Make A Difference Day 2013 Chapter Awards

Make A Difference Day brought millions of people together on October 26, 2013 to help better our communities.  All Golden Key chapters in the United States and Canada were encouraged to participate in this day of service. Golden Key chapters participated in 101 Make A Difference Day events that ranged from community cleanups to raising breast cancer awareness to providing dental screenings to underprivileged citizens in the area and more. Participating chapters were eligible to apply for our Make A Difference Day Chapter Awards for their outstanding service initiatives.  Upon reviewing all the submissions, we are excited to announce the winners of these awards!

First place goes to the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mayaguez chapter who are awarded $500! The second and third place winners, receiving $250 each, are the chapters at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Simon Fraser University.  Congratulations to these three chapters!
The Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (UPRM) chapter’s Make A Difference Day project was an all-day event that involved four different projects. The projects were focused on: animal care, environmental impact, care for the homeless, and care for the elderly. In the animal care project, the participants helped to keep clean, fed and give love to the animals. The difference was made not only to the animals that live in the place but also to the people that work there every day. During the environmental project, participants cleaned and moistened the areas where the planting was going to take place, gathered compost into several buckets and transferred it to the planting areas. Once the planting was completed, the look of the volunteers and community leaders was one of satisfaction. In the care for the homeless project, they delivered meals and first aid products.  A professor from the university also gave a motivational speech. Finally, members made an impact at “Hogar Brisas de Amor”, a senior home in Mayaguez. During this activity, they shared their time and happiness with the participants from this center. In total, 61 people participated in these four Make A Difference Day service events (32 Golden Key members, 2 honorary members, and 27 friends and family members in the community).  Congratulations UPRM chapter on all your hard work and success!
Check out this awesome video the chapter made to commemorate their project: http://youtu.be/jFbt_7xXg38
More photos of the project can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ld9y5cn
For Make a Difference Day in the Indiana community, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania chapter participated in a fund/food-raiser for the Indiana County Food Bank. Along with other clubs and organizations from both IUP and the Indiana community, 14 members of the Golden Key chapter assisted in raising more 800 pounds of food and $2000 in donations for the food bank! The day was a huge success for the chapter, as those representing Golden Key were the biggest group participating in the Indiana County Make A Difference Day event.
The chapter at Simon Fraser University worked with the Parent Support Services Society of BC, a non-profit in British Columbia, Canada.One of the things this organization specializes in is assisting grandparents who are responsible for the care and guardianship of their grandchildren. Considering their limited income, often-failing health, and special needs children, the chapter decided to hold a fair for the kids at the Burnaby Public Library.  The fair gave the grandparents a chance to unwind and allowed the children to have fun. Around 50 children showed up with their relatives and enjoyed a fun Saturday afternoon. All the volunteers made an effort to make this a successful and entertaining event for everyone.
More photos of the project can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/m5sqkno
Congratulations to our three winning chapters and a BIG thank you to all of our chapters that participated in Make A Difference Day!