Reaching Out to Homeless Vets in a Simple, Yet Meaningful, Way
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recongizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Here we tell the story of an Arizona woman and a group of friends who make clothes for homeless veterans.
It all started with a 14-hour airplane ride in 2010 and a loom knitter.
Rather than grumble about the hours of travel she faced flying to Australia and New Zealand, Peggy McGee decided to put the time to good use. Although she’s not an expert knitter, she decided to use the loom to make hats for homeless veterans.
The Women of Quail Creek, and friends, stand among donated items for veterans.
When a woman she met at a local thrift shop donated 39 skeins of yarn to the project, McGee’s idea really took shape.
“I knew there was no way I could ever use it all up and told some of
, members that if they would do the knitting I would provide the yarn,” says McGee, 69, of the club for women who live in the same 55-and-older adult active community in Green Valley, Ariz. “And as they say, ‘The rest is history.’”
The effort has grown into a clothing drive for homeless veterans, held on Make A Difference Day for the past three years.
“After we were told last year that our donations kept the homeless veteran population in the Tucson area clothed for two months, we were determined to do more this year given the number of veterans who had just recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan,” says McGee.
Mission accomplished. Besides handmade hats and other clothing items for Make A Difference Day 2013, held on Oct. 26, community members donated bed and kitchen linens, business suits, vacuum cleaners, backpacks, trashcans and money. The 18 volunteers sorted about 3,000 items and delivered them to the
.
“These donations help raise the recipients’ self-esteem and make they feel good that the community cares about them,” says Jodi Frederick, clinical director of Rehabilitation Programs. “It gives them dignity and hope.”
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
Wine Country Giving Back to the Ones Who Work the Harvest
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recongizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Here we tell the story of an organization that sought medical care for people in danger of losing their eyesight.
A patient receives care for her eyes at the Eye Care Institute on Make A Difference Day.
To many, Sonoma County, Calif., summons images of fine wines, lush scenery and elegant dinners. But Daniel Rabkin, program manager of
, and his colleagues, are well aware that many in the community live in poverty with limited access to medical treatment.
On Make A Difference Day, Oct. 26, Rabkin banded together with a group of ophthalmologists and their staffs to save the eyesight of 24 area agricultural workers and day laborers and another six cataract patients in need.
“By the end of Make A Difference Day, 30 people with limited means who never expected to get the help that they needed – and at no cost – were seeing a bright future ahead,” says Rabkin.
Staff from the Eye Care Institute and Operation Access come together on Make A Difference Day.
Ophthalmologists Robert Anderson, Gary Barth and Daniel Rich of the
in Santa Rosa, Calif., fueled the project. They performed surgery on agricultural workers with pterygia, a blinding growth often caused by excessive exposure to sunlight.
On the same day, Dr. Naveen Chandra and his surgical team at Kaiser Permanente in Martinez, Calif., restored the sight of the cataract patients. Those in need learned of the program through news media and word-of-mouth campaigns organized by Rabkin and others.
“These patients are enormously and rightly grateful to the doctors who donated their time and skill for surgery that the patients definitely needed but could not afford,” says Sally Giovinco, office manager of the Eye Care Institute. “They lined up all the way out the door to check in an office most had never been to before and some didn’t speak any English. … From beginning to end, the patients and all of us were privileged to be part of something so completely positive.”
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
More Than 20,000 Kids Volunteered in One Day Because of This Guy
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recongizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Here we tell the story of a New York author who inspired thousands of children across the country to volunteer.
Nick Katsoris
It’s one thing for children’s book authors to write stories about good deeds, but it’s another to actually spur young readers into action.
Nick Katsoris, 47, author of the “Loukoumi” series of children’s books, used Make A Difference Day to
to collecting canned goods for homeless shelters.
“The `Loukoumi’ books are all about teaching kids lessons in life so that they can make a difference in their lives and the lives of others,” says Katsoris, who has participated in Make A Difference Day since 2009.
Two of his books “are dedicated to a sweet woman named Daisy who was a cleaning woman in an office I worked at almost 20 years ago. Daisy gave me a pair of gold cuff links simply because I said ‘good morning’ to her. It taught me that even the smallest good deed could make a big difference in someone’s life.”
Inspired by author Nick Katsoris, Grace LaFountain holds a bake sale to raise money for the Utica, N.Y., zoo.
Katsoris is based in Eastchester, N.Y., but he made his effort nationwide through partnerships with the charitable organizations
, all of which reached out to schools, libraries and other child-focused organizations.
Adults read the “Loukoumi” books to kids and had them sign “I will Make A Difference by…” pledges. The kids then performed the good deeds on Oct. 26.
Katsoris’ own son, 9-year-old Dean, pledged to make and sell bracelets to raise funds for an animal rescue charity.
