Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others -- a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October. The next event is Saturday, October 24, 2009.

Millions have participated. In 2008, 3 million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer on that day, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of towns.

This year, University of Phoenix is helping HandsOn Network Action Center Greater DC Cares revitalize Ron Brown Middle School in Washington DC on Make A Difference Day. Hundreds of volunteers from University of Phoenix, USA WEEKEND Magazine, Greater DC Cares, Serve DC, CNCS and the surrounding community will come together to complete indoor and outdoor projects and make the school a more inviting place for students, teachers, and parents.

Families are welcome to join us on this service project.  Please note the minimum age is 13 to partcipate on this day.

As part of the library revitalization project at Ron Brown, we are encouraging volunteers to bring age-appropriate books to the school to help fill their library, which is in great need of updated books.

Below is a list of suggested books:

Suggested Books for Sixth Grade

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Sounder by William H. Armstrong
• Kids on Strike! by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer
• The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
• Some Friend by Marie Bradby
• Blood on the River: James Town, 1607 by Elisa Carbone
• Samir and Yonatan by Daniella Carmi
• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
• Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies
• Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine
• Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Fire From the Rock by Sharon M. Draper
• Bull Run by Paul Fleischman
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito by Sheila Garrigue
• Hip Hop Speaks to Children edited by Nikki Giovanni
• Zeely by Virginia Hamilton
• Shug by Jenny Han
• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
• Redwall by Brian Jacques
• The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg
• Kampung Boy by Lat
• Savvy by Ingrid Law
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Hidden Talents by David Lubar
• Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay
• Three Cups of Tea (Young Readers’ Edition) by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
• Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
• Our White House: Looking in, Looking Out
• A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
• Alanna by Tamora Pierce
• Night Boat to Freedom by Margot Theis Raven
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
• The Wall by Peter Sis
• Baseball in April and Other Stories by Gary Soto
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• The Nine-Ton Cat: Behind the Scenes at an Art Museum by Peggy Thomson
• Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? by Eleanor Updale
• Gladiator by Richard Watkins
• So B. It by Sarah Weeks
• Red Rose Box by Brenda Woods
• After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

Suggested Books for Seventh Grade:

• I Am the Darker Brother by Arnold Adoff
• Chains by Laurie H. Anderson
• Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World by Jennifer Armstrong
• Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer
• Bowman’s Store: A Journey to Myself by Joseph Bruchac
• The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
• I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
• A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
• Phineas Gage by John Fleischman
• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
• The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig
• Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm
• Totally Joe by James Howe
• The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Huges
• Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang
• The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph
• Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai… by Joseph Lekuton
• Travel Team by Mike Lupica
• Thunder Rolling in the Mountains by Scott O'Dell
• Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• Esperanza Rising by Pamela Munoz Ryan
• Taking Sides by Gary Soto
• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson