National Honorees for projects done Oct. 26, 2002
Introduction by President George W. Bush Low income doesn't mean low esteem (Fort Myers, Fla.) Teens enlist celebs to help cancer kids "feel, like, normal" (Atlantic City, NJ) Construction workers lay foundation to feed strangers (Lordsburg, NM) Strong arms wrestle to help abused kids (Bostic, NC) Granting wishes for what most of us take for granted (L.A., Calif.) Young 9/11 victim inspires schoolkids to save shore life (Palm Bay, Fla.)	5,000 students learn the true meaning of community (Charlottesville, VA) Golden Key kids are quick studies on caring (New York, NY) Disabled couple spreads warmth (Rogersville, Mo.) City comes together at Centro Hispano (Provo, Ut.) Also: Local awards in 529 communities States A-M States N-Z Prominent participants How you, too, can participate "Hall of Famer" receives Encore Award (encore performance)

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Low income doesn't mean low esteem Fort Myers, Fla. -- On Make A Difference Day, the infectious spirit of Miriam Ortiz, a recent transplant from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, sent 180 neighbors moving like a whirlwind to fix up 12 homes -- some little more than shacks -- in the Harlem Heights section of town. Ortiz enlisted help from residents, Cub Scouts, four churches and the Edison Community College Drama Club -- blacks, whites, Hispanics, the young, the old and the disabled. As word spread and scores of volunteers came forward, she realized she had to stretch the original Make A Difference Day goal from one house to a dozen. "It was ambitious," says co-organizer Pat Rubenzer, a director of religious education at St. Columbkille Catholic Church. "It made me nervous, because we had to complete the work in one day." What a day. Volunteers pressure-washed and cleaned five homes, painted four homes, cleaned the yards of two houses, and replaced windows and repaired screens at another. They also removed 582 bags of trash from the neighborhood and planted a garden at a new Habitat for Humanity house. Among those helped: a widow with three children who holds down two jobs; a disabled mother and daughter; and Clarence Hogg, 88, a resident since 1950 who said, "It felt mighty fine, them helping an old man like me." But the whole city benefited from the marathon labor, says Edison Community College drama adviser Pauline Ferren. "You go through now and the lawns are kept up and the houses look nice," she says. "If you live in a place that looks good, it makes a difference."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit the Harlem Heights Improvement Association.

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Autumn Angels, from left: Lauren Galvin, Ashle Worrick and Meghan Galvin. In front, Megan Kieffer.

Teens enlist celebs to help cancer kids "feel, like, normal" Atlantic City, N.J. -- While tubing last summer, 15-year-old Meghan Galvin, a competitive diver, was saddened to see a bald youngster, Angela, watching from the docks. The friendly teen invited Angela to play, only to learn the child had leukemia and couldn't swim for risk of infection. "That hardly seemed fair," Meghan says. "She lived at the shore but couldn't enjoy it." Researching on the Internet what kids with cancer can do for fun, she hit upon Happiness Is Camping, a camp where cancer patients ages 6 to 16 can let their hair down -- even if they don't have any. Meghan, sister Lauren, 18, and Lauren's best friend, Ashle Worrick, 18 -- members of a club called "Autumn Angels" they formed four years ago for Make A Difference Day -- decided to raise money to send at least one kid to camp. They began collecting autographed celebrity hats and clothing to model and auction off. The casts of "Dawson's Creek", "Law & Order" and "Friends" pitched in. So did Regis Philbin, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Charlie Daniels, who signed a spiffy white cowboy hat. The three girls ended up with 150 celebrity items and hundreds of donations from boardwalk businesses, including jewelry, antiques, tickets to shows and lunches with politicians. On Oct. 26 at Atlantic City's Planet Hollywood, the girls hit the jackpot, raising $9,000 -- nine times their goal -- and donating 1,200 new "happy hats" to help kids like Angela "feel, like, normal," Meghan says. Despite their success, something was missing: Angela, the girl who inspired Meghan's quest, couldn't attend because she was undergoing treatment. Yet the girls have since met veteran campers like Megan Kieffer, 11, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at 10 months and miraculously kept death at bay. "My mom told me I kept on losing weight and was getting as skinny as her finger," says Megan, in remission since 1993. "She was going to church every day, and I think that's what helped me survive." Lauren and Ashle have signed up to be counselors at the Blairstown, N.J., camp this summer and plan to see Megan there. "I've witnessed someone die of cancer, and it was really hard to see," Ashle says. "Knowing it's children, because I'm a kid myself, will be harder to deal with."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit Happiness Is Camping.