“These acts of kindness are values that kids are learning now that will follow them throughout their lives,” says Katsoris, “and teach them the importance of helping others.”
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
Abandoned at Birth, This 11-Year-Old Knows How Much This Small Gift Means to a Scared Child
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recognizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Here we tell the story of a California girl who helps local police and fire departments calm scared children with donated stuffed animals.
Jessica Carscadden stands next to a fire truck adorned with stuffed animals from her We Care Bears Project.
Jessica Carscadden – abandoned at birth because of facial deformities – found comfort in stuffed animals when she was adopted at age 5. While cleaning out her room one day a few years ago, she decided to donate her loved but unused stuffed bears to other kids.
“I am only one girl and I took all of my animals to the fire department,” Jessica says on her
was born. The project accepts donated stuffed bears for police and firefighters to give to injured or frightened children on emergency calls.
On Make A Difference Day, Oct. 26, 11-year-old Jessica of San Diego rallied volunteers and oversaw donations of about 3,000 stuffed bears. About 60 volunteers recruited by Jessica through her website, news media announcements and word-of-mouth campaigns, sorted, tagged and filled about 580 bags with bears (exceeding her goal by 80 bags).
“As a result of the efforts of the We Care Bear Project on Make A Difference Day every police car in San Diego [had] a bag of stuffed animals for children they meet on calls,” says Kathleen Carscadden, Jessica’s mom. “The heart of the We Care Bears Project is children helping children, and this event was no different – the majority of volunteers at the event were schoolchildren.”
Jessica’s efforts have resulted in an outpouring of support for the project and Jessica herself.
“Jessica’s commitment to her community has been inspiring, says Councilman Mark Kersey of San Diego. “She has translated her personal experience into a project that has gone on to help children throughout San Diego. Because of her work many children in our city are being comforted during a scary time in their lives.”
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
These Teens Surprised Themselves By Putting Others First
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recognizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Here we tell the story of a group of Florida teens from a low-income community who started a new tradition of volunteering.
Escambia Charter School students volunteer on Make A Difference Day by doing yard work
Some of the most troubled teenagers in one of Florida’s poorest counties attend tiny
, an independent high school in Cantonment, Fla., near the Alabama line. Eighty percent of the 120 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Many were rejected by public schools for bad behavior or grades. But on Make A Difference Day they surprised themselves, and the community, by putting others first.
Starting a month ahead, students collected or contributed 300 pounds of canned goods and snacks for a food pantry and the
, as well as 60 boxes of clothes for three shelters. Early on Oct. 26, 20 students, with 15 parents and teachers, organized and delivered the donations — then split into teams to do yard work for four elderly or disabled homeowners.
Escambia Charter School students sort and pack clothes for local shelters on Make A Difference Day.
“The students were so proud,” says Principal Jerome Chisolm. “The community didn’t expect this from our kids. The kids didn’t even expect it from themselves. Helping others shows them the world doesn’t revolve around them.”
“It made me feel great,” says sophomore Gerico Mackey, 16. He raked leaves, picked up broken limbs and planted flowers at two houses. “This was new for me, helping people who can’t do for themselves.”
, a shelter for abused women and their children in Pensacola, often receives donations of tattered, outdated clothing, says residential programs director Marsha Travis. So she was impressed that “these kids took the time to sort through” a dozen boxes of clothes, including teen sizes few people donate. “This school obviously wants students to understand the value of giving back,” she says.
That’s right, says Chisolm: “Make A Difference Day was the seed for getting our kids permanently involved in volunteering. We’re thinking of a slogan: Enter to learn, depart to serve.”
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
7,000 Reasons This Teen’s Determination Paid Off
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recognizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Here we tell the story of a New Jersey teen determined to help homeless families in his community.
Elijah Rodriguez posts a sign for the fundraiser he organized for Hurricane Sandy victims.
Elijah Rodriguez confronted the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy every day as a junior at
in Lincroft, N.J. A year after the storm, friends and classmates still couldn’t go home, because they had no homes to go to.
Elijah empathized. His family had once been displaced by a fire. But a visit to Union Beach Borough Hall made him realize how many hundreds of families were still homeless, and he asked how he could help.
Officials put Elijah in touch with Pastor Carl Williamson of the
in Union Beach. Williamson appreciated Elijah’s enthusiasm for organizing a Hurricane Sandy Relief Walk but advised that he wouldn’t have much time to help him.
“You can’t live here in this area without knowing the devastating effects the storm has had on people’s lives,” Williamson says. “But I thought (the walk) would only raise a small amount of money.”
He underestimated Elijah. With only a few weeks left before Make A Difference Day and the first anniversary of the storm, and with help of family and his school, Elijah created pledge forms and flyers, booked the school jazz band to entertain, lined up sponsors, solicited contributions of bagels and water (the necessary fuel of any Saturday morning in New Jersey), and arranged for the mayor of Union Beach to come speak.
