Illinois Wesleyan Students to Participate in Make-a-Difference Day
October 6, 2004
BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—On Saturday, Oct. 9, the Illinois Wesleyan community will take part in Make-a-Difference Day. The day is devoted to volunteerism in communities throughout the country. Projects can include anything from tidying the neighborhood park, serving food to the homeless, to helping an elderly person move boxed belongings.
Illinois Wesleyan students will perform a variety of service activities. From 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., volunteers are invited to serve lunch and fold calendars at Home Sweet Home Mission, 303 E. Oakland Ave. Groundwork and leaf-raking will take place at the David Davis Mansion, 1000 E. Monroe Dr., from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. and again from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and at OSF St. Joseph, 2200 E. Washington, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Volunteers will also wash windows and plant flowers at the Campus Religious Center, 210 W. Mulberry, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. All locations are in Bloomington-Normal.
In addition to doing clean-up work, volunteers are invited to put their creativity to use for a good cause. From 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., students and community members will meet in the BroMenn Hospital lobby, Virginia at Franklin Ave., to paint birdhouses for long-term patients. In the DugOut of the Memorial Student Center, 104 University St., the American Red Cross will provide supplies for volunteers to create personalized cards to send to soldiers in Iraq as well as thank-you cards to be sent to people who donate blood.
Martha Ayres, a senior finance major from Godfree, Ill., is the organizer of this year’s Illinois Wesleyan Make-a-Difference Day. The holiday of service is observed nationally on Saturday, Oct. 23.
“Serving in any way, from moving boxes at BroMenn Hospital to actually serving food to the homeless, shows that there are all kinds of services on different levels. One thing that you do for an hour on one day makes a huge difference in someone’s life or business,” said Ayres, who developed an interest in community volunteerism while interning at the United Way of McLean County.
“Helping others is something that if you start early on in life, you will continue to do for the rest of your life, which is what we are trying to encourage.”
For more information on Illinois Wesleyan’s Make-a-Difference Day contact Ayres at (618) 973-5390.
