Let's Celebrate Make a Difference Day!
October 23, 2021
CNU Men’s Lacrosse volunteer, Will C. participating in LtN’s Beach clean-up in Panama.
This Saturday, October 23rd, is Make a Difference Day. It is celebrated on the fourth Saturday of October each year. On this day, people come together in a common mission to improve society. Make a Difference Day was founded in 1992 when USA Weekend, the second-largest national newspaper at the time, suggested to their readers that they should do something good for their communities and for those in need. Their reasoning and selling point was that since that year was a leap year, and therefore had an extra day, that the day should be put to good use by helping others. Today, the holiday places emphasis on volunteerism and community service by encouraging everyone to take action in their community
There are endless examples of how one may choose to observe Make A Difference Day. It can be organizing a food drive, blood drive or recycling event, cleaning up a local park or school grounds, volunteering at an animal shelter or senior home, or helping raise money for a local charity or donating yourself. It can even be as simple as writing a Thank You card or saying some kind words to someone who is struggling. There is no shortage of ways that you can help your community or those in need and there is no gesture too big or too small! This day is the perfect way for people to give something back to the communities in which they live, work, or play. You can choose any area of need that exists within your community and find a way to help.
If you have your own great idea for making a difference in your community, you can plan your own service project for Make A Difference Day! Planning a service project gives you the chance to be a leader in your community and allows others to come together for a good cause - which is yet another way to make a difference by deepening relationships between neighbors and creating a fun day for your community! Project leaders who register a project at the Make A Difference Day website are also eligible for the Make A Difference Day awards. Each year, 14 winners each receive a $10,000 grant to donate to the charity served by their project! Be sure to check out the Make A Difference Day Website if you wish to register your own project, find inspiration for ways you can make a difference, join a service project that interests you, or read some incredible stories about how some people have helped make a difference in their community!
LtN student-athletes Denis and Adolfo help clean their community beach.
Are you still looking for a service project to take on for the big day? Join LtN’s mission to make a difference in the lives of children around the world, using lacrosse! You can donate, become an ltn champion, or even volunteer to coach lacrosse in your local area! Need tips on a youth lacrosse clinic? LtN provides all the tools and tips to get started - just shoot us a message!
Do something, anything, on Make A Difference Day this year that will help better your community and our society, and encourage others to do the same! Anyone, no matter their age or background can take action, big or small, to make the world a better place.
- Panama Program Director, Caleigh DeCaprio
#MakeADifferenceDay #NationalMakeADifferenceDay
Sports on World Mental Health Day!
Mental Health in sports and in athletes. It’s just as big as physical health.
Happy World Mental Health Day! The goal of this day is to raise awareness of mental health issues, to mobilize efforts in support of mental health, and to remind people of the priority mental health should take. The day-to-day aspects of our lives such as work, sports, school and relationships can drain our mental health, or rejuvenate it. By understanding what boosts and drains your mental health personally, you can recognize when you can dig in or when you need to take a moment for yourself to maintain healthy balance.
For athletes, mental health is just as big of a factor in performance as physical health. During the Summer Olympics, Simone Biles demonstrated exactly how important it is to recognize your limits mentally. When an athlete is facing bad mental health, it can affect their relationships, their personal confidence, their body, their love for the sport and so much more. With physical performance inextricably tied to mental state, sports can become a great platform for exercising of self-awareness and the building of positive mental practices.
At the youth development level, sport becomes many people’s first encounter with the practice of “leaving your problems at the door.” By this, we do not mean “totally ignore your issues by distracting yourself on the field.” When taught intentionally by trained coach mentors, the sports field becomes the place to assess your current mental state to come to a decision on what and how you can contribute outside of yourself today - that goes for coaching too! When we are able to hone this skill, sports can become a healthy way to take a break ourselves from the things that suck our emotional energy, and can provide us with space away from a problem that may help us find perspective and solution. While LtN uses lacrosse as our tool for healthy mental processing, we all have hobbies and passions that can provide this space for us.
When your mental health is low, it is important to take the time to nurture it and build it back up. Some ways to improve mental health are to seek help through a mentor or trained professional, do something fun, get physically active, think about the things you’re thankful for, or spend time helping others. Take the time to think about where your mental health is today, and the ways that you can improve it. Happy World Mental Health Day to all the beautiful minds!
Celebrating Women's Equality Day
LtN strives to promote equality in all aspects of our programming and decision-making. We recognize that different peoples, communities, and governments often receive privileges that others do not. Today we would like to take some time to recognize and celebrate Women’s Equality Day.
Brooke Wilson, our Communications & Development Director, plays lacrosse with a young female LtN student-athlete in Managua, Nicaragua
In U.S. history, the right to vote has always been one of the primary methods through which the people’s voice was heard. It wasn’t until August 26, 1920, that women’s right to vote was ratified after years of women fighting to speak on their own behalf. There was, and continues to be, an extended adjustment period in politics and greater society as women immerse themselves into what was long considered a “man’s world.” Moreover, there are countless communities around the globe wherein women’s rights are still far, far behind those of U.S. women.
LtN Nicaragua coach, Darien Silva, observing practice with LtN student-athlete Nathaniel
Every year, Women’s Equality Day is celebrated in the United States to serve as a reminder of the national strides towards gender equality that have been made. We at LtN use this day also as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done both domestically in the United States and abroad in our Latin American communities. Women around the world put in hard work and dedicated time to shape their lives into a product of their own imaginations, but not everywhere can their efforts translate into changed realities.
Shauna Pugliese, former LtN Panama volunteer, sharing some lacrosse insight at practice on Isla Bastimentos
LtN is proud to help young girls and women realize their full potential and to celebrate their strength. Through our all-girls programming lead by Coach and LtN Alum, Darien Silva, along with our scholarships and tutoring programs, we aim to provide safe and reliable spaces for girls to exercise, compete, learn about themselves, and observe strong role models.
We celebrate Women’s Equality Day and remind ourselves - and our audiences - that there is always more work to be done to level the playing field. We are grateful for all of the mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, cousins, and more that are role models for young girls and boys alike.
—Joanna, LtN Summer VISTA