Make A Difference Day
Make A Difference Day 2012 will be on October 18-19, 2013. Watch for more information!
We celebrated our Veterans, Servicemen and Women, and Families for Make a Difference Day 2011!
  
On Friday, October 21st the Darke County United Way celebrated Make a Difference Day, organized by
HandsOn West Central Ohio, a Council on Rural Services program. Make a Difference Day is a large day of
service across the United States to give back to those who make a difference in our lives everyday. The United
Way partnered with volunteers from Brethren Retirement Community, Second National Bank, and State of the
Heart Hospice to make cards for veterans, service men and women and their families in Darke County to say
thank you for their kind service to our country. “We are very proud of our veterans and military families, and
want to express our gratitude and appreciation for the difference they make everyday in our lives. We are very
fortunate to have such caring and brave men, women and families in our community and want to say thank you
for their truly generous service,” states Lauren Henry, executive director of Darke County United Way. The
goal is to make at least 100 cards and hopefully many more to send to these families for Veterans Day. The
United Way is also fortunate to have Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County making cards as
well as the First Presbyterian Church Youth program in Greenville making cards for our servicemen and
women, families, and veterans. It is a collaborative project as so many groups believe it is very important to
say thank you and celebrate patriotism. The Darke County United Waywould also like to thank the Darke
County Chapter of the American Red Cross as they distribute these cards to our military families, and United
Way would like to thank our volunteers who helped with this project.
Make A Difference Day was October 22-23rd, 2010 and had a fantastic project this year partnering with
Gateway Youth and Big Brothers Big Sisters for lawn maintenance and bringing smiles to Darke County
seniors by making care packages for the seniors on CAP's meals for the elderly home-delivered meals
program.
Click here to read about our day and our wonderful donors!
  
Darke County United Way once again teamed up with HandsOn West Central Ohio, Logan County United
Way, Piqua Area United Way, Shelby County United Way, Tipp City United Way, and Troy United Way.
HandsOn West Central Ohio offers more information about project proposals and volunteering so if you are
a non-profit organization, school, church, etc and want to help on Make A Difference Day, visit their website
today. Volunteers will be accepted in September.
2009 Make a Difference Day:
Darke County United Way partnered with HandsOn West Central Ohio, Piqua United Way,
Shelby County United Way, & Tipp City United Way to bring service projects throughout the county
on October 23-24, 2009 for National Make A Difference Day.
   
Darke County had 8 countywide projects in the first Make a Difference Day celebrated in Darke County.
We had 79 volunteers working helping with projects at Brethren Retirement Community (Autumn Soup
and Sampler), Catholic Social Services with St Denis (Senior Warm-up gifts), Darke County United Way
(lawn and maintenance work), Council on Rural Services & Safehaven (Great Pumpkin Fest), Kids Learning
Place (bean soup and reading to children), Wayne Hospital - (organ transplant recipient new roof project),
& Greenville Fort Renovation with Mote & Associates.
   
Our volunteers made this event so successfully and deserve all of the credit. To volunteer they went to
HandsOn West Central Ohio's Make a Difference Day site or called Sherry Baker at 548-8002 and
registered for a project. It is that simple to give back to your community!! We had a lot of individuals
and groups volunteering. Some included: Second National Bank, Wayne Hospital, Mote & Associates,
St Denis Youth Group, Girl Scouts, Opportunity 13, Michael's Home, & Arcanum Senior High.
The project overall in all counties Shelby, Darke, & Miami had 130 volunteers at a cost value of
$10,708.81 total of volunteer hours.
   
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