Last week I championed “Week Without Violence” by sharing my personal experiences with domestic violence.

I feel that I must promote another social cause that will be arriving next Saturday.

Well, I am obsessed with championing causes of all good (and mostly liberal) stripes since I came of age as a Socially Conscious activist in the mid-eighties at Rutgers University. Even in those days, not everyone was solely interested in self-absorption for materialism.

There were a few non-materialistic humans around who were still wanting to change this screwed up planet. I was then (and still am today) trying to make changes for a better world. Next Saturday, Oct. 26 is the official declaration for MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY which is a special day to take time out of your life and improve the world in which you live.

Doing various activities from cleaning one’s room to helping an illiterate person learn how to read are numerous parts in creating a better life for both yourself and someone less fortunate. There are dual gains for everyone which are not solely reserved for the holiday season.

In helping all of the ISU community to get started on making these positive changes.I will be giving some names, phone numbers and web sites of local and national organizations where anyone who wants to do something worthwhile can take advantage of these contacts:

United Way (515) 246-6540

Make a Difference Hotline 1-(800) 416-3824

Netday http://www.netday96.com

Webstock http://www.webstock96.com

Keep looking for any articles in the Daily, Ames Daily Tribune and the Des Moines Register for increased awareness of this special day.

Also, if you want to search further for more localized organizations needing volunteers please look in the Yellow Pages under Social Service Organizations where you can make personal contact any group ranging from ACCESS/Assault Care Center Extending Shelter &Support to Youth & Shelter Services, INC for next Saturday and beyond.

For those early morning people who were listening to “newsTalk” on KURE-FM this Sunday with representatives from ISU Democrats, College Republicans and an unnamed editor from the Daily were openly reminding the ISU community to register before Oct. 26 if you want to vote in this year’s election.

Regardless of your political affiliation, quit complaining about how the entire world stinks, get registered and VOTE!!

Become a registered voter and remember that on Nov. 5 that there are eight choices for president that you can choose from or elect to write-in. Again, as a registered voter myself, I cannot stress upon it enough. If you don’t vote in this or any election, you are only hurting yourself, so don’t whine. Once you start voting, keep it up in every future election because every vote counts. Make it your major difference.

While planning for Make a Difference Day, I started thinking about the importance of doing something that is good.

I have done a lot of good for myself while helping others in my lifetime from giving clothes away to the neighborhood Salvation Army to binding books in braille for blind schoolchildren at the Metropolitan New Jersey Chapter of the American Red Cross.

All of these experiences were highly valuable. I also spent seven and a half years volunteering at a public radio station that plays Jazz. I learned about Art History at the Newark Museum by writing press releases and cataloging records of art holdings.

Even I gave something back to Rutgers by evolving as an officer for the Black Alumnae Network of Douglass College and as Class Historian for my class. The times that I’ve shared myself with these groups were wonderful. Even today, one of my other jobs is involved with community outreach through volunteering. So giving and receiving for me has always come full circle. It’s a significant part of my life.

What to do after Make a Difference Day? Keep going further beyond next Saturday by carrying out differences all year long and changing the world in our own small ways.

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Adrian DeVore is a senior in food science from Newark. She has a B.A. in English from Rutgers University (Douglass College).