Telegraph Staff

NASHUA - Dozens of people across Greater Nashua got into the giving spirit on Oct. 22 for USA Weekend magazine's 15th annual Make a Difference Day - an event known as the largest single-day national effort to help others. Here is a look at some local projects:

Daniel Webster College social science majors, with the assistance of professors Laurie Gordy, Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Susan Nicosia and students who belong to the Mental Health Awareness Committee, donated 268 "We Care Bags" and 122 new bath towels to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter. This set a new record for the school, which has been participating in Make a Difference Day since 2000.

Donations were received through virtually every division of the college, including MBA students, the college president, raffles, a book sale, and from the coins and dollar bills thrown into a "Make a Difference Day" canister in the Daniel Webster book-store. More than $6,000 was raised to fund the bags. The bags contain necessities and niceties for all age groups.

Jennifer Amero, Melanie Gioioso and Michael Stromsnes, social science majors, and Matthew DesRoche, a computer science major, co-chaired this year's effort.

Additional information, including information about past Make a Difference Day projects, can also be found: http://faculty.dwc.edu/nicosia/madd.htm.

For more information on Make a Difference Day, visit www.usaweekend.com/diffday/index.html.