 October 22 was National Make a Difference Day. Make a Difference Day was started in 1990 by USAWeekend magazine. Held on the fourth Saturday in October every year, it is a national day to help people or places that are disadvantaged. Activities take place in small towns and cities across the country. Over 3 million people were doing good deeds all across America that day. As one of America's leading service organizations for young women, the Miss America Organization encourages its state and local titleholders to get out into the community and make a difference on this day each year.  I started my morning with my chaperone/business manager Barb Gehlen (thanks for coming with me Barb!) in Albertville, Minnesota at a fashion show hosted by ARC. Bethany Beniek, Liz Scipioni, and Siri Freeh (some of my Miss Minnesota Organization sisters) were there as well to support ARC's fund raising efforts. I had such a wonderful time meeting all of the participants. They were all so excited to model in the show. Sophie (pictured above) wore a beautiful blue dress, and her big sister helped her with her gorgeous eye make up! I also made a new buddy named Tor (pictured below), whose goal was to look just like Justin Beiber. I think he succeeded!  The ARC promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and actively supports their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes. For more information about ARC, visit their website www.thearc.org. A huge thank you to Diane, who headed up the planning of the event, and to Katherine Majkrzak, who arranged for me to model, speak and perform at the fashion show!  Later that afternoon, I went to Thomson Reuters in Eagan to assemble 3,000 birthday gift bags for children in need. I was joined by Girl Scout troops and other volunteers from all over our great state of Minnesota. This was an incredible experience for me as Miss Minnesota. I often go to events and perform and speak (those are huge aspects of my job, which I love!), but it felt amazing for me to be involved physically in packaging birthday bags, knowing that they were going to children in need all over the state. A huge thank you to Karen Kitchel, President of Cheerful Givers, and the rest of the people behind this organization for including me in your service works on Make a Difference Day. I am a Cheerful Giver! Cheerful Givers is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides toy-filled birthday gift bags to food shelves and shelters so that parents living in poverty can give their child a birthday gift. In 2010, 52,227 less fortunate children were able to experience the joy of receiving a birthday gift from their parents because of the work done by the Cheerful Givers organization. The challenge facing Cheerful Givers for 2011 is to provide over 60,000 less fortunate children with birthday gifts. Their vision is that all parents living in poverty will be able to give their child a birthday gift. For more information about this incredible organization, visit their website: www.cheerfulgivers.org How are you making a difference in your community? :) (205 miles) Comments Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply | AuthorNatalie Davis ArchivesMay 2012 Categories |
RSS Feed