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Construction workers lay foundation to feed strangers Lordsburg, N.M. -- Ghost towns echo around this 8-square-mile pinprick on Interstate 10, hours from Albuquerque, Tucson or El Paso. With 10,000 motorists passing through daily, many stops here aren't planned; cars break down, or money and gas run out when travelers underestimate the expanse of the West. And with county joblessness at 10%, and 22% of residents living in poverty, there's no "there" here to meet residents' needs, let alone drifters'. Yet it was a group of strangers in town -- construction workers building a power plant to re-energize Hidalgo County -- who hitched up with the Chamber of Commerce for Make A Difference Day to jump-start the area's first-ever food bank. "It's such a depressed area, we were surprised they didn't have one," said Sandra Collard of The Industrial Company, the workers' employer, which in 2001 orchestrated a Make A Difference Day food drive in Coolidge, Ariz. "It helps our guys feel more at home if they get involved in the community." On Oct. 26, the hardhats with soft hearts piled $1,100 worth of food -- 150 cases in two truckloads -- in the chamber's lobby, as there was nowhere else to store it. Several stranded and hungry people benefited right away. "We see 20 breakdowns a week," says Isaac Martinez, manager of M&A Towing and Repair. "Not all are desperate situations, but many are. They might not be able to pay their bill, so they'll abandon their car and get a bus ticket." After the Oct. 26 harvest, more goodwill followed: Pitching in food afterward were churches and schools -- in a district where nearly nine out of 10 students receive free or reduced-cost lunches. The county's health clinic exchanged flu shots for canned goods. Says chamber director Laurel Turner: "People who are hungry themselves gave food to help somebody else."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit Iglesia de Jesucristo.

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Strong arms wrestle to help abused kids Bostic, N.C. -- Stacy Hannon, 23, couldn't forget the image: a 14-pound, 8-month-old boy in a body cast, with a blank stare, whose father was charged with breaking his tiny arms, legs and collarbone. She'd read a letter in the Forest City Daily Courier from the infant's foster mother, begging townspeople to put children first. About the same time, Hannon also read that a new road was set to roar through the kitchen of Noah's House, making it the second local children's shelter to close within a year. Then she remembered the appeal in USA WEEKEND Magazine to make a difference in someone's life, no matter how small. "It broke my heart," Hannon says. "Then it really got me going." Although in no position to be a philanthropist -- her husband had been laid off from his construction job, and she hadn't worked since having her two children, both under age 5 -- Hannon figured she could raise a little cash and lots of awareness with a "Strong Arms for Children" arm-wrestling showcase. Soon, 35 challengers signed up in male and female weight classes. "I chose this sport because around here we have a lot of, pardon the expression, rednecks," says Hannon, a 100-pound weakling who lost in her own match. Hundreds of kids at three shelters were the day's real winners: A third of the residents donated $500 and a truckload of toys. Businessman Scott Carter, 36 years old and 260 pounds, rounded up toys even after his rout by two "buffed-up, big ol' boys," a schoolteacher and a convenience-store owner. The highlight for Hannon was meeting Jay, the battered boy who had inspired her, now a healthy 2-year-old. She played with him, held him and cried tears of joy. The day felt like a baptism, says his soon-to-be-adoptive mother, Donna Gill, and "the thing that made the difference to me is what came from their hearts, not their pocketbooks." "We know now the community is behind us," says Barbara Eide, of the children's haven at Noah's House. "Whatever it takes, we will reopen the shelter."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit Forest City's Department of Family Resources.

