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The
Sheboygan Press
Sheboygan, WI
18,955 Circ.
Local Make A Difference Day honorees make great editorial. In 2011, The Sheboygan Press ran cross-platform coverage of local honoree Linda Wieck of Plymouth, WI, leading up to insertion of USA WEEKEND Magazine's special Make A Difference Day Awards issue. Sheboygan promoted the story via social media with posts on their Facebook page and video (provided by USA WEEKEND) of the Make A Difference Day photo shoot with Wieck and musician Darius Rucker. On Saturday, April 9, Sheboygan ran a front page story on Wieck, followed by Sunday distribution of USA WEEKEND Magazine.
The Sheboygan Press used Make A Difference Day to tell an inspiring local story across multiple platforms including print, web, social media, and video.
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The
Daily Nonpareil
Council Bluffs, IA
20,762 Circ.
For the fifth consecutive year, The
Daily Nonpareil rallied their community to action on Make A Difference Day by organizing
a food
drive. The idea stemmed from a simple community need. Local food
banks needed more food donations during the winter months. The
Daily Nonpareil decided to take action. “We felt we could
effectively rally the community’s support through the promotional
power and reach of the newspaper,” explained Shelly Bissell,
Classified Ad Manager. And that’s just what they did.
The Daily Nonpareil partnered with six grocery stores, a local U-Haul
company and the Council Bluffs Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees)
to help kick off Make A Difference Day in their area. To get their
community involved, they ran ads and editorial stories five times
prior to the food drive. The ads and stories described the event
and asked people to bring canned food donations to one of six grocery
stories in the community.
On Make A Difference Day, Jaycee volunteers and newspaper staff
members, including the publisher and editor, parked U-Haul trucks
outside
different grocery stores to collect food donations. Volunteers
passed out fliers about the food drive to people as they shopped.
The newspaper
even adorned the U-Haul trucks with banners promoting Make A Difference
Day and the newspaper’s efforts. “It was a great opportunity
for the newspaper to interact with the community,” said Bissell.
And she was right. At the end of the day, The Daily Nonpareil and
community members collected enough food to fill a total of five local
food pantries for the winter months.
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Times-News
Burlington, NC
27,345 Circ.
The Times-News saw Make A Difference Day as the perfect opportunity
to fulfill one of their company’s core values — community
service — and decided to make the special day their own.
It all began a few years ago when the local United Way approached
the newspaper. The United Way already had a service day called, “Day
of Caring.” In an effort to reach more people, the United Way
asked the Times-News if they could combine “Day of Caring” with
Make A Difference Day. Of course, the newspaper agreed.
The United Way and the Times-News joined efforts and worked together
to involve their community in Make A Difference Day. First, the
United Way promoted the day to all of their agencies. They asked
agencies
to provide a list of projects that needed to be done in the community.
Then, the Times-News listed the projects in the paper.
Beginning in September, the newspaper ran ads twice a week asking
for people to volunteer for a project. The partners rallied together
businesses, churches, service clubs, schools, families and individuals.
They
also offered volunteers a free T-shirt for providing their services.
The newspaper listed important details about each project including
the people the project served, the number of volunteers needed
and the number of hours involved. People who wanted to volunteer
called
the United Way to sign up for a project.
On Make A Difference Day, an estimated 63 businesses, organizations,
clubs and individuals lent a helping hand. Volunteers got involved
by cleaning, painting, having barbecues, participating in dental
and health clinics and collecting food, toiletries, paper supplies,
cookies, gifts and money.
To thank the community, the Times-News published a special
thank you ad to all the participating groups and photos
of some of
the projects that took place. The entire event was a success. The
community even had a USA WEEKEND National Honoree who received
a $10,000 grant!
Michele
Terry, Promotions Director at the Times-News summed
it up best, “Promotion
is the key to any successful event. By listing the projects in
the paper, people can see all the needs our community has and how
they
can help.” |
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The
Indiana Gazette
Indiana, PA
14,496 Circ.
