From the Winchester Star, Monday October 25, 2004

Did you make a difference Saturday?

A lot of people in the Winchester area can say “yes” to that question.

Students from Timber Ridge School in Frederick County, volunteers with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Winchester, and students from Shenandoah University all spent part of Saturday doing good for others.

Saturday was Make a Difference Day, the 14th such event sponsored by USA Weekend magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.

It is the nation’s largest day of community service.

According to the national event’s Web site, www.makeadifferenceday.com, more than three million Americans aided 30 million fellow citizens through 2,300 service projects registered with USA Weekend magazine. There were projects to help hurricane victims in Florida, Native American children in North Dakota, and even one to provide toys for children in Iraq.

Timber Ridge students Logan Bonjour (left) and Donovan Tapscott take part in Saturday’s Make a Difference Day by painting a door at Winchester Day Nursery on Lincoln Street.
(Photo by Ginger Perry)

Locally, children were the focus of the volunteers from Timber Ridge School. Logan Bonjour, 15, was wielding a paintbrush Saturday afternoon at Winchester Day Nursery on Lincoln Street. “I like kids. I like art,” Bonjour said. In this case, the art was a bright blue door.
Other Timber Ridge students were moving heavy file cabinets and turning mulch under the swing set in the playground. Working on the mulch, Gideon Chapman-Garrison found a bonus: fat white grubs which, he said, are excellent fishing bait.

Teresa Largent, Timber Ridge case manager who accompanied the 10 students for the day, searched out a cup to take the treasure back to school.

Timber Ridge students have taken part in Make a Difference Day for several years, she said.

“It lets them get out and do something to be part of the community,” she said, and it teaches responsibility.

Ann Lamanna, a member of the nursery’s board of trustees, said Timber Ridge, a private school and residential treatment center for teens, contacted the nursery about helping out there. “We needed someone to do some heavy work,” she said, noting most of the nursery’s employees and board members are women. “They were looking for a project, and we needed help.” The nursery provides quality day care for children from 16 months to school age, she said.

One of the Timber Ridge students expressed regret that the tiny tots were not around on Saturday. Lamanna had to laugh. With 50 preschoolers watching the work, she said, “We’d never get anything done.”

Bradley Silver turns mulch in the playground area at Winchester Day Nursery on Saturday afternoon. A student at Timber Ridge School, Silver was cleaning, moving, painting, and performing general maintenance as part of Make a Difference Day, sponsored by USA Weekend magazine and the Points of Light Foundation.
(Photo by Ginger Perry