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Granting wishes for what most of us take for granted Los Angeles -- If you had one wish, what would it be? Unlimited riches? Lasting fame? On the streets of Los Angeles on Oct. 26, 75 rookie genies granted the wishes of 225 homeless people and found the requests surprisingly simple. One woman asked for a bus ticket to attend her mother's funeral. Another wanted a warm pair of socks. A boy with no toys got a Game Boy and batteries. Some asked for bicycles to commute to their minimum-wage jobs or to spin over the pavement looking for one. For the fifth year, Food on Foot -- a non-profit that feeds as many of the city's estimated 84,300 homeless (many of whom are very young or elderly) as they can in Hollywood and Venice each weekend -- turned Make A Difference Day into "Make a Wish Day." Led by mortgage broker Jay Goldinger, volunteers paired up with street people and spent the morning getting to know their subjects, ferreting out their deepest desires. One volunteer gave a homeless man a badly needed wheelchair. Other coveted items among 250 handed out: canes, gift cards to laundromats, work tools and even an Al Jarreau CD. "This was like Christmas for us," says Daniel C., both a recipient and a Food on Foot volunteer. Since losing his job three years ago, he manages to earn enough with a part-time job to rent a room, but usually by the end of each month he's "camping," he says. He received a tent to make life on the streets more bearable. Volunteer Jennifer Kanter, 27, spent not just the day but weeks trying in vain to fulfill one man's wish: to retrieve a beloved blanket that had been left in his car when it was impounded. "I wasn't able to get the blanket back," she says. "It was sad; he was really attached to it. But I was able to give him a bus pass." Kanter also donated a long sleeping bag for a tall man who didn't fit the standard size. "They weren't asking for anything crazy or outrageous," she says. "They were asking for things we take for granted." Goldinger says he plans to continue the program as long as Food on Foot can survive. "The homeless aren't going to go away," he declares, "and neither are we."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit Food on Foot.

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Young 9/11 victim inspires schoolkids to save shore life Palm Bay, Fla. -- Among the 300 volunteers hacking and chain-sawing their way through a mammoth Make A Difference Day shore cleanup on Florida's east coast was the family of Bernard Curtis Brown II, 11, a Washington, D.C., student lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A science enthusiast and class leader, Bernard had been on his way to a National Geographic Society-sponsored marine science program in California when his plane crashed into the Pentagon. "He lived to go to school,'" says mother Sinita. "If he was sick, he would always say he was feeling better so he could get to school." His family felt privileged to fly down to Palm Bay, Fla., and help save plant and animal life in his memory Oct. 26, beside St. Joseph Catholic School in Palm Bay and Melbourne Central Catholic High School students. They cleared 500 feet of shoreline along the Indian River Lagoon, which is home to more species than any other body of water on the continent. They filled eight dump trucks with chipped Brazilian pepper trees, whose dense growth and toxic sap kill native vegetation. Crews planted 1,800 native wildflowers and 220 mangrove seedlings, potted 3,600 mangrove propagules and collected 500 mangrove seedlings for future planting. This project -- the schools' fourth Make A Difference Day effort --was completed as part of the Points of Light Foundation's Unity in the Spirit of America (USA) initiative, authored by U.S. senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to encourage Americans to do volunteer service in honor of those lost Sept. 11. Many volunteers finished the six-hour day like Stephen Harber, 17 -- exhausted and sore, with a dirty face, a sap-stained T-shirt and a rash. That's OK, Harber says: "Curtis was a great kid and wanted to change the world. We should be more like him."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit the Marine Resources Council and St. Joseph Catholic School.

