CMU makes a difference with literary programs for youth
The department of off-campus events will be working to change and enhance the lives of Mid-Michigan's youth on Saturday.
The department will hold the sixth annual literacy-and reading-concentrated CMU Make a Difference Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Finch Fieldhouse.
"We have done this for six years. We wanted to provide an event that was reading and literacy-focused," said 2008 CMU Make a Difference Day Chair and Academic Adviser Steve Rellinger. "It's free. We started out with 60 kids the first year, (then) about 200 the second and 500 after that. This year we're shooting for 750."
Make a Difference Day is a national community action, sponsored by USA TODAY WEEKEND in partnership with the HandsOn network and Newman's Own, and is about helping others and making a difference in someone's life.
During this single day, there are events of all kinds located across the nation.
Julie Wagester, CMU Make a Difference Day founder and associate director of project management, said the day is concentrated on reading and writing because CMU is a a major teaching school.
"It's a focus always on literacy and reading. Reading and literacy was the first thing that we thought about, being a teaching school," Wagester said. "Make a Difference Day is set up as an event to lend helping hands to others, (and) our school does it in a unique way."
During this event children will be given bags full of educational prizes when they walk in. While walking around, the young and the young at heart will have a chance to take pictures with Clifford the Big Red Dog and Dora the Explorer.
Free books will also be handed out, along with the mailman Mr. McFeely, from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, who will be there to kick off a sweater drive and tell stories from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information on Make a Difference Day, visit cel.cmich.edu/diffday.
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