sponsored by USA Weekend and the Points of Light Foundation endorsed by Credit Professionals International |
| The CPI Executive Committee encourages all members to participate in USA Weekend's Make A Difference Day on Saturday, October 25, 2008. What is Make A Difference Day? Created by USA Weekend Magazine and co-sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of October. It is now the most encompassing national day for helping others - a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Eleven local CPI associations and twenty-five individual members participated in 2006. See those results. This year we’d like to at least double our participation and see every District represented. Why is Credit Professionals International endorsing this project? This is a win/win situation for us. We can have a positive impact in our communities, and also gain recognition for CPI and the Credit Education Resources Foundation. And there's even the possibility of a cash award. Paul Newman, who donates all after-tax profits from sales of his Newman's Own products to educational and charitable purposes, donates $10,000 each to ten selected projects. These ten honorees, plus hundreds of local honorees, will be spotlighted in the April 2008 issue of USA Weekend during National Volunteer Week, and on the USA Weekend website. CPI members already make a difference in their communities...now we have an opportunity to increase our impact and visibility at the national level. Our support of this project is a joint effort of the CPI and Foundation Marketing Committees. What do I have to do? All you have to do is help someone else on the next Make A Difference Day, Saturday, October 25, 2008, and then send a completed entry form for your project to the Project Coordinator, Carol Neal, Foundation Marketing Chairman by November 3, 2008. Carol and CPI Marketing Chairman Pat Bivens will pull together all the forms from CPI members and local associations around the nation and send our one combined entry in to the magazine in early November. Let Carol know by September 1, 2008, what you are planning to do, and we might be able to get you included in a USA Weekend Cover story featuring planned projects and arrange for local volunteers and media coverage for your event, another incentive to participate and more great publicity for CPI and your local association! What type of projects will be included? Your project can be as large or as small as you wish. Look around your community and see what needs to be done. There is even an Idea Generator on the Make A Difference Day website. If your local association regularly holds a Walk-a-Thon or other fund-raiser for the Foundation, if you do budgeting, mortgage or credit seminars for the public, or give presentations on Identity Theft at senior centers, try to hold your regular event on October 27, 2007. Or do something new...hold a car wash, traffic stop, or bake sale to raise money for the Foundation or a local charity, get all your members to help out on a Habitat for Humanity project or work at a food bank for the day, go sing or run errands at a senior center or clean up a park. Your project doesn't have to be credit related...it just has to make a difference! If you are a Member-at-Large or Direct member and don't have a local association, you can still participate. Visit someone in a nursing home or hospital, help an elderly neighbor with work around her house, volunteer for the day at a soup kitchen, make arrangements to tutor a child, or take your local girl scout or boy scout troop to a museum. You can also still do group projects by getting your friends, families, and co-workers to join you. See what previous honorees have done. Are there any rules? The project or activity must take place on Saturday, October 25, 2008, rain or shine (unless it conflicts with your religious practices, in which case you can participate on October 28 instead). If you need more than one day for your project, still plan to do a good part of the volunteering on Make A Difference Day. For example, if you are gathering food to deliver to a shelter, you can get the food the week before but make your delivery on that day. Or if you're refurbishing a school room or helping rebuild a storm damaged house, you might have to do some of the construction before and finish up painting and detail work after, but try to do the majority of the work on the project day. There are many project tools to help you plan a successful day, but to participate in the combined entry for Credit Professionals International, you must fill out the USA Weekend entry form and send it along with any pictures and documentation to Carol Neal by November 3, 2008. Can't I just go ahead and send my entry directly to USA Weekend? Yes, of course you can, but we feel we have a greater chance for recognition if we can show a large number of individuals and locals participating in a wide variety of events across the country, all under the name of Credit Professionals International. Remember, our theme this year is "Invest in Your Future". Invest the time and effort now to Make A Difference in the future in your community and for CPI! What if I have more questions? See the answers to Frequently Asked Questions at the Make A Difference Day website, or send your questions to Carol Neal or Pat Bivens. 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this page last updated 8/1/2007
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