Make A Difference Day Chapter Awards

Service is one of Golden Key’s three pillars and giving back to the community is a core value of Golden Key.  We are proud to support Make A Difference Day and our members made up a large part of the millions of people around the country who volunteered on October 27 this year.
After reviewing all the submissions, we are very excited to announce our three Make A Difference Day Chapter award winners. The Most Outstanding Make A Difference Day Initiative award, worth $500, goes to the California State University, San Bernardino chapter of Golden Key with their “Beautify Belvedere” project.  Students at the chapter partnered with Belvedere Elementary, a local elementary school in a low-income community, to restore it. They trimmed and pruned plants, cleaned and picked up trash, and made the school a more beautiful and safe place for the children. Congratulations CSUSB!

The American Public University System and University of South Dakota Golden Key chapters also won $250 each for their superior participationwith their “Community Center Rejuvenation” and “Trick or Treat Help Kids Eat” projects, respectively.
Even though they are an online university, the American Public University System chapter was able to come together for a Make A Difference Day event at the Douglas Community Learning Center in Winchester, Virginia.  They collaborated with the Winchester Police Department to revitalize the community center for children, which included spreading mulch in the play area and repainting tables and other items. They also had extra time after the event to go to a local neighborhood to pick up trash.
The University of South Dakota Golden Key chapter partnered with Coyoteopoly, a financial organization on campus, for a food drive. They started the project a week before Make A Difference Day to distribute bags in preparation for the food drive.  Then on the day, they collected the food and spent hours at the Vermillion Food Pantry organizing it.
Congratulations to our three winning chapters and a big thank you to all of our chapters that participated in Make A Difference Day. In fact so many of you participated, that USA Today gave Golden Key a shout out in their article “Millions turn out for national Make A Difference Day.”