More Ideas

These projects by past Make A Difference Day honorees can inspire your brainstorm sessions for ideas on how your group can use its special services to make a difference. Also on this site: planning guides and other resources to help you turn your ideas into good deeds.

TEEN GROUP LENDS A HAND: 75 volunteers from the Palm Springs, Calif., Yucaipa Teen Center held a food drive, did home repairs for elderly and disabled citizens, and cleaned up parks and roadways.

LOCAL YMCA LEADS THE WAY: Galesburg, Ill., Led by the Warren County YMCA, 400 children and adults from Monmouth and surrounding areas renovated a refuge shelter for homeless and abused women and kids; donated food for the needy; picked up litter; painted and insulated a house for Habitat for Humanity; and entertained nursing home residents.

STATE WOMEN'S CLUBS MOBILIZE: Nearly 1,100 members in 58 chapters of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs pitched in restocking homeless shelters, organizing community cleanups, visiting nursing homes. "All of the clubs are active in their communities," says president Phyllis Cossarek. "But Make A Difference Day is a wonderful way for the clubs to do even more."

MONEY FOR GLASSES, SCHOLARSHIPS: The Ellington (Mo.) Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce held a fall festival, parade and auction that raised more than $3,000 for, among other things, local scholarship funds and a children's eyeglasses bank.

NEWCOMERS WELCOMED WITH EVENT: In Lenoir City (Tenn.) HOPE, an adult volunteer organization, held a Make A Difference Day Readin' and Rummagin' Day to benefit recent Mexican immigrants. Participants were given play money to purchase items donated by a church and were read to in both Spanish and English.

REUNITE A COMMON INTEREST: Former residents of the Homeless Prevention Center in Woodbridge, Va., operated by Volunteers of America, returned on Make A Difference Day to paint, lay a walkway and sort donated clothes.

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