The
Indiana Gazette believes
that one of their responsibilities as a newspaper is to educate
readers about the characteristics of a good citizen, and participating
in
last year’s Make A Difference Day was the perfect occasion
to do just that.
Through Make A Difference Day, the newspaper wanted to help
local service agencies complete projects that they normally
didn’t
have the manpower or time to complete, while developing a group of
volunteers that the agencies could call upon throughout the year. “Our
goal going into this project was to get as many volunteers as possible
and complete as many local projects as we possibly could,” explained
Hastie Kinter, NIE Coordinator for The Indiana Gazette.
The newspaper joined forces with the local United Way and the
Indiana County Department of Human Services to help bring the
community
together on Make A Difference Day. The United Way and The Indiana
County Department
of Human Services were responsible for contacting and determining
the needs of local non-profit agencies. The Indiana Gazette rallied
the community together by running stories about the special day.
They also ran a list of projects that needed to be accomplished.
Readers signed up to volunteer through the newspaper’s
Web site, by phone or by mail.
To kick off Make A Difference Day, the newspaper held a breakfast
where volunteers gathered before heading off to their projects.
The newspaper handed out assignments and directions to project
sites.
The breakfast was also a chance for The Indiana Gazette to meet
volunteers and interact with the community.
The newspaper’s efforts generated so much enthusiasm in
the community that Make A Difference Day lasted for two days.
Ninety
volunteers from the community participated along with 12 different
agencies and organizations. Projects ranged from painting a room
in the local library to raking leaves to helping the local Lions
Club with a fundraiser.
The Indiana Gazette obtained their goal. “This project succeeded
in bringing community members together to provide assistance to the
very community they live and work in. It also brought people out
to volunteer who might not normally get involved,” said Kinter.
Plans for next year’s projects are already in the works. |
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The
Enid News & Eagle
Enid, OK
18,274 Circ.
The Enid
News & Eagle takes its leadership role in improving
their community seriously. The newspaper found
a way to make an even greater impact by taking a successful local
program and incorporating it into a powerful national community service
initiative — USA WEEKEND’s Make A Difference Day. In
doing so, Enid’s “Making a Difference” program
was born.
“We feel it is our responsibility as a community newspaper to take
the time and effort to promote positive things that are happening
in our community. Make A Difference Day and our ‘Making a Difference’ year-long
project give us the opportunity to put a spotlight on these kinds
of stories and activities,” explains Cindy Allen, Editor of
the Enid News & Eagle.
Each year, the Enid News & Eagle publishes a series of 10 to
12 special sections focusing on individuals, organizations and
businesses that are making a difference in their community. Each
week, they
publish a community calendar promoting volunteer opportunities,
and their Volunteer Connection section helps bring together organizations
looking for volunteers with people looking for a way to help. The
paper also sponsors the Pillar of the Plains Award, which honors
a local hero for their community improvement efforts.
The newspaper’s awareness campaign keeps the goodwill flowing
in Enid year-round. Last year, they took the lead in a community-wide
effort for America Supports You program by the Defense Department,
supporting troops overseas. Make A Difference Day is the culmination
of a year-long effort put forth by the News & Eagle.
The Enid News & Eagle partnered with 2 local sponsors,
Central National Bank and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center,
and together, they encouraged more than 20 businesses and organizations,
along with 250 people to get involved on Make A Difference Day.
Through in-paper and online stories featuring local community service
efforts, the Enid News & Eagle helped organize projects across
the area on Make A Difference Day, ranging from cleaning up cemeteries
to beautifying schools to doing repair and clean-up work at a youth
home. Another project included a “med-check” event for
senior citizens where medical professionals checked the seniors’ medications
for safety and drug interactions. One local school even joined
in the day and lobbied city hall to put up a stop sign at a precarious
intersection near the school building.
The Enid News & Eagle’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed.
The paper took top honors in the Oklahoma Press Association’s
Better Newspaper Awards. One of their first place wins
was, of course, Community Leadership.
