National Awards Urban river cleanup, Realtors help homeless, Students reopen school Homeless showers, Rebuilding a home, Uninsured dental care Local partners Portraits of caring: Aiding a wounded soldier's family 10 years of volunteering in Conn., UAW/GM lend a hand, Bread for the needy Also: Join us for next year! Local projects honored

Make A Difference Day Awards

Encore
Each year, a former national honoree who raises the bar gets a $10,000 donation from the Gannett Foundation.

A heart the size of Texas keeps pumping

A widow and her six kids lived in a cardboard-and-crate shanty -- until Make A Difference Day.

That's when family and friends of El Paso residents Maida and Henry Apodaca converged just across the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to build a three-room stucco home for the widow.

Meanwhile, relatives and friends met at the Apodaca home to hold a garage sale to benefit a teenager burned in a horrific fire.

By day's end, the two energetic groups had built a home for a family and raised $1,000 for the teen's medical bills.

"I learned that if we each do a little bit, we can accomplish a lot," says Michael Burkhart, 11, Maida's grandson, who traveled from Killeen, Texas, to help at the Mexico house site.

The Apodacas have built small homes in Mexico each Make A Difference Day since 1997, working through the El Paso-based charity Casas por Cristo. The year they earned a National Make A Difference Day Award -- 2000 -- they built a compact home for a single mother of two who lived on just $33 a week. In between, they've constructed two schools and five other homes. "Without these volunteers, it would be impossible for us to build these homes," says Casas por Cristo spokesman Brandon Broach.

Maida, 71, says she will continue building houses for as long as she's able. And she plans to add projects (like the garage sale) when she sees a need.

Henry, 75, suffered a stroke in December and now requires Maida's care, but she's unswerving in her commitment to helping others. "Getting involved with USA WEEKEND and doing this project has been the most fulfilling thing in my life," she says. "No question about it."

$10,000 Make A Difference Day Award from the Gannett Foundation and USA WEEKEND benefits Casas por Cristo.

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Will you join in?

The next Make A Difference Day is Oct. 28.

Be among the millions of Americans helping others on USA WEEKEND's national day of doing good. Actor and philanthropist Paul Newman once again will award $100,000 to 10 participants.

To take part in your community, identify a need, plan a project and complete it on Oct. 28.

For ideas, visit makeadifferenceday.com.