More than 100 walkers showed up, with donations totaling more than $7,000.
A short while later, Elijah returned to Williamson, this time with a check.
“He was someone who really took this seriously,” Williamson says. “He really wanted to make an impact, and he really cared about the people in Union Beach and the Bayshore area.”
The money Elijah raised could have paid for the demolition of two damaged homes or the pouring of three foundations for new homes. Williamson let Elijah make the call.
Elijah decided to rebuild.
Today, those foundations have been laid, and the houses are in various stages of construction, Williamson says.
“There is no place like home,” Elijah says. “I wish all Hurricane Sandy victims can return to their homes soon.”
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
A Lego Movie Before `The Lego Movie’
In honor of National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, USA Weekend and Points of Light are recongizing the 2013 Make A Difference Day honorees, who will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 10. Today we tell the story of a California teen using Legos for good.
Bailey Snow, center (in white shirt), shows donated Legos alongside BrickDreams volunteers
Bailey Snow is a 16-year-old from Granite Bay, Calif., with a full slate of high school classes, a course at the local junior college, a part-time job at Starbucks, a place on his school’s trap-shooting team and a regular round of SAT prep classes on his schedule.
He was too busy to see “The Lego Movie” when it came out, but he has long known the power of Lego bricks. He himself appears in
, solicits Lego donations from his community, sorts and packages the bricks in empty tennis ball containers and distributes them to organizations working with children in need.
On Make A Difference Day, Oct. 26, he and eight volunteers packaged 60 to 70 cans for distribution to local police departments, domestic violence organizations and
Watch EvanTubeHD’s Make A Difference Day video featuring BrickDreams and Bailey Snow, pictured right.
“Say a kid is a victim of domestic violence,” he says. “They have to leave the house quickly and they don’t have a lot of things. They can go to shelters and get clothes and toiletries, but they can’t get something like Legos to help them escape. I’ve heard from police who tell me they like Legos for when they go out on domestic violence calls because they can give it to a kid and it helps out during a stressful time.”
Trudy Harris, development manager at the
, says the club gives out the Lego containers as awards for good service or even as Christmas gifts.
“They love anything to do with Legos, and the cool thing about (Bailey’s) Legos is he makes sure each one of the canisters has a little character in it for the kids to play with,” she says.
Bailey’s Make A Difference Day event enticed help from the family behind
, a prominent YouTube channel featuring family-friendly videos with toy reviews and cool special effects. Participants produced a video of the day’s activities, which has generated more than 433,000 views from around the world. (Watch it
.)
Started in May 2012, BrickDreams has so far collected and distributed 936 cans of Legos – that’s 468 pounds!
Check out the other Make A Difference Day honorees at www.makeadifferenceday.com/winners.
Short on Time? Here Are 6 Volunteer Ideas
It’s National Volunteer Week!Thank you to all the volunteers year round and everyone partaking in service projects this week. We are lucky to have people stepping up to make a difference in our communities and the world.
Here are six quick and easy ways to volunteer and start making a difference.
Multitask!
You have to go food shopping. Why not call an elderly neighbor, or someone who can’t get out, and do their shopping? How about picking up a few cans for your local food bank? You can help people and make someone’s day while you do your needed errands.
Like to chat?
Do you have an hour to spare a week? Visit a children’s hospital and spend time with the kids, go to a nursing home and visit the common rooms. Reach out and make connections with people in your community. Know another language? Maybe you can put that to use and help be a volunteer translator!
Throw a swap party!
Grab your friends for an hour and have a swap party. Choose a theme (books, clothes, toys, etc.). You might come away with something you didn’t know you needed, and all of those unused items will be recycled as something someone didn’t know they needed. All the unclaimed items can be donated to the charity of your choice.
Love animals?
Have adorable pets that are good with kids? Some hospitals have programs to bring in dogs to hang out and bring smiles to the children. Make someone’s day! Don’t have animals but love playing with them? Volunteer at your local animal shelter and make a dog’s day J
Utilize your own connections!
If there is a cause that really means something to you, you can help raise awareness of its work using your own network. You never know who might be listening who can help! Colleagues at work, friends and family, acquaintances that you find yourself chatting with – help spread the word by talking to people. If you have time free during your lunch hour, maybe that charity needs help writing e-mails or posters that need to be put up. Why not write to your newspaper to tell of the good work that the charity does? Start a personal blog to help get the word out!
Do what you know!
If you can cook, you can help. If you can read, you can help. Are you a computer programmer? A nurse? There are countless ways of using your existing skills to benefit others. Cook someone a meal, advise on health matters, fix a computer for an elderly neighbor or underfunded organization. Become aware of the people around you and figure out how much time you can spare each month. Even half an hour can make a huge difference for those who could benefit from your skills.
