Make A Difference Day. Make A Pledge

Press Release

Private Benefactor Challenges America on October 25th - "Make A Difference Day" - By Offering One Million Families/Community Groups  Free Crime Prevention Materials

- Congressman Reyes(TX) & Communities Across Country Take Up Challenge -

Washington D.C.  On October 25th, volunteers across the country will participate in the  national day of service known as Make a Difference Day - sponsored by USA Weekend Magazine and in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation (www.usaweekend.com/diffday/index.html). 

In recognition of the importance of this day and the spirit of volunteerism,  a private benefactor is providing support to a nationally recognized violence prevention program, the Good Knight Child Empowerment Network, Inc., and issued the following challenge to all Americans who care about the safety of future generations:

"Make A Difference on October 25th by teaching children in your neighborhood how to stay safe from crime and violence with the Good Knight Crime Prevention materials. Or, on that day make a pledge to do so in the future by registering at www.goodknight.org to receive your free safety materials so you can complete this program."

A private benefactor has agreed to help one million families obtain the Spanish/English crime prevention materials for free (shipping and handling still applies) so that all children and communities can learn how to stay safe. In addition to this private benefactor, Congress has supported these efforts by underwriting the give-away of 15,000 Homeland Security Youth Mentoring Program Kits and over 38,000 Spanish/English Crime Prevention Activity Books. With the support from Congress and the private benefactor, over 8 million families have the ability to learn how to reduce crime and violence in their lives. 

In recognition of the efforts of the Good Knight Child Empowerment Network, Inc., Congressman Reyes (TX) has donated his time to help create a 30 second Public Service Announcement available to all television stations in either Spanish or English encouraging families to learn how to stay safe and to visit www.goodknight.org to obtain materials that can help protect their families and others.

This national day of helping others is a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Stars from ABC, ESPN and Disney Channel, such as George Lopez, Dick Vitale, and Wayne Brady, have recorded inspirational messages to encourage volunteering on this day and continuing throughout the year. 

To date, community groups from California (City of Soledad and the Soledad Unified School District, Go Serve, Volunteer Center of San Pedro, San Bernadino Mayor's Office) to Nevada (Nevada Youth Alliance) to Florida and 37 other states along with families have visited www.goodknight.org and are beginning to implement Good Knight Crime Prevention Programs in their community.  The activation of this nationally recognized intergenerational crime prevention program will teach youth how to redefine "stranger" and to recognize the behavior patterns of those who would like to harm them, thereby keeping them safe from abuse, abduction and other crime and violence. Additionally, it relates to the Dept. of Homeland Security's "Operation Predator" and the efforts by the USA Freedom Corps to activate volunteers in the area of citizen preparedness and community awareness. This project has been promoted nationally, including features in Parade Magazine, on Fox's 'America's Most Wanted,' and on CBS's '48 Hours'. Follow up studies indicate there is a 95% retention rate by children who complete the program.   This project has been so effective that in 1999 the program received the President's Service Award Silver Medal for Public Safety from the Points of Light Foundation. To date, this project has been met with tremendous public success. So far over 10 million children have been activated nationwide. 

Please visit www.goodknight.org for additional information.