This year, the Enid News & Eagle continues to build Make A
Difference Day in their community with plans to promote a massive
clean-up and
beautification project for all local schools. With an additional
partner this year, they hope to have a total of 750 volunteers
helping out.
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The
Meadville Tribune
Meadville,
PA
13,977 Circ.
Make
A Difference Day began for The Meadville Tribune in
1991, when they partnered with a few local businesses, the United
Way, Allegheny College and the Meadville
Medical Center, to make America's single largest day of volunteering
their own. What began as just one day blossomed into an annual
community endeavor and much more.
With just a small announcement in their newspaper requesting project
ideas and volunteers, The Meadville Tribune jump-started
Make A Difference Day in their community. Who knew so many people
needed help and so
many others would rise to their call! To manage the influx of
project requests, The Meadville Tribune worked with
local partners to develop a Make A Difference Day community action
committee. Throughout the
year, the committee collected requests and worked to turn each
one into a neighborhood project.
The newspaper
was so successful in rallying their community — with
as many as 1500 volunteers showing up to work on more than 150 projects
on a single day — an extra day was needed to accommodate
all the projects. Make A Difference Day is now a year-round
project managed
by the Seasons for Caring Center, a community center born
from The Meadville Tribune's Make A Difference Day
efforts. The center takes
project requests and arranges for volunteers all year.
From home
repairs to writing letters to soldiers, volunteers have influenced the
lives of thousands. Hundreds of volunteers
worked to insulate the home of a Cochranton, PA, resident suffering
from poor health due to a small stroke,
a back injury and the effects of a disease called neuropathy. His 165
year-old house
desperately
needed insulation, but none of the organizations he contacted
for help came to his aid until the Make A Difference Day
committee got
his request.
Another woman asked for help in cleaning her home, and when
the volunteers arrived they not only helped her,
they also helped her qualify for
Active Aging, so she would receive the help she needed
year-round. It's not always just those in need who benefit
from Make A
Difference Day. A group of Meadville underprivileged
teens went to help a man
who had multiple sclerosis. The teens later said they
were touched by how the man treated them with respect and as
an equal, something
few of them said they had ever experienced.
Every community has people in need, and every community
has good people who want to help. The Meadville Tribune brought
those people
together and made a lasting difference in their community.
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 Tribune
Chronicle
Warren, OH
36,803 Circ.
To
get a sense of how the readers of a single newspaper can make a
difference in just one day, all it takes is a look at the numbers:
150 pints of blood donated; 3,500 used tires collected; 2 dump trucks
of trash retrieved; 162 bags of leaves raked; 100 bags of apples
picked; 32 bags of clothes, toys and books gathered; and 48 spaghetti
dinners prepared.
Rallied
to action by the Tribune Chronicle, which led the charge
for a first-ever county-wide Make A Difference Day effort, 1,000
citizens of Ohio’s Trumbull and Warren counties took the spirit
of the Day to heart and worked tirelessly on 78 different projects
to make life a little brighter for the less-fortunate in their community.
The projects, which included landscaping a mission and sprucing
up a home for pregnant, unmarried teens, had everyone from Girl
Scouts to Navy reservists working side by side. And their efforts
were rewarded not just with a sense of satisfaction, but also with
a massive celebratory cookout thrown by the newspaper’s staff.
Reflecting on the good that was done by Tribune Chronicle readers, publisher Charles Jarvis was awed. “It was,”
he says, “an unbelievable day.”
Newspaper
rallies readers to get involved in the community.
It
began with a headline and a story: “Help Wanted For One Day.”
The Warren, OH, Tribune Chronicle’s lead article
was a rallying cry for residents. Various groups
had participated in Make A Difference Day before, but never in a
unified, Trumbull County-wide effort. This year, the paper decided
to lead the charge. “We had a great deal of confidence in
the power of the community newspaper,” Publisher Charles Jarvis
explained. Through a series of articles, the Tribune Chronicle solicited projects, volunteers and supplies. By Make A Difference
Day, the pieces were in place. “Frankly, I prayed,”
said Pastor Thomas Weaver of the Warren Family Mission, the focus
of several projects. “I was skeptical, but never ceased to
be amazed. I was surprised by the good that came from that day.”
