Agencies list ways to 'make a difference'
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on September 20, 2004 1:57 PM
Although Make A Difference Day 2004 is still a month away, local nonprofit agencies have submitted their wish lists, and now volunteers are needed to make these wishes come true.
The event will be held Oct. 23 and is sponsored locally by the city of Goldsboro, Volunteer Wayne and United Way of Wayne County. It is sponsored nationally by USA Weekend magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.
The day will start with an opening ceremony at 8:30 a.m. at Waynesborough Historical Village, which has been chosen to be the main project for the event. There will be speakers, a program of drum and fife music, singing of the national anthem and refreshments.
Then volunteers will spread out to do a multitude of projects throughout the community.
For those who cannot come out Oct. 23, projects may also be done Oct. 17 through 22 and still count toward Make A Difference Day.
Ten projects nationwide will be chosen to receive a cash award of $10,000 each.
Barbara Stiles, Volunteer Wayne director, hopes the event draws at least 500 volunteers.
Goldsboro Mayor Al King said this promises to be one of the big events of the year. "We need to rally our people around the pole and get as much as we can to the people who need us," he said.
Projects that need volunteers include:
*Waynesborough Historical Village -- repairs on historical buildings, clear part of the Mountain to Sea Trail, build benches for visitors and create a ramp system from one building to another for handicapped visitors.
*Boys and Girls Clubs of Wayne County -- paint maintenance building, paint floor at Northern Wayne unit, hold school supplies drive, give safety presentations, give Power Hour homework assistance.
*Communities In Schools -- hold school supplies drive.
*Habitat for Humanity -- help with home construction (all skill levels needed), volunteer in thrift store, help with administration and clerical work.
*Kitty Askins Hospice Center -- install birdhouses for terminally ill residents to view, donate birdhouses and shepherd hooks to hang them, clean fountain.
*American Red Cross -- help with disaster kit and smoke detector drives for Meals on Wheels recipients, help with Vial of Life project (calling elderly and updating their prescription information for emergencies), install light on front of the building, plant flowers in the flowerbed, install double doors between the warehouse and offices, participate in Oct. 21 blood drive.
*Salvation Army -- hold a food drive, hold a winter coat and blanket drive, offload food, stock shelves, prepare food boxes in food pantry, hold a hygiene kit supplies drive, organize donations at the thrift store.
*Soup Kitchen -- hold a food drive.
*Tuscarora Council of Boy Scouts -- skilled crew needed to install carpet provided by the council.
*Volunteer Wayne/RSVP -- register volunteers on Make A Difference Day and assign projects, contact a short-term volunteer list and update them, help with maintaining the center's history, organize scrapbooks with newspaper articles and photos.
*WARM (Wayne Area Role Models Mentoring Program) -- help get the word out to the community about the program.
To register for a project, go to the Volunteer Wayne Web site at www.volunteersolutions.org or call 735-5151. Volunteers must register by Oct. 8.
Anyone doing other projects than those listed above are asked to register them with Volunteer Wayne.