Volunteerism highlights 2023 Difference Makers

The ripples that volunteers make in a community are too vast and far-reaching to really be quantified, but something that our Difference Makers campaign highlights each year is that they are there and they are significant.

We will announce our 10 finalists for 2023 on our social media Friday and in print on Saturday.

Today, we’re announcing Chris Rushin and youth from Boys and Girls Club of the Heartland as our keynote speakers for the Aug. 17 banquet, which will be held at the Black River Coliseum.

On that night, we’ll name our Difference Maker of the Year and present Boys and Girls Club with funds raised through this campaign. We pick a charity to support each year, to help the work all of our Difference Makers are doing continue.

“We’re very grateful to the Daily American Republic for choosing Boys and Girls Club of the Heartland for this prestigious event,” said Rushin, the Boys and Girls Club’s chief executive officer. “Difference Makers highlights volunteerism, which is one of the central values we try to impart on our kids.

“Our organization is a perfect example of how volunteerism can make life better for so, so many people.”

As our keynote speakers this year, Boys and Girls Club offers an incredible example of what those ripples can do in our community. They help us imagine how far the good that is done today could reach.

Boys and Girls Club was revived in Poplar Bluff by the efforts of volunteers, and is now in the middle of an expansion that could change the lives of youth across Southeast Missouri.

When I first came to Poplar Bluff in early 2005, efforts to bring back the Boys and Girls Club program after a long absence were some of the first stories I worked on.

I’ve been privileged to watch the program grow from that small spark to what is today — serving hundreds of youth across Poplar Bluff, Neelyville and Doniphan school districts with even bigger plans on the horizon.

The current program offers after school care for children that includes meals, help with homework and enrichment activities.

In recent years, they’ve stepped up even more by offering dual enrollment college classes. Nearly 40 youth participated in the past school year from the three districts, staff shared this week.

And what’s just as important, they’re raising youth to be volunteers, to see needs in their community and be the people who find a solution, fill the gap or reach out a helping hand.

Volunteer projects are also a regular part of the curriculum, shared Robbie Toth-Cosby, executive director.

Youth just this week hosted an event at Twin Towers for the residents there, something they do regularly.

One of the residents is someone who had not participated in many activities before connecting with Boys and Girls Club events, shared Kat Hall, middle school unit director. The individual also has no family in the area to visit.

Organizers connected the individual with a youth in the program and they quickly became friends.

It helped bring the resident out of his shell and he has since begun visiting more with other residents, staff at Twin Towers have told Hall and Toth-Cosby.

Other efforts the youth have participated in include landscaping at Haven House, a local domestic violence shelter, working with Bread Shed, which provides food to those in need, park clean up, programs for seniors at Cedar Gate, making treats for the animals at the animal shelter, sending relief items to communities which have experienced a tragedy, and drives to collect items needed by FosterAdopt Connect, which serves foster families.

These are the kind of projects that have a direct impact on our community today, but will also be felt by area in ways we can’t yet see. I’m sure many of these children will become lifelong volunteers. Teaching children the value of volunteering, and how that strengthens and improves our world, is what creates generational change.

Rushin will share more about the importance of volunteering when he speaks Aug. 17, and youth from the Boys and Girls Club will be there to share their first-hand experiences as well.

Check out our social media and print editions in the coming days for information on our 10 finalists.

Donna Farley is the editor at the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at dfarley@darnews.com.