FORT CARSON, Colo. — Make A Difference Day (MADD) is a national event focused on community service with a common goal of making a difference in the lives of people and places.
According to Kristen Kea, division chief, Army Community Service, and over 250 members of the Fort Carson community, it could not have been a better day to take part in the annual MADD event Oct. 23, 2021.
This was the 25th year the post community came together to make Fort Carson a better place to live. Kea appreciated the volunteers cleaning up Iron Horse Park and other areas on post were also being cleared of leaves and debris.
“Make A Difference Day is a chance for people to come out to give back to our community and do a little cleanup here on Fort Carson,” Kea said. “It is also an introduction to volunteering for Families, which has been a tradition here. We are passing on the legacy of volunteering with events such as this. That is what makes this day a lot of fun and is a great chance for people to come out and volunteer and make our community better.”
Kea said 140 people signed up for the event and as many people walked up to volunteer their time and efforts. She said it was a good sign that people woke up Saturday and decided they wanted to give back to the community.
Christian Martinez, who only recently had a permanent change of station (PCS) move to Fort Carson, said he felt it was the one thing he wanted to do Saturday if he didn’t do anything else.
“I’m actually a new member of this community,” Martinez said. “I just PCS’d here a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to make a difference. Fort Carson will be my new home for at least another couple of years, and I definitely want to make a positive impact while I’m here. I also did this when I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. So when I got here, I reached out to the places I’ve needed to and got the information I needed on volunteer work. I want to do everything that I can to help people out and make a difference in the community and people where it is needed here.”
Romero Lopez and Guadalupe Salazar were among the volunteers cleaning and sprucing up Patriot Elementary School. Lopez said the day was a continuation of his volunteer efforts he performed growing up in Texas. Salazar said she has a soft spot for children and working at the school was something she looked forward to.
“I haven’t had a chance to do anything here in this way, and I felt this would be a good thing to get involved with,” Salazar said. “I was especially excited when I saw that we could do things for the schools on posts like cleaning up and painting, which really motivated me to want to do something today. Before I joined the Army, I worked with kids a lot, and I saw how much they enjoyed being able to paint that makes things better. So, I figured anything I could do to help the kids feel better about their school was a good thing.”
Patriot Elementary also received new painted bicycle parking lanes. The drainage ditch adjacent to Forrest Resiliency Center was cleaned of debris among the projects performed by Fort Carson volunteers who truly made a difference Oct. 23, 2021.
Social Sharing