Make a Difference Day was back in October, but wouldn’t it be nice if we thought about it every day?
We’ll remember the event this weekend when our Sunday magazine, USA Weekend, notes memorable Make a Difference Day projects around the country.
Make a Difference Day, the largest national day of helping others, is sponsored by USA Weekend, the almost 600 newspapers that distribute the magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.
One special group received our local award, but let’s look at others who performed community service projects in October:
The Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force planted 500 native trees and shrubs along Woods Creek in Monroe to create salmon habitat. To keep non-native blackberry and reed canary grass from coming back, they put down cardboard and mulch around the plants. The trees will help keep the water cool, clean and clear for fish.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and Auxiliary 2100 in Everett collected food and cash for the Volunteers of America Food Bank in Everett.
Camp Fire USA Community Family Club in Everett went trick or treating for the Marysville Food Bank. The group dropped off 400 pounds of food for the needy. Marysville endured a 49-day teachers strike last fall, so there were no school food drives. Shelves were getting bare until Camp Fire pitched in.
Big Brothers Big Sisters organized a "Wish Upon a Star: The Big Brothers Big Sisters Ball" at Washington Oakes Retirement Community in Everett. They introduced a lunch buddy program that will pair seniors and elementary school students.
The Marysville Parks and Recreation Department planted 10,300 bulbs at 15 locations. Volunteers collected bulbs and went to different parks and properties to plant tulip and daffodils. Recent city budget cuts didn’t allow Marysville to pay for planting, so volunteers did the work.
The Lowell Civic Association cleaned the Lowell Community Church and the nearby block to honor Pastor Frank Stipek, 81, who died July 28, 2003. He was pastor of Lowell Community Church for 37 years. Gail Chism, chairwoman of the association, said it was a rewarding experience.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and Auxiliary 1040 in Lynnwood formed an alliance with the Lynnwood Food Bank. They put food barrels in grocery stores, and volunteers collected several hundred pounds of nonperishable goods and some cash. Firefighters helped.
As a project for a senior English class, students at Stanwood High School collected food at two locations for the local food bank. Also, students baked cookies for nursery school children, who got to decorate the cookies with the bigger kids. Other Stanwood students built birdhouses for a wildlife center, painted pumpkins for a retirement home for Halloween, sold root beer floats to raise money and landscaped grounds at an animal shelter.
Even though every project merited applause, there was just one winner. This year’s Make a Difference Day Award for The Herald goes to the classroom of Kathleen Vigil at Immaculate Conception School in Everett.
Third-graders there made birthday packs for St. Vincent de Paul. They wanted to make sure that those who don’t have money to celebrate a birthday, they can at least make a cake.
With money they earned, they purchased cake mix, frosting, cupcake holders, candles and sprinkles to fill the birthday packs.
"We wanted to make a difference somehow," Vigil said. "We felt that we could help by making a few birthdays special for those in need."
That idea was a winner. The next Make a Difference Day is Oct. 23, 2004.
Do it.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or
oharran@heraldnet.com.
