On Saturday, October 26, 2019, students from Chico State and Butte College along with hundreds of other community members came together for Make a Difference Day – Butte County (MDDBC). Its purpose: to bring people together from all over as they volunteer to complete various service projects around the community. Make a Difference Day is a national event celebrated annually on the fourth Saturday of October since 1992, emphasizing community service and volunteerism. CAVE took part in bringing our local community and other organizations together to participate in this national movement.
Volunteers gathered at Chico City Plaza around eight a.m. to register for the event and receive their free shirts. Volunteers were split into groups to head to designated locations throughout Chico and Paradise. There were many service projects with different community focuses, including a downtown Chico clean-up where volunteers helped beautify local businesses by cleaning up sidewalks and repainting structures. For the first time, this year CAVE was able to include a location in Paradise to partner with. Thanks to the group Love Paradise, the event was able to help with restoration after the Camp Fire.
Other volunteers cleaned Old Humboldt Road, the Chico State Compost Garden, or took part in the repainting of the blacktop at Rosedale Elementary School. The event also hosted a project at Bidwell Park, where our largest group of volunteers assisted with trash clean-up, removing invasive vegetation and restoring the park while replanting trees. With participation from hundreds of community members, this campus-community day of service was a success!
Make a Difference Day would not have been possible without the help and contributions of many organizations and our sponsors. The event was planned, organized, and managed by the Steering Committee who consists of representatives from CAVE, the City of Chico, Chico State, Student Life and Leadership, Butte College, Downtown Chico Business Association, Chico Chamber, and Love Paradise. CAVE has also had the opportunity to have the event featured on multiple news outlets including Enterprise-Record Newspaper and Action News Daily. It is with hard work, effort, and love for our community that we were able to conduct events like this to celebrate community spirit in uniting students and local residents around the common causes that make Butte County special.