The playground build was organized by the USA Freedom Corps office and KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that links communities and corporations together to build safe and accessible playgrounds. Members of the Washington D.C. campus of AmeriCorps*NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) will train and supervise volunteers. The playground was designed by children from the Anacostia neighborhood where the playground is being built with the support of Home Depot.

Make A Difference Day is the largest community service effort in the nation. Last year, a record 2.2 million volunteers participated in the day, benefiting an estimated 22 million people. It is sponsored by USA WEEKEND Magazine and the Points of Light Foundation. Members of their staffs will also participate in the playground build.

"Through Make A Difference Day, millions of men, women and young people across the country will be answering President Bush's Call to Service by dedicating their time to meeting important community needs," says John Bridgeland, assistant to the President and director of USA Freedom Corps. "We are pleased to be a part of Make A Difference Day, and hope that more Americans will make lifelong commitments to volunteer service as a result of their participation in this nationwide day of service."

Make A Difference Day also marks AmeriCorps' traditional kick-off for 2002-2003 program year with swearing-in ceremonies of new AmeriCorps members across the country. This year more than 50,000 AmeriCorps members will meet community needs in education, the environment, public safety, homeland security, and other areas.

"AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and student volunteers will be out in force on Make A Difference Day, as they are every day, showing what can be done when people get involved in their communities," said Leslie Lenkowsky, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. "This day of service not only will meet needs in our communities, it will help build the culture of citizenship, service and responsibility that President Bush has called for."

AmeriCorps and Senior Corps volunteers will lead a wide range projects on Saturday, including:

• Making A Difference for Battered Women, Mid-Atlantic Region: More than 200 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members will be in Hecht's/Strawbridge's stores in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington D.C. to provide information on local battered women's shelters, collect in-kind donations, and recruit volunteers. AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members have contacted shelters to draw up "wish lists" of needed supplies. Hecht's/Strawbridge's will donate five percent of all houseware items they sell on October 26 in the form of in-kind products.

• Kits for Kids, Jefferson City, MO: AmeriCorps members are assembling kits for children at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Each kit will contain items such as construction paper, markers, colors, stickers, beads, stencils and colored pencils, construction paper for making cards, feathers, glitter glue. Each kit will also contain a note for the child who receives it. The kits will be delivered to St. Louis Children's Hospital on Make A Difference Day.

• Homeland Security Starter Kits, Woodside, DE: ROTC Cadets from POLYTECH High School and Kent County RSVP Senior Corps volunteers will assemble Emergency Kits and distribute them to Kent County Senior Centers. The project is intended to serve seniors who cannot afford to purchase essential emergency and disaster preparedness items.

• Cemetery Mapping and Restoration Project, Bradenton, Florida: The Volunteer Center will coordinate mapping and restoration projects at three neglected cemeteries in Manatee County, Fla. In collaboration with the Manatee County Government Cemetery Task Force, AmeriCorps members will meet youth, teens, families, senior volunteers at each cemetery to learn the history of the sites; be trained by master gardeners regarding to use landscaping materials that are natural to the Florida environment; and identify and report grave sites that are in need of repair. The volunteers will create maps to indicate individual burial sites. Youth will draw the headstones.