make a difference day | Area activities

Make a Difference Day will be observed Saturday. The event is the nation’s largest day of citizens’ volunteering to make communities stronger. In 2007, 3 million people cared enough to volunteer in their communities. Frances Strickland, first lady of Ohio, and Jim Tressel, Ohio State University football coach, are chairmen of the statewide effort and members of the Ohio Community Service Council. Area activities include:

Austintown Community Evangelical Community Church: A brief service will be at 8:30 a.m. at the church, 242 S. Canfield-Niles Road, Austintown. More than 60 volunteers from members, families, children and friends of the church will head in various directions. Several crews will help people in need at their homes with such chores as painting, minor repairs and cutting downed trees. At the church, members will assemble 150 Thanksgiving food baskets made possible with donations of many people including the families and children from the ACC Preschool and Childcare Center. Several church members will visit shut-ins at their homes and at local facilities. Homemade candy will be made to be given to Southern Care, a local hospice, for patients. Knitters from the church have made bandages that will be collected and prepared for shipment overseas for people with leprosy, AIDS and other illnesses. Participants will meet between 11:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. in fellowship hall for a hot lunch. For more information, call the church office at (330) 799-4214 or visit the Web site at: www.yourACC.org.

Family Promise of Mahoning Valley: The program for homeless people will stage a cardboard box city from 4 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday at Howland Community Church, 198 Niles-Cortland Road S.E., Warren. Volunteers are needed to gather pledges and spend the night sleeping in a cardboard box on the church lawn. The project is meant to bring attention to the plight of the homeless in the Mahoning Valley. Family Promise is a program that provides shelter, meals and support services to homeless families. Ten to 12 congregations host the families and provide lodging, three meals daily and care. During the day, the families uses a local day center and receives case management services. The event will include entertainment, speakers, a service and soup kitchen. For information, call (330) 219-3511.