Make a Difference Day

Candy, costumes, pumpkins and spooky fun are all my favorite things about Halloween. I love all holidays. So when we decided to plan a project for Make a Difference Day on October 24th, we naturally wanted to do something centered around the upcoming holiday. We wanted to be able to share all of our favorite things about Halloween with the children of Utah State Hospital. In the end we decided to throw these youth a carnival full of Halloween activities. Doughnut eating contests, pumpkin and face painting, treat-or-treat bag making were just a few of our carnival activities.
We were given the wonderful opportunity to interact with these youth. It was a joy to see the smiles on their faces as they chowed down on doughnuts, glaze covering their faces, and as they sat waiting to have their faces painted. Equally entertaining were the grimaces and looks of disgust when they bravely touched the mysterious contents of the fear factor boxes. While our Make a Difference Day project may not have served a huge part of our community, we still had the opportunity to affect the lives of these select youth even if it was only for a couple of hours. Not only were we able to give service, but it was a great chance for the VISTAs to work together and with our community. Thank you to all who helped make this day a great success.

Stephanie taking care of the pumpkin painting station
Raquel, the face painting artist

The competitive doughnut eating contest
Sarah with her scary and gory fear factor boxes (We miss her already!)

Potraits of Service

Congratulations to this year’s grand prize winners of the Portraits of Service competition!! United Way of Utah County in conjunction with Bryant Livingston Photography, Provo Towne Centre Mall and Community Action Services and Food Bank encouraged high school students throughout the county to give service in their community. As students logged their hours between July 1^st and September 31^st and wrote a service reflection, they became eligible for free senior portraits and electronic prizes. Seventeen-year-old Colton Shumway of Lone Peak High School was the winner of a MacBook Laptop and $400 portrait package from Bryant Livingston Photography. Seventeen year-old Emily Knorr of Timpanogos High School won an iPod Touch and a $300 portrait package. Special thanks to our sponsor APX Alarm for their generous contribution and support of this service-based contest. Join the United Way of Utah County Facebook Group to learn about more service opportunities and competitions!

Grand Prize Winner, Colton Shumway

(Read Service Reflection)

Directed by Raquel Lopez, Portraits of Service was a brand new competition this year. They are hoping to hold the competition again next year, so spread the word about this awesome opportunity and the potential to win great prizes.

Second Place Winner, Emily Knorr

(Read Service Reflection)

The Daily Herald reports on a VISTA project.

http://heraldextra.com/news/local/central/provo/article_8b103bc4-dca8-5950-9dd2-376eb2628aad.html