On January 17, Pleasanton celebrated their Annual Make-A-Difference Festival, which welcomes people from all backgrounds. Adults, students and families are allowed to volunteer and donate to help make the community a better place. Local organizations encourage visitors to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
“[Back then,] there were some high school students that were distressed, that there was only bad news about teenagers, and so we wanted to do something that would provide community service opportunities where people could see what good things many teens just did,” said organizer Jerri Long.
The festival provides opportunities for many to find their own paths. Activities that simulate volunteer situations allow visitors to have fun while helping others.
“[We started it] to make sure that all the organizations who wanted volunteers, adult or youth, could come to an event like this and get everybody together and look at your opportunities and get matchups, “ said organizer Ron Sutton.
Local Organizations
Organizations provide ways to help people such as fundraisers for charity drives and community service opportunities. These organizations are essential for making Pleasanton a positive environment. One of the organizations stationed last Sunday was the Assistance League of Amador Valley.
“Assistance League of Amador Valley is a chapter of a national organization, and we serve children, senior citizens, [and] families in need in the Tri Valley area. We have nine different philanthropic programs. We’re a volunteer organization. We have about 95 members, all volunteers, and we provide some of the things we do as we take kids and need shopping for school clothes and shoes, and we pay for it, “ said ALAV volunteer Chris Perlim.
Vendors from different local organizations not only provide people new opportunities to volunteer, but also advice that can help them. It can be about helping someone get a career in the future, a way to prevent danger, or a way to be more helpful.
“I just want to try my best to make a difference in the best way that I can…when it comes to working with people and just making people happy and like, protecting my community. I just want to make a difference in that way, “ said police explorer Caroline Cheonis.
Some organizations have been coming to the Make-A-Difference festival every year. They even run classes about their work to teach others who have an interest in their subjects.
I’ve been coming to this event in one capacity or another for, like, the past eight years. In fact, they actually had me run classes in one of the side rooms once. So I’ve always pretty much always been the risk by table, “ said disaster fairness coroner Marce Holm.
Pleasanton’s Annual Make A Difference Festival provides a great opportunity to bring people together to build a more positive community.
“I think it has a really big impact overall. People get to meet different people, and then different nonprofits get to spread their awareness, so it’s really a big impact. All right. We recommend people to volunteer for this, “ said Piat Yushhule.
