxwell Air Force Base personnel won a national award for helping foster children in Montgomery, Ala., in 1999. In the years since, they've expanded their caring to schools, pets and victims of domestic violence.

Howard Waller was one of eight inmates from the minimum-security Colorado Correctional Center in Golden honored with a national award for renovating a group home for boys in 1993. Waller, who was serving a five-year sentence for fraud, was released from prison in time to attend an awards luncheon for all the national honorees. Hearing their stories had a profound effect on him: "There was no way you could leave there the same person." He now devotes his time to helping young offenders turn their lives around as co-director of Straight Ahead, a Massachusetts-based evangelical ministry. As associate pastor at Bear Valley Church in Lakewood, Colo., Waller, 57, also works with community outreach.

On Oct. 27, along with volunteers from his church and other outreach groups, Waller, his former prison caseworker and 16 inmates tackled another renovation: transforming a run-down 77-room Denver motel. Once a haven for criminal activity, the motel, now called Joshua Station, provides transitional housing for 25 needy families. Volunteers collected a ton of trash and delivered care packages. Bear Valley Church vowed to furnish rooms and mentor and clothe residents. Arrangements are being made for inmates to return.

Transformation can be both external and personal, Waller says: "What was a dream on Make A Difference Day has become a reality."

The $2,500 award benefits Straight Ahead Ministries.

Tutoring Beyond the Book

Teenager Kyle Alderson of Muldrow, Okla., earned a national award for creating READ (Reading Encourages All Dreams), a library-based teens-tutoring-kids project, in 2000. On Oct. 27, 31 more high school mentors -- for a total of 42 -- were matched with underprivileged or struggling first- through fourth-graders. Not only do they aim for academic excellence, but the mentors also deal with sensitive subjects in the kids' lives, from peer pressure to family troubles. Consider: One child's home has no electricity; another speaks only Spanish.

Says Kyle, 16: "It is an awesome responsibility and one I tell the mentors not to take lightly. But it's one of the most rewarding experiences anyone can have." That day, Kyle also debuted an original puppet show called "Saving Timmy" -- he takes it on tour to raise kids' awareness of school bus safety.

The $2,500 award benefits Eastern Sequoyah Co. Oklahoma Friends of the Muldrow Library.

Taking a School Under Their Wing

Military personnel and families at Maxwell Air Force Base and Gunter Annex in Montgomery, Ala., became national honorees for transforming an estate into a home for foster children in 1999. The next year, they renovated a second building for victims of domestic violence. Last fall, the base's Air Command and Staff College painted and cleaned needy Peterson Elementary School and raised $1,235 for school uniforms; 16 base groups scouted up $4,647 in supplies for six other schools and $2,321 in pet supplies for a shelter.

The $2,500 award benefits the Montgomery Humane Society and Montgomery County Public Schools.

National Honorees: Everyday people showing courage and goodwill
Local Awards: Special projects in your town

Photos by Charles "Stretch" Ledford for USA WEEKEND