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5,000 students learn the true meaning of community Charlottesville, Va. -- A mother and daughter spent hours counting $203 in pennies. An entire middle school taught the community how to conserve water. In all, 5,000 Virginia children -- students from 23 of Albemarle County's 25 schools, representing Charlottesville suburbs and isolated rural communities -- proved the most precious resource on Make A Difference Day. Their month-long outpouring of good fed the hungry, warmed the shivering, and advanced causes such as animal rights and cancer research. Julia Laffond, 11, scrounged hundreds of pennies to drop into a huge jar at Broadus Woods Elementary, which she and mom Laura took to a change-counting machine. The 20,300 pennies bought 10 board games and dozens of knickknacks for lonely nursing home residents on Oct. 26. All 654 students at Walton Middle School created posters, skits, public service announcements -- even coloring books -- to address the area's drought crisis. Students' largesse helped seven senior citizen complexes, an animal shelter, a domestic violence shelter, a food bank, Meals on Wheels and others. In Crozet, Western Albemarle High teamed with Brownsville Elementary to deliver pampering goods to 58 low-income retirees at The Meadows home. Kids entertained elders with classical guitar, bluegrass and even an Elvis impersonator. Molly Jackson, 13, persuaded Henley Middle School peers to join her at an assisted living center. Now, six girls take turns visiting residents twice a week. Says pal Liz Milligan, 14: "They like to remember, and I like listening to them."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit Albemarle County Schools.

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Golden Key kids are quick studies on caring Nationwide -- Haunted by the homeless at subways, Paul Thomson, 22, and five fellow City College of New York members of Golden Key International Honour Society pooled $230 to feed 100 hungry men, women and children at a shelter. Worried they wouldn't have enough for the 200 who showed up, they snagged food from the school cafeteria. Says Thomson: "When the chef saw we were feeding homeless people, he said, 'I have more dishes of rice for you.' " It was part of an effort in which 3,000 Golden Key students touched the lives of 25,000, working mostly in small groups to feed the homeless, plant trees, and spend time with the sick and elderly. In the Bronx, Yoselin Acevedo of Queens College renovated four "filthy" kitchens at a shelter for homeless AIDS patients. In San Francisco, Christallyn Tan, 22, and six University of California, Davis, members delivered 150 sack lunches on foot to street people. In Detroit, 12 Oakland University students planted 10 trees and eight shrubs in a blighted vacant lot near a planned shelter. Christina Geraci, 20, and five gal pals from the chapter at the State University of New York-Stony Brook danced with 50 veterans at Long Island State Veterans Home. "I don't think I will ever forget the wheelchair conga line," Geraci says, "or when we all sang God Bless America -- and cried."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit Golden Key International Honour Society.

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Disabled couple spreads warmth Rogersville, Mo. -- From April to October, Jim and Judy Huff hauled their disabled selves into their pickup and cruised yard sales in search of coats for needy Ozark families. "It's just a blessing to us to give back," says Judy, who remembers the tough times four years ago when Jim's health problems led to disability. Friends, neighbors and co-workers came to the rescue. Make A Difference Day was the Huffs' chance to repay the caring. "You won't ever catch up, but you can give back." Neither Judy's July diagnosis of uterine cancer nor her mid-October hysterectomy deterred the couple. Judy, 56, told Jim, 59, before surgery: "Promise me that if I don't come out of surgery, my coats will be delivered." Jim, a perfectionist, inspected coats for damage before Judy gave buying approval, aiming for $3 or less per coat (easy to do in July when coats go for 50 cents, or when an explanation of Make A Difference Day garners a free one). She repaired; he laundered; they boxed coats in spare bedrooms of the couple's 20-by-80-foot mobile home. Final tally: 162 coats, plus matching gloves donated by their son-in-law's boss. The Huffs kept it quiet; even Crosslines, the non-profit that received the coats, didn't hear anything until October, when Judy called to make sure it would be open Oct. 26. Says daughter Holly, who recalls that boasting was a childhood no-no: "My mom gets worred she'll lose the blessing from it."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit the Children's Miracle Network and Victory Baptist Church.

