"By Andrea WoodWARREN, Ohio -- Members of the Trumbull 100 were gratified for the great publicity -- a cover story in this week's USA Weekend magazine and two stories on the front page of yesterday's Tribune Chronicle -- but they wasted no time stating the obvious: Much more work must be done.Yesterday's annual meeting of Trumbull 100 updated the status of major community and cultural projects under way in the city of Warren. "If you look at all this energy, you'll see Trumbull 100's fingerprints in most, if not all, of the projects downtown," said Mayor Michael O'Brien.In the eight years of Trumbull 100's existence, the business and civic leadership group has provided $750,000 in seed money to fund more than 30 educational, cultural and development projects. Just this week the group donated $10,000 to Trumbull County's Make A Difference Day 2004 project to match the $10,000 check awarded Wednesday night by USA Weekend through a charitable partnership with Paul Newman.The actor and the Gannett Corp., publisher of USA Today, sponsor the national Make A Difference Day and recognize 10 communities every year with $10,000 checks to subsidize volunteer activities. The Tribune Chronicle coordinated Trumbull County's 2003 campaign, which enlisted 1,000 volunteers who completed 70 community service projects on Oct. 25. Trumbull County's effort, as well as the projects completed in the nine other communities awarded checks, headlines the USA Weekend magazine to be distributed this weekend by 600 newspapers to more than 23 million homes."This community is in need of good publicity from time to time," Charles Jarvis, publisher of the Tribune Chronicle, told Trumbull 100 members. Make A Difference Day 2004 takes place Oct. 23, he said. "Now what we need are really good projects, project leaders and supplies."The Trumbull 100 has no shortage of projects, said Dave Hamilton, chairman of Warren Concrete who yesterday completed his term as president of the leadership group. Before turning the gavel over to Bill Horton, the retired president of Horton Electric, Hamilton presided over the introduction of members and guests, and called upon the leaders of specific projects to provide updates.Reid Dulberger, executive director of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and co-chairman of Operation Soar, reported the campaign to save the Youngstown Reserve Station in Vienna Township "is off to a very good start." Trumbull 100 donated $50,000 to Operation Soar to fund the services of a consulting group that will advise the campaign on how to keep the installation from being closed in the 2005 round of Defense Department base realignments.Next came an update on the restoration of the historic Kinsman House. "This project started when I had dark hair," Hamilton joked as he praised Warren city planner Heather McMahon for surmounting monetary challenges and keeping the project on track.Also on track is restoration of the landmark Log Cabin downtown and turning it into a luncheonette and repository of historic paraphernalia, members learned. "We will be one of the few cities in the country with a little restaurant overlooking the river," said Clyde Cole, chairman of the Trumbull 100 committee overseeing the project.As the leadership group's first president, Bill Letson, reminded members, "When we first started out, we knew we were living in a challenged community, and that has not changed. In fact, the challenges are even greater."Letson recalled the group's initial goal was to "make Trumbull County a tourist attraction and that's started to happen."This summer the Trumbull 100 is providing $7,500 to help underwrite one week of free events presented by the Ohio Humanities Council's Ohio Chautauqua project, and $50,000 to guarantee funding for the Trumbull County Fine Arts Council to coordinate a series of free performances at the Warren Community Amphitheatre."We're just a couple inches away from everything starting to click," said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17."Last year we got $500,000 for Riverwalk, money that we're also able to use for Kinsman House," the congressman said. "In the transportation bill just passed by the House, we got $1.5 million for Riverwalk," the landscaped area along the Mahoning River that leads to the amphitheatre and the city's historic district, "$750,000 for the Packard Museum and $1 million for the Portage hike-and-bike trailAll this is just starting to tie together."Contact Andrea Wood: [email protected]"