VOLUNTEERS HELP TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

On Saturday, Oct. 28, hundreds of thousands of Americans will do a good work on Make A Difference Day.

Nearly 560,000 people volunteered to help their neighbors last year on Make a Difference Day, a project sponsored by USA Weekend magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.

Among the inspirational efforts later honored were a puppeteer who teaches peace to abused children, Durham, N.C., residents who collected 279 tons of trash in their neighborhoods, and Chicago high school students who gathered more than 600 pounds of disposable diapers, baby formula, food, clothing and toys for abandoned cocaine-exposed babies.

Today's USA Weekend includes the first call to enter a volunteer project for the fifth annual Make A Difference Day. Schools, businesses and organizations are encouraged to develop a project.

Those who enter also are invited to make the Southeast Missourian aware of your activity.

The projects will be judged by a celebrity panel that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Kathie Lee Gifford, Paul Newman and the Chicago Bears' Chris Zorich. Awards totaling $120,000 will be made to help the good works continue.

National and local honorees, including one from the Southeast Missourian circulation area, will be recognized in an April 1996 issue of USA Weekend. In addition, the Southeast Missourian will make a donation on behalf of the local honorees.

Shirley Ramsey, executive coordinator of the Community Caring Council, says many opportunities for volunteerism already exist in the region. The Retired Senior Volunteer Program, the Court Appointed Special Advocates Program and the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program are just a few of the organizations that use and need volunteers.

Ramsey's organization serves as a clearinghouse of information and helps prevent duplication of effort among some 90 helping agencies and organizations in the area.

Many people want to volunteer time but don't, Ramsey says. "They just don't know how to connect with the system." The CCC helps with that. Its number is 651-2099.

Volunteerism is hardly a one-way street. The council has developed an internship program that places volunteers in an organization where they receive part-time job experience and training while they gain self-esteem.

"When the volunteer period is up they would have a reference that would help them get a job," Ramsey says.

Make A Difference Day is an attempt to inspire more Americans to make a difference.

"We all make a difference," Ramsey says, "but collectively we can make changes."