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Make A Difference Day 2008
October 24, 2008
On Saturday, October 25, 2008, millions of people across the country will make a concerted effort to make a difference in the lives of other people. Saturday is National Make A Difference Day. The idea for Make A Difference Day was created by USA Weekend Magazine 18 years ago. This day is a celebration of one of the cornerstones of our country …. neighbors helping neighbors. Each year on the 4th Saturday in October, National Make A Difference day occurs. Newman’s Own is teaming up with USA Weekend Magazine to honor 10 different groups or people who have registered their Make A Difference Day project at http://usaweekend.com/diffday/daytabank/index.html by featuring them in the USA Weekend Magazine on National Volunteer Day in April. Each of the 10 honorees will also have $10,000 donated in their name by Newman’s Own, to the charity of their choice. This is a great opportunity for you as an individual or as a group of people, to do something worthwhile that can have a positive impact on the lives of other people. Many military brigades will often get together on Make A Difference Day, to help out local charities in their community, such as homeless shelters, soup kitchens, domestic violence shelters, emergency shelters for kidsand other non-profit charities.
What can you do on Make A Difference Day? USA Weekend Magazine has a database of different projects that you can become involved in on this page. There you can search by state or zip code and find a project that is happening in your area. Or, you can organize your own project. There are literally thousands of things that you can do in your local communities that could make a difference to someone else. For those of you, who wish to do something that can benefit our Troops, our Wounded Warriors, our Military Veterans or Military Family Members, there are many things that you can do as well. I’ve come up with a list of a few things that you might want to consider, or perhaps my list will spark ideas of your own.
1. Plan a visit to Veterans at a local VA Hospital. Take those who are able out for a day, maybe for a meal. Or for those who are unable to leave the hospital grounds, spend time visiting with them, perhaps taking a small token of appreciation along to cheer them up.
2. Have the children in a local school, create cards for the veterans in the VA Hospital and take them when you visit.
3. If you live near a military medical treatment center, take the day and visit with the wounded warriors, maybe taking in lap blankets to pass out, cheerful cards and other small gifts.
4. Coordinate with authorities at a military medical treatment center to take wounded warriors who are able, out for an activity. That could be almost anything. Maybe a movie, to a restaurant for a nice meal.
5. Organize a care package party to collect items to send our deployed Troops. You could make this into a very fun event and children can be involved with this as well.
6. Host a military appreciation day, where fun activities for military members and their families are occurring.
7. Create a babysitting coop, where military members or their families can bring their children free of charge for the day, so that they can have a ‘free day’ without children.
8. Organize a fun event for military children with games and prizes.
9. For military family members, who’s Soldier is deployed, create a team that can do odd jobs for them. That could range from mowing their lawn, minor home repairs, winterizing their vehicles, as well as many others.
Use your imagination. Get creative and have fun. Not only will the people you help really appreciate what you’ve done, but you’ll also feel good about what you’ve done to help them. Start making plans for next year’s Make A Difference Day. You’ll have more time to plan your event and get the word out, so that others in the area, who wish to, can participate. Make A Difference Day is a very worthwhile project that anyone can take part in, young and old alike. Just remember, whatever you do is going to make a difference in someone else’s life and in the meantime, can make a difference in your life as well. To find out more about Make A Difference Day, please visit USA Weekend Magazines website.
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