If you feel a bit helpless in today’s world—with so much economic hardship, war, and violence in the news bombarding you from every angle—and think just one little person can’t make a difference, think again. History is full of people who made huge contributions all on their own, from Mother Theresa to Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr. Each one of these people started small, just like you and me, and worked to accomplish great things.

But you know what? You don’t even have to do great things to make a difference. Like ripples in water, a single person can touch people for miles and miles and not even know about it. The kindness you share with a single soul today could affect hundreds tomorrow.

In The Difference a Day Makes: 365 Ways to Change Your World in Just 24 Hours, Karen M. Jones shows us something small yet significant we can do every day to really make a difference.  Organized by subjects from nature to peace to health to nature, The Difference a Day Makes provides very simple, concrete suggestions for everyday action.

For example, in the chapter titled “Care About Kids,” Jones provides websites where you can use your credit card to make free donations to America’s Promise, allow a child to shadow your career online, and implement anti-bullying programs at your local school. In “Honoring Elders,” you can learn how to help a senior find a place to volunteer (and volunteer with him or her to create a unique camaraderie), help repair an elderly person’s home, spend time at a senior center and report abuse against the elderly.

The beauty of the book is that it has things that everyone can do, no matter how old you are or how much time or money you’ve got. It’s a perfect addition for any classroom volunteer program or service learning curriculum, as well as a great book to have on hand at home to flip through and find things to do with your family and friends.

When I was in high school, my friends and I used to do something we called “crusading.” We would pick something fun and random to do, like buy as many canned goods as we could with $10 and donate it to the food pantry, or buy all the toys we could afford at Christmas and donate them to Toys for Tots.

(I remember one year, it was so hilarious when we checked out and after the guy rang up the purchase we told him it was all to go in the donation box. His eyes about bugged out of his head and he said, “I’m going to win!” I’m guessing he had to make some suggestive sales to fill the box.)

This book captures that spirit and with it, you’ll never run out of ideas for “crusading.”