ALL CAN HELP OUT ON MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY

Whether collecting socks for U.S. soldiers overseas or clothes for the needy or picking up trash, people from throughout the area are planning on making a difference during Saturday's Make A Difference Day.

The nationwide initiative, sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation, encourages children and adults to make a difference in the world. How they do that is left to the individual and varies around the country and community depending on needs, ability and interests.

It isn't too late to get involved in Make a Difference Day. Just look for a need and try to meet it.

Jayne Tiehes of Jackson will be at the Jackson Post Office from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday collecting black socks for U.S. soldiers in Bosnia for Make a Difference Day.

Tiehes learned about the need for socks among the soldiers through her involvement in AdoptaPlatoon, a Web-based effort to connect U.S. soldiers overseas with people who want to support them by sending letters and care packages.

"Winters in Bosnia can get down to 40 below zero," Tiehes said. "The soldiers are issued one or two pairs of socks, and that's just not enough."

When Tiehes saw an article on Make a Difference Day in a Sunday magazine in the Southeast Missourian, it clicked with her that a great project would be a sock drive. She e-mailed the AdoptaPlatoon organization with the idea, and now there will be seven sock drives in seven states on Saturday.

"All it took was one person to say, 'Here's what we need to do. Let's just do it,'" Tiehes said.

To help with Tiehes' effort, take new black socks to the Jackson Post Office, 201 E. Main, between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Tiehes will box up the socks and send them overseas.

"The socks can be thermal, wool, cotton, whatever, but they have to be black because of Army regulations," Tiehes said.

She also asks people to donate $1 to cover postage for mailing the socks to the soldiers.

"Any money not used for postage will be sent to AdoptaPlatoon headquarters to be used in soldier support," Tiehes said.

Contributors can also take notes of support for the soldiers who will receive the socks, Tiehes said.

"Soldiers get so estatic to have any word from anybody," Tiehes said. "So cards or letters of encouragement will be fantastic."

The Make A Difference Day project of the Girl Scouts of Otahki Council shows how a little effort by one individual, when multiplied by many, can make an impact.

The 3,500 Girl Scouts in the council's jurisdiction of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois have each pledged to pick up at least 10 pieces of trash. That's at least 35,000 less broken bottles, cans, paper and other trash in our parks and streets, said Laura Hinkebein, communications director for the Otahki Council.

"Picking up 10 pieces of trash is not a lot to ask of each member, but it shows how much can be accomplished when we all work together," Hinkebein said.

It's also a project that could be accomplished councilwide without a lot of communications, permission slips or organization.

"No matter where you are or what you are doing that day, you can still participate," Hinkebein said.

For its Make a Difference Day project, the Spanish Club at Cape Central High School is raising funds to support the Central American Solar Energy Project in Guatemala, said Coralie Robertson, Spanish teacher and sponsor of the Spanish Club at Cape Central High School.

Students in the club are organizing a dinner for their parents and sibling tonight. Proceeds raised by donations at the dinner going to adopt a solar family.

"The Maya Indians in Guatemala live near a rain forest," Robertson said. "They spend at least half their time finding and cutting wood for fires to cook their food and for washing." This not only requires a lot of effort, it's also depleting the rain forest.

For $100, the Solar Energy Project will build a family a solar oven that can reduce a family's need for wood by at least one-third, Robertson said. The Spanish Club's contact in Guatemala is Judy Bartlett, a former Cape Girardeau resident and former student at Cape Central, who works with the Solar Energy Project.

The Make a Difference Day effort has connected students not only to the people in Guatemala who they were helping but also to people around the country doing things for others, Robertson said.

"With this project students are not just studying Guatemala in a general way, it makes it much more personal," Robertson said.

Other Make A Difference Day efforts include a clothing and food drive by Sisters in Service, which will also give out free hot dogs and drinks at Arena Park on Saturday.

That effort is being funded by a grant from Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau. Each Wal-Mart store in the nation is awarding $1,000 in grant money from the Wal-Mart Foundation for Make A Difference Day projects, said Valerie Wondrick, community involvement coordinator at the Cape Girardeau Wal-Mart.

The store splits its grant money, giving $500 to Sisters in Service and $500 to the Northern Cherokee Nation for a display at the River Heritage Museum.

The display, which will be on view by Saturday, will feature artifacts art work and history of the Cherokee people, who arrived in this area in 1721, said Mike Seabaugh Sr., who is helping organize the display.

Cape Girardeau Junior Girl Scouts are collecting personal health-care items requested by the Council on Aging in Greenville, N.C., where many elderly remain in temporary housing because of flooding from Hurricane Floyd.

Cape Junior High School students will participate in a "Neighborhood Treat and Sweep" from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. Teams of two to four students and adults will each visit one to two homes near the school to provide the neighbors with a treat, sweep their sidewalks and rake their front yards.

The Jackson Senior Center Food Pantry is giving away clothing, shoes and food to low-income families on Saturday.

Board members of the Area Wide United Way were given a wish list of items needed by the agencies funded by United Way so they could make contributions as Make A Difference Day projects. If anyone else would like to help out an agency for a project, call the United Way at 334-9634 for a list of what is needed.