On Saturday, October 25^th, Altrusans really made a difference at Great Oaks Village, a residential facility for children placed in foster care due to parental neglect, abuse and/or abandonment.

Altrusa teamed up with the Adult Literacy League -- the literacy experts! Because Make a Difference Day is so close to Halloween, we chose a Halloween theme. Joyce Whidden, Executive Director of the Adult Literacy League, read a book about the history of Halloween to the children. Joyce is a wonderful storyteller and captured the attention and participation of the children. The children then enjoyed making Halloween bags -- and what would a bag be without something to put in it! The children filled their bags with treats, school supplies and a book. Altrusan, Ruth Tucker, used her teacher skills to keep everything running smoothly and the children loved her!

To cap the day, David Paul of Paul & Coppock enthusiastically joined with Altrusa in making a difference for the children at Great Oaks! With the funding of Mr. Paul and a "wish list" from Ima Whiting, Educational Director for Great Oaks, Altrusa members were able to donate over 100 books for the library, over 30 educational software programs (including the World Book encyclopedia on CD for each of the seven cottages), some current family-style DVDs and educational computer games. In Ima's words, "Wow!"

A great big thank you to David Paul, Joyce Whidden, Sherry Clark, our Literacy Committee Chair, Carol Thomas, and all the Altrusa members who participated.