You can make a difference in your life, your family, school, church, community, and world! The world desperately needs you, your ideas, your compassion, and your spiritual outlook. Your thoughts and actions can make a positive change in another's life. It's never too late to start giving. The best gifts are the gifts from the heart.

Here are just a few simple things you can do to help make a difference in others' lives:

• Go through your clothes (and your home), and get rid of anything you don't wear or don't need. Be sure to check this out with your parents. Take women's and children's clothes to a shelter for battered women and children. There are other good organizations that need your donations, such as Salvation Army. This allows you to give to people who are really in need and allows you to eliminate the old and open the way for the new.
  
  
• Write a thank you note or do something nice for a teacher who you really appreciate. Ideas:  Give flowers, make cookies, buy lunch, offer to clean up the classroom, set up chairs. It's amazing how seldom teachers get thanked and how much your "thank you" will mean to them.
  
  
• Go to a local retirement community and see what you can do to help. Offer to read, open mail, get groceries, or help clean. Get to know some of the residents by spending time with them. This will brighten their days more than you can possibly imagine. There is usually an Events Coordinator or Program Manager who you can contact to give you ideas or put you in contact with residents.