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City comes together at Centro Hispano Provo, Utah -- Neighborhood preservationists wanted to save a historic church. College officials wanted to expand a program. When the two groups realized they were eyeing the same property, they also discovered a common goal: serving Provo's growing Hispanic community. "We can all see the challenges of the Hispanic people that are not being met by any agency at the moment," says Joyce Baggerly, who lives two blocks from the historic St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in a neighborhood where many Hispanic families have settled recently. "It just seemed to us this was the perfect combination." Baggerly was among the 103 volunteers who kicked off renovations at the 77-year-old mission-style church, with its 2 1/2-foot-thick walls and tile roof, on Make A Difference Day. Helping: families, professors, construction workers, aspiring lawyers, and students from clubs at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College. There were Mormons, Baptists and Catholics; English and Spanish voices mingled. Volunteers filled and refilled two 30-yard dumpsters -- eight loads in all -- with debris, including 40-year-old tax forms and a bathtub. They ripped out carpet and vinyl flooring, removed nails, scraped glue off floors and wiped down walls. Restaurant owner Eugenio Revuelta served chips and salsa to the workers. Organizers envision Centro Hispano as a magnet for the Hispanic community, a location for Spanish-language classes ranging from dance and baby-sitting to keyboarding and computer training. They're trying to raise $2 million to buy and renovate the property. Elva Michaela Jacobson, 59, came to this country 32 years ago, raised 10 children and is now focusing on her own education. At Centro Hispano, she's taking classes and starting a business. She believes immigrants want to succeed and will come to Centro Hispano for help: "There's a need, and it needs to be filled."
The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Award, funded by Newman's Own, will benefit the Utah Valley State College Foundation.

This issue was reported by Terry Byrne, Laura Greenspan, Patricia Kime, Pam Janis and Kelly DiNardo. Pamela Brown is USA WEEKEND Magazine's Make A Difference Day editor.

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Encore! Wenatchee, Wash. -- On the very first Make A Difference Day, 1,000 volunteers came together in this valley at the request of organizer Margie Kerr and her sister Betsy Tontini, whose Make A Difference mantra was: "It's the unity in community that gets the job done." Volunteers worked on Habitat for Humanity homes, cleaned Riverfront Park, washed puppies at the Humane Society and recruited Big Brothers and Big Sisters. For their impact and imagination, these volunteers received the first National Make A Difference Day Award. It included a $1,000 donation that was used to set up a hot line to give volunteer referrals.

And that hot line has been buzzing ever since. So has the Make A Difference Day volunteerism. The Greater Wenatchee Valley received previous "Encore Awards" for outstanding Make A Difference Day efforts in 1995, 1997 and 1998 as well as an "honorable mention" for work in 1994. The extraordinary action continued even after Betsy Tontini died several years ago. Now, Margie plans the day's events with Laurel Helton.

Last Oct. 26, on the 12th National Make A Difference Day, Laurel and Margie helped orchestrate 25,143 volunteers -- about half of the valley's population -- in more than 180 projects.

Some highlights.
-- A YMCA aerobics instructor, herself struggling financially, mobilized 100 Y members to donate goods to a women's shelter.
-- A radiologist gave free mammograms to uninsured women.
-- A music teacher enlisted the entire statewide music teachers' association to hold piano recitals at nursing homes on Make A Difference Day. Result: 274 piano students around the state made music for seniors.
-- All 500 students at Washington Elementary School reached out to the soldiers at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia. The kids sent "thank you" letters as well as tea, coffee and dinner place mats for Thanksgiving -- all from supplies donated by merchants and parents. In an unexpected outpouring, the service men and women sent back letters, e-mails and even two American flags flown on air missions over Iraq. And the base continues to thank the children for caring.
-- There were scores of collections, cleanups and community awareness programs, and a virtually uncountable number of unsung individual acts, including this one submitted on a Post-It note: "A lady has been cleaning up the parking lot of a church in East Wenatchee and wants to remain anonymous." In the final tally, Wenatchee's caring citizens helped more than 100,000 people that day.

The $10,000 Make A Difference Day Encore Award, funded by USA WEEKEND Magazine and the Gannett Foundation, will benefit the Community Foundation of North Central Washington.