BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[cleanup]](/editions/1998/10/25/cleanup_130x167.jpg)
Allison Gleason, 16, hauls trash from an apartment building in Over-the-Rhine.
(Aimee Obidzinski photo)
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The floor of the vacant Over-the-Rhine building was covered with garbage and fallen plaster. Kim Smith and her friends at Ursuline Academy spent Saturday morning clearing it out.
By the time they were finished, those planning to refurbish the building into low-income apartments could see their project begin to take shape.
What a difference a day makes, said Mark Lingle, director of operations and housing at Common Ground Ministries.
"I feel like I had to do something to help fix up the place," said Kim, a 17-year-oid junior from Maineville. "It feels good to help those who don't have what we have."
She and classmates Alexis Schnell, 16, of Indian Hill and Allison Gleason, 16, of Blue Ash joined Ursuline alum Kathy Dempsey and her 13-year-old son, Chris Dempsey, of Western Hills for Make A Difference Day. The group joined dozens of others around Greater Cincinnati in the nationwide push to boost volunteer efforts.
Kim and her friends cleared out piles of garbage from 291 W. McMicken Ave. More important, said Ms. Dempsey, they learned about helping one another.
Common Ground is depending heavily on volunteers to help remodel the building into apartments, said Dennis Dalton, executive director. What he has noticed from past years is that many of the volunteers from Make A Difference Days will come back.
Having invested a day into this project, they want to see it through, Mr. Dalton said.
Make A Difference Day was started in 1992 when USA Weekend suggested that readers use the extra day that leap year to help another person. Last year, more than 1.3 million nationwide took part, said Pam Brown, the weekly magazine's Make A Difference Day editor. Even more were expected to participate this year.
Volunteers were out in force around Greater Cincinnati Saturday. In Madeira, about 50 people cleaned up the Miami Avenue business district. And second-grade students at Loveland's Miami Elementary put on a play and handed out flowers to residents at the Loveland Health Care Center.
"They were so cute," said Shelley Kent, an administrative assistant at the nursing home. Their play, The Ugly Pumpkin, a spoof of a story about a less-than-attractive duck, really made the day for the residents, Ms. Kent said.
Some of the other Make A Difference Day projects around Greater Cincinnati:
In Middletown, Taft Elementary School held a health fair with the American Red Cross, Comprehensive Counseling Services and the Safety Council of Middletown.
The new Ludlow chapter of the Campbell County Jaycees collected coats, warm clothing and blankets to be given to area shelters and charities.
Groups from Middletown and Monroe, with Baker Concrete Construction Inc., worked on a park for skateboarders and in-line skaters.
Fairmount's Bethany House emergency shelter was the beneficiary of a door-to-door collection by the American Heritage Girls.
About 200 Girl Scouts and their adult helpers collected bags with toiletry items in the Covedale area for the homeless.
Northern Kentucky Boy Scout leaders worked at Paramount's Kings Island and donated their wages to the Erlanger Elsmere United Ministries charity work.
Members of Notre Dame AmeriCorps presented a recycling and environmental awareness program for students at Corryville Catholic and St. Francis schools, then led them on a cleanup in Corryville.
![[cleanup]](/editions/1998/10/25/cleanup_390x500.jpg)