Making a difference. It was the phrase of the day Saturday as Americans celebrated Make a Difference Day.

The event is meant to remind us all how important it is to give back to our community.

Make a Difference Day is a wonderful event that brings out volunteers from all walks of life to do a variety of community projects.

Early Saturday the volunteers spread out all across the city and county doing good deeds.

Hundreds of man-hours were volunteered for such worthy causes as the Adams County Humane Shelter, the Sunshine Shelter and the Salvation Army.

Each and every volunteer deserves our gratitude for the hard work they donated. And the rest of us should take a lesson or two from the volunteers and learn to give back to the community in which we live.

Although locally the event is big, nationally the event is huge – a couple of million folks participate.

Collectively the volunteers work is expected to help several million people.

The volunteer effort is easily the biggest single day of community service.

Perhaps the best measure of the day’s success will come through continuing our volunteer efforts beyond one day each year.

Imagine how much better our world would be if each of us gave back – just a little bit – each day.

Making a difference is like being faithful to one’s religion.

It isn’t a one-day-a-week venture.

It’s the commitment of a lifetime.