Customer Reviews

Make a Difference: America's Guide to Volunteering and Community Service

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"Make a Difference" is an easy-to-read guide about volunteering with hundreds of community-based organizations. Blaustein does a fabulous job organizing the organizations by subject matter so readers can easily find opportunities that suit their interests. This book makes a fabulous gift for high schoolers, college students, and adults looking to make a difference.

An excellent comprehensive listing of national organizations whose doors are wide open and welcoming to compassionate individuals looking to make a difference in their communities. The book is sliced and diced by issue area, making it easy to navigate, and the contact information for each organization listed makes it easy to get moving. Dispersed throughout the book are personal accounts of the positive impact community service has on the community as well as the individual. Makes a great gift - for yourself or someone you love!

This is the Rx for the majority of Americans who feel helpless to change the course of our nation. Blaustein reminds us that we change the world, our national character and our soul - one good deed at a time. He provides the roadmap and you do the trip planning for what is sure to be an inspiring journey. Some books are a must read, this one is a must do!

Let's not wait for government or someone else to solve all the problems. Take action yourself.
There are so many ways one can improve their community. If your concern is crime, then join the neighborhood watch group. Perhaps you worry that the community's past is slipping away. Train as a docent for the local history museum.
If you don't know where to start, consult this directory for dozens of opportunities to make a difference.

Make a Difference makes a great graduation gift for a high school or college senior. It's easy to read, full of good information, and gets you motivated to start volunteering in a way that really will make a difference.

I bought this book for my sister when she graduated from college. "Make A Difference" is a great tool to have when entering the real world. My sister wanted to become a more active member of her community but wasn't sure how to take the first step. After reading this book she contacted a few organizations and is now volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.

Too many of us want to do some that will "make a difference" but we don't know where to start. Now you have no more excuses -- here is the book for you. Blaustein provides a great number of options and shows you how easy it is to get involved whether it is saving the environement or working for racial justice or just helping a child read. The book also includes inspirational stories and examples that demonstrate why (especially now in the post-September 11 world) it is so important for people to get involved and do something to strenghten our democracy.

This book was purchased to be raffled after a presentation on volunteering and giving back to the community. We decided to keep it in our office workforce development library for a future reference on ideas to introduce to employees for different ways of contributing to our community. You don't realize how many organizations are available that need help until you purchase this book.

This book touts itself on the cover as being America's Guide to Volunteering and Community Service, but it comes across instead as being a scathing political commentary, spending way too much time bashing President Bush before it even gets into the guide portion of the book, which is a scant resource, at best.

If it stuck to being a comprehensive guide about volunteering and community service it might have actually lived up to its title. If I had only browsed through it in a bookstore before buying it online. Oh well. Live and learn. Very offensive to any republican volunteers, in my opinion. Tossing it in the trash right now.

Make a Difference is a unique and important book. It's especially for young people and those retired or thinking about it; as well as those of us in between who can always find a few hours a month to help better our communities and public institutions. The young, in particular, need to learn about the responsibility of citizenship and the workings of democracy. If I were President I'd scrap the Star Wars anti-missile system (that scientists say won't work anyhow) and use the money to give out this book to every high school and college student in the country. And use the left-over to increase the salary of teachers who teach American history and Civics. That would be far more patiotic than wearing a flag in my lapel.