Published: October 09, 2009 08:16 pm      

City to have Make a Difference Day

EDMOND — By James Coburn

The Edmond Sun



Edmond youth will have an opportunity to deepen their volunteerism and community values this month by participating in the Mayor’s Make a Difference Day project on Oct. 24.

This year’s Make a Difference theme is “Edmond Involved.” The initiative is set to involve children 14 - 18 years old in community and philanthropic organizations, Mayor Patrice Douglas said.

“It was real important to me that we focus on the youth in Edmond,” Douglas said. “It’s real important that we bring them in and let them know that we can make a difference. We model the behavior we want them to have and we start teaching them at a young age.”

The City of Edmond has participated in the national Make a Difference Day for several years by building trails, doing clean-ups and raising interest on issues. After Douglas’ success in enlisting youth in her mayoral campaign, she set out to create more opportunities for them to invest in their hometown.

Edmond Involved builds on youth participation on City of Edmond boards, which began a few years ago.

“As my son tells me, he doesn’t really want to sit in a long, boring board meeting,” Douglas said. “But he would actually be very happy to go volunteer his time and has done so since a young child.

“As he also tells me, ‘It’s not the long, boring board meetings that make me excited about going, it’s seeing the smiles on people’s faces after I’ve done it,’” Douglas said.

Student athletes from Oklahoma Christian University asked Douglas if they could volunteer to assist the Edmond youth in doing park projects, she said. OC expects participation from 50 to 100 athletes, Douglas continued.

“They said, ‘Let us mentor. Let us be the example,’” Douglas said.

Three hundred volunteers are needed to work on 15 public projects. Church youth groups, sports groups and school organizations are asked to be a part of Make a Difference Day.



TO LEARN more about Make a Difference Day, call Nicole Westbrook from the City of Edmond at 359-4569 or e-mail her at nicole.westbrook@edmondok.com.