Across the county, volunteers fixed homes, cleaned parks, served
the poor, and collected food and clothing.
In
Vienna, OH, Girl Scouts, Navy reservists and church volunteers renovated
New Life Maternity House, which serves unmarried pregnant girls.
Inside, volunteers decorated rooms in a hip style that would appeal
to teens. Outside, reservists replaced wood and painted.
Overall,
the effort drew more than 1,000 volunteers to 78 projects. The newspaper,
whose staffers fanned out to different projects, honored volunteers
midday with a massive cookout.
Update: The Tribune Chronicle continues to rally their community
to action on Make A Difference Day. Recently, The Associated
Press Society
of Ohio awarded the Tribune Chronicle first place in
"Best Community Service" for their Make A Difference Day coverage!
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The
Albany Herald
Albany, GA
25,930 Circ.
Now
in their seventh year of leading their community on USA WEEKEND’s
Make A Difference Day, The Albany (Ga.) Herald has taken
the event on as their own enterprise and has made the day something
that southwest Georgia is proud of and looks forward to every year. The Herald’s hard work in the first two years of their
participation laid the foundation for long-term success with Make
A Difference Day. They learned the keys to planning phenomenal community
events:
•
Start planning early in July/August
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Involve community leaders and establish a community planning committee
•
Inspire readers through editorial columns
•
Give readers and local organizations ways to get involved by publishing
a project entry form in print and on the web, providing a hotline
for them to call with volunteer needs and opportunities, and serving
as a clearinghouse of information on local Make A Difference Day
efforts
•
Bring other media outlets in as partners to help spread the word
about the event and ask local businesses to be co-sponsors by
donating food, facilities or supplies or by helping to print and
distribute T-shirts, banners and posters
In
their first year, the City of Albany was recognized as a national
Make A Difference Day honoree and awarded $10,000. The community’s
continued efforts have earned Albany an Encore Award for their extraordinary
Make A Difference Day successes. For more detail on The Herald’s success or to download their Event Plan, click
here. |
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The
Daily Herald
Chicago/Arlington Heights, IL
149,179 Circ.
Since
1993, The Daily Herald has used its editorial pages to encourage
the suburban Chicago area to get involved on Make A Difference Day.
Starting in August, the Feature Editor for the newspaper gathers
her team to begin planning editorial coverage of Make A Difference
Day in its 18 editions.
Utilizing
its Suburban Living and Neighbor sections, The
Herald starts off with a front page story in all of its editions
announcing the kickoff of Make A Difference Day. The Herald takes a look back at the previous year, gives ideas for projects
and encourages readers to get involved again. A project registration
form is printed in the paper and put on The Herald’s Web site along with information about registering with the national
Make A Difference Day program.
Continuing
through September and October, The Daily Herald uses different
editions to feature projects specific to different areas and runs
opinion columns encouraging participation. Another front page story
runs mid-campaign in all editions listing specific projects and
how to get involved. The week leading up to Make A Difference Day,
the paper compiles a list of local projects using their registration
forms and the DAYtaBANK at makeadifferenceday.com and then runs
a list of all projects–big and small–in the paper with
an entry form for the national Make A Difference Day awards. The
Herald also gives its own $500 award to a local project.
Following
Make A Difference Day, The Herald runs stories in each edition
featuring what was done in that area for the event. Once all of
the entries are in, The Herald chooses the winner of its
$500 award and announces that honoree in April when the national
awards are featured in USA WEEKEND.
55 projects were completed in 38 towns in the suburban Chicago
area. From community wide projects (the Naperville area completed
100 different projects) to individual efforts (a Mundelein woman
collected $7,000 for a 3-year-old cancer patient), all kinds of
projects have been inspired by The Daily Herald’s dedication
to Make A Difference Day. In the years since The Herald began
its editorial coverage of the event, the Chicago area has had six
national honorees, two honorable mentions and three Encore Awards. |
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