These are just a few small ways of donating a little bit of your time to help others. They are all unique volunteer activities and there are hundreds of more options out there. Small acts of kindness count and make large differences!
Today’s post is written by Bill, who completed his undergraduate studies in Secondary Education from Arizona State University. After college Bill spent some time teaching Senior Economics in Anthem, Arizona. Bill is currently a traveling teacher, who has spent time teaching in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and Asia, where he has taught English, Health, Geography, Social Studies, and Outdoor Education
coming up next month (April 12-27), here are five reasons why we should take some time out of our schedule to help ourselves and others by volunteering.
To Be Challenged
A challenge in which a successful outcome is assured isn’t a challenge at all
–Jon Krakauer
Most of us are used to working in a specific field. Whether we are working in an office or outdoors, we’re use to applying a certain skill at your job every day. The reasons why we are able to hold onto these jobs and careers are because we are great at them, but every now and then, we need a challenge. Challenges can be very humbling, but they give us the passion to strive for excellence in everything we do.
Runner Up Quote:
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
–Helen Keller
To Do a Civic Duty
To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.
–John Adams
There are times in life when we all could use a helping hand from a stranger. Whether it’s opening a door or helping someone load their groceries, helping others is ingrained in us all. The problem is that if you like to directly help someone, you may not be satisfied with your day to day job. Volunteering is a way to satisfy that need to directly help and change someone’s life.
Runner Up Quote:
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
–John F. Kennedy
To Share a Skill or Passion
Three keys to more abundant living: caring about others, daring for others, sharing with others
–William Arthur Ward
Most of us learn from trial and error, experience. Others learn from what they have been taught by others. Volunteering and sharing a skill that you have with others, it may or may not have to do with the actual volunteering project, is a way for you to learn more about yourself and for others to learn about the great person that you are.
Runner Up Quote:
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
–Chinese Proverb
To Learn from Others
Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
–Albert Einstein
It’s hard to claim that once we have started a career, or have started to settle down, that we have stopped learning. We are learning about each other and ourselves every day. When we volunteer, not only do we learn a new skill or trade, we also learn the skills and trade that other volunteers that we work with bring along.
Runner Up Quote:
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
–Benjamin Franklin
To Gain Leadership Skills
The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.
–Ronald Reagan
There are some people out there who are natural born leaders and there are others that strive to be leaders. While volunteering we are usually put into a situation where we are all equal and there is not one person who has an overwhelming amount of experience over another. This situation gives those who want to be leaders a chance to step up, take charge, and work on their
To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.
–Eleanor Roosevelt
Volunteering is an overall great experience. It gives us the opportunity to learn about ourselves, to learn about those around us, to build new relationships, and in some cases of
I am the executive director of the all-volunteer Long Island Volunteer Center, an affiliate of HandsOn Network. Volunteeringinamerica.gov continues to rank New York last in the nation, and we were named a regional volunteer center to help raise the profile of volunteerism and increase the number of volunteers in the region.
One of our National Volunteer Week service projects had all the right ingredients to create a memory marker. It was accomplished in honor of our beloved Founder and President, Joan Imhof, who we lost in December after a brief illness. Board member, Dave Okorn, who heads the Long Island Community Foundation, donated the funds to the Suffolk County United Veterans Project, which helps homeless veterans on Long Island. We refurbished the grounds of a group home and cleared debris caused by Tropical Storm Irene. The project was done in conjunction with a corporate community service initiative we support, and that Joan helped create 20 years ago, called Long Island Volunteer Enterprise. It was serendipity from start to finish – we even learned that our efforts fell neatly into the Keep America Beautiful Project!
Here is how the day in Shirley, N.Y. unfolded:
The backyard team consisted of Warren Ferry of United Methodist Church Disaster Volunteers leading the effort to clear out debris with the help of my brother-in-law who has a strong desire to help veterans. Dave brought a friend to help rake while he cut down tree limbs. In the front, were members of the corporate initiative representing Deloitte, Peoples Federal Credit Union, JMC Enterprises and MTA Transit Solutions as well as our co-sponsor, United Way of Long Island, Joan’s daughter, Meg Imhof Callinan, and her two children, Jackie and Michael, lent their support by helping to clean out and weed flower beds, plant flowers and plants, and rake the side yard of debris.
There were 17 of us doing our part to beautify the area, improve the life circumstances of homeless veterans and remember a great humanitarian who founded an organization dedicated to volunteerism – a “trifecta” of good. It was a collaborative, voluntary effort which recognized the sacrifice of our veterans and helped clean-up from the wrath of Tropical Storm Irene.
Today’s post is written by Diana O’Neill, executive director of the