Much like a swarm of worker bees, plenty of volunteers in yellow shirts gathered Saturday morning at the Community Center to make a difference in Fountain Hills.

About 100 people signed up to participate in “Make A Difference Day,” an annual event created by USA WEEKEND magazine.

Some three million people participated in the one-day event in 2008, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of towns.

Hopefully more than that participated this past weekend.

The Town of Fountain Hills took the lead in organizing the local event, coming up with a myriad of volunteer projects in which citizens of all ages could easily participate.

Much of the work was centered on town property such as the Avenue of the Fountains or in the parks – painting, sprucing up, building a small cut-through trail, picking up litter, planting vegetation, cleaning public art and playground equipment, that type of thing.

There was something for all ages and all ability levels.

Creative Child Care preschool children got involved by creating cards to be distributed this holiday season to Home Delivered Meals participants in Fountain Hills.

Volunteers could sit down Saturday – after chowing down on a DJ’s bagel, of course – and make out a Christmas card for a member of the Armed Forces.

As Vice Mayor Cassie Hansen reminded the crowd Saturday morning, “volunteerism” has always been a hallmark of Fountain Hills, and that trend continues.

Everyone was enthusiastic and ready to go. The weather outside was beautiful, and most folks likely finished up in a couple of hours and were able to enjoy the rest of their Saturday on a fine autumn day.

This was a good start.

But it would be awesome next year to see more of the community embrace this day as an opportunity to get some things done in a humanitarian way. Many town employees and their family members chipped in, but in 2010 it would be even better to see churches, service clubs, Scouting organizations and others involved in this one-day program.

Nationally, USA WEEKEND tells us that some groups who typically participate include Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Girl Scouts, National Honor Society, Goodwill Industries, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, State Farm Insurance, Veterans of Foreign Wars, etc.

For example, the local Target store had a nice contingent of volunteers working Saturday.

So, the challenge next year is to get some of these other groups and businesses participating. Sure, they do a lot of other things throughout the year, but it would be even more impressive to have a larger showing on this one special day.

It would also be more impressive to have some additional projects that perhaps involve private citizens – helping an elderly widow paint her home, for example, or pulling weeds in that handicapped person’s yard, or maybe helping that single mother clean out her garage.

Who knows?

Fountain Hills has its fair share of folks who could use a helping hand once in a while, and those types of projects would likely have more personal meaning for the participants.

Next year “Make A Difference Day” celebrates its 20th anniversary. Let us aim to make an even bigger difference next year.