Making a Difference Every Day

This

s Sa

s Saturday, October 27, is Make a Difference Day. If ever there was a community that gets this message, it is all the PTO leaders and parent volunteers. Our thanks to all of you for not just getting this message, but also living it, day in and day out, all year long!

It’s worth taking a moment to point to some of the great stories on our site that demonstrate just how much of a difference you make.

• Cleaning up the community: The PTA at Frances DeMasi Middle School in Marlton, N.J., helped kids participate in a Civic Responsibility project that included collecting dozens of abandoned tires and other trash to clean up their community.


• Getting bikes to kids who can’t afford them:  A long-standing program at the Charles F. Patton Middle School in Kennett Square, Pa., consists of a bike drive where the PTO helps kids collect and refurbish bikes to give to needy kids. The program has been extended over the years to provide food, toys, and winter coats.


• Helping families who are hurting: PTOs figure out ways to help families in crisis, from delivering meals to offering tutoring services to their kids.


• Assisting schools in need: For several years, the Parent-Teacher Network at Edu-Prize Charter School in Gilbert, Ariz., has donated books, supplies, and toys to the students at the St. Peter Indian Mission School on Arizona’s Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation. They load up a few trucks and deliver the items around the holiday season.


• Weaving character lessons into everyday life: At the Corlears School, a preK-5 private school in New York City, parent volunteers like to bring the children along when they drop off donations at local food pantries so the children can truly understand what the community service project is all about.