CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When you watch NBC's TODAY on Saturday morning you might see a familiar face. NBC Charlotte anchor Fred Shropshire is scheduled to appear to talk about TEGNA's Make A Difference Day.
Make A Difference Day is one of the largest annual single-days of service nationwide. Over 50,000 volunteers from across the country unite with a common mission: to improve the lives of others through a wide range of community-driven service projects.
Make A Difference Day began in 1992 and takes place annually on the fourth Saturday in October. Make A Difference Day is made possible by the employees of TEGNA with support from the Arby’s Foundation and longtime partner Points of Light.
The TEGNA Foundation, supported by TEGNA, will contribute $185,000 in community grants for Make A Difference Day projects. Combined, TEGNA employees and their families will take part in nearly 50 Make A Difference Day projects across the country.
All 46 TEGNA Media stations across the country are participating in Make A Difference Day. In Charlotte, you'll find forecaster Larry Sprinkle and the rest of the NBC Charlotte news team at the Park Road Shopping Center collecting donations for the Goodwill of the Southern Piedmont.
The community is invited to drop off clothes, shoes, toys, household items and any other donated goods between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Last year, NBC Charlotte's donation drive at Goodwill Southern Piedmont resulted in three full tractor trailers filled with 12,640 pounds of donations.
It is never too late to get involved in a Make a Difference Day project across the country. You can go to makeadifferenceday.com to search for an existing project in your area. If one isn’t there, you can create your own. Just be sure to register it for a chance to win a $10,000 grant to donate to a charity of your choice. And be sure to follow all the great projects on social media using the hashtag #MDDay
Make A Difference Day proves that every person, no matter how old or how young, and every action, no matter how big or how small, can make an impact and will hopefully serve as an inspiration for many others to join in years to come.