Get Involved With Make A Difference Day!
This Saturday, October 28th, volunteers from across the country will unite for Make A Difference Day, one of the largest annual single-days of service nationwide. Since 1992, tens of thousands of volunteers and communities across the country have come together on Make A Difference Day with a single purpose: to improve the lives of others through a wide range of community-driven service projects. People who observe this day perform some form of service for either their communities or those in need.
We all have opportunities every day to change the world, whether helping clean a highway of litter or volunteering at a local shelter to help the homeless. It’s amazing what just a small effort by an individual or group of individuals can do to change the world, or at least their local neighborhood. Make A Difference Day was established to help encourage us to take one day a year to try to make a difference in the world.
Make A Difference Day also is a great way for individuals to give something back to the communities they live and work in. People who want to participate on this day can do so by picking an area of need that exists in a community and fixing that need. It’s not only a great way to give back but also is an opportunity for all of us to improve our communities.
Make A Difference Day resonates with MONAT because the company has a deep-seated belief in giving back to the communities where its customers, Market Partners and employees live. MONAT contributes to many charitable and needy causes. Recently, MONAT demonstrated its commitment to helping others with two great initiatives. In the first, MONAT partnered with Feeding South Florida on Oct. 29 to set up a food pantry for the Homestead community, an area that was hit hard by Hurricane Irma. About 300 local residents, representing their entire families, showed up, making the total number of people served more than 1,500. About 12 volunteers from MONAT’s Miami Home Office worked at the pantry, including CEO Rayner Urdaneta and his wife and son, and Chairman Luis Urdaneta.
“People from different races, different countries and different backgrounds benefited from our event,” said Luisaylen Urdaneta, Senior Manager of Marketing & Gratitude Ambassador, MONAT. “Everyone was extremely grateful and thanked us profusely. I think this is a great representation of gratitude as a way of life…the belief that by helping others you feel real happiness in return. I loved our partnership with Feeding South Florida! We provided these families with healthy food and I know all of us felt honored to be part of such a giving effort.”
The second recent MONAT initiative was Canadian Thanksgiving Initiative for the Markham/Stouffville Salvation Army. This Salvation Army branch offers a weekly cooking class for community women and MONAT Canada took advantage of it to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for each participant. MONAT found out ahead of class how many people were in the families of each of the 15 women in the class and then donated a grocery bag full of all the right amount of ingredients necessary to make a hearty Thanksgiving dinner--turkey, vegetables, potatoes, stuffing and gravy—along with a MONAT Junior System for the children. MONAT’s Canadian office and warehouse staff delivered the groceries to women in the cooking class on Oct. 4th so they could take the food home to their families and cook an old-fashioned Thanksgiving meal!
“On behalf of MONAT Canada, I can say with assurance that we all feel thankful for what we have today and are grateful to be able to share with those who are in need in our community and provide something for them to be grateful for,” said Bethany Baldson, Events & Recognition Manager, MONAT Canada.
Giving back makes you feel better too. The gratitude, pride and fulfillment that come from helping those less fortunate or in need is immense. So this Saturday, why not go out and Make A Difference?
