Created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October.  A national event, Make A Difference day is one of the largest and most encompassing volunteer events each year.  Millions of people show they care by working with neighbors and helping neighbors in communities across the country.

Groundwork Bridgeport received a Make A Difference Day Award for the Park City Sweep!

Regional Honorees: Make A Difference Day Awards, April 2001

Connecticut - $2,000 state awards

Groundwork Bridgeport, a non-profit agency that focuses on cleaning up urban blight, drew 500 volunteers to work on 11 landscaping and cleanup projects.  Volunteers from groups ranging from the African American Club at Central High School to AmeriCorps, Fairfield University, and community leaders, removed trash and planted 17 trees at a site, fixed basketball courts and nets, spruced up a park and playground in a poor neighborhood, and brightened a street corner with trees.  In a city where the skyline is marked by empty factories, the landscaping makes a difference, says organizer Brian Gockley.
(article taken from the USA Weekend Magazine website)

See all the 2001 Honorees at the USA Weekend Magazine website.