Area volunteers left the comfort of their homes to work in their communities Saturday during the ninth annual Make a Difference Day.

Thousands of people in the region joined more than 1 million Americans each year to help the less fortunate during Make A Difference Day, a service event sponsored nationally by USA Weekend and Points of Light Foundation.

USA Weekend, which initiated the event, will feature volunteers and their projects in articles and photos to be published in April. Each year, $120,000 in awards are made to projects that capture the Make A Difference Day spirit.

Students were involved in many of the activities which took place Saturday. Foreign language club students at Cape Girardeau Central High School held fund raising projects to benefit an Indian village in Guatemala. The money will be used to purchase books for a new children's library in the village.

Charleston High School students spent the day visiting and running errands for elderly relatives.

"We've seen a wonderful level of interest from the students in getting involved in Make a Difference Day," said Dr. Bernice Coar-Cobb, a Charleston High School biology teacher and event organizer. "The students have just latched on to this opportunity to go grocery shopping, clean up or just take a plant to the home of an elderly relative."

Men of Action, a male mentoring organization in Charleston, sponsored a college fair for students at the Charles F. Bowden Center.

At Clippard Elementary School, volunteers worked throughout the morning to improve the school's appearance. Some volunteers got dirty weeding flower beds and trimming hedges. Others chose to scrape, prime and repaint playground equipment.

Volunteers also worked under the watchful eyes of Cape Girardeau firefighters to complete a burnoff of the school's one-acre outdoor classroom.

"It's like your house -- you have to keep cleaning it and fixing things," said kindergarten teacher Linda Hill, one of the event organizers.

Hill said besides the obvious benefit to the school, the volunteer effort also improves the sense of ownership and respect students feel towards their school, teachers and principal.

"They need to know this is part of their responsibility, to take care of this school," Hill said. "Some of the children were shocked to see our principal out here in overalls working on (heavy machinery). The fact they see the teachers here and know we care about their playground we hope will cut back on the vandalism."

Cape Girardeau Central High School students also worked to beautify the area around their school Saturday. Students roamed the streets surrounding their campus, picking up litter along the way.

Students said they felt the clean-up day was needed because they are often the source of the litter. Due to limited space on campus, many students park their vehicles in the neighborhood surrounding the school. This angers some residents, who have complained of blocked driveway entrances and additional trash on their property.

While schools and school-affiliated organizations seemed to spur many of the events which took place locally over the weekend, civic and religious organizations and area businesses also got into the giving spirit.

First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau sponsored a scavenger hunt Friday which benefited the Safe House for Women. Members of the Third Street United Methodist Church also received a check from Wal-Mart recently to finance repairs to the church and its parsonage in celebration of Make a Difference Day.

Members of Girl Scout Troop 191 of Cape Girardeau learned to crochet so they could create blankets to be distributed at the Missouri Veteran's Home and other nursing homes throughout the city.