President-elect Barack Obama’s call for Americans to join in service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the King Holiday has had an electrifying effect -- with a record number of 12,000-plus projects taking place in communities across America today.Community and nonprofit groups across the country are thrilled about the large and enthusiastic response to the President-elect’s call to service, and hope that volunteers who serve today will make an ongoing commitment to serve throughout the year, as President-elect Obama has called for.
In 1994, Congress passed legislation encouraging that the King Federal Holiday be a national day of service, and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service [CNCS], a federal agency, with leading this national effort. Participation has grown every year since, but has taken a quantum leap this year with President-elect Obama’s call to service.
As of 2:00 p.m. yesterday, the Presidential Inauguration Committee [PIC] reported that more than 12,100 service projects have been registered on the USAService.org website. This number is more than double the record set last year, when 500,000 Americans served through 5,000 projects on the King Day of Service.
“In this time of economic distress, we need citizen service more than ever,” said Stephen Goldsmith, the Corporation’s board chair. “Service is a solution that can bring us closer to Dr. King’s dream of a better America.
“While our nation has made great progress, we still have much work to do. Service is a powerful way for every American to bring us closer to meeting our challenges and fulfilling the promise of America.”
Another driver of this year’s record turnout is the Internet. Americans can find volunteer opportunities at USAService.org or MLK Day.gov; get ideas for do-it-yourself volunteer projects at America Serves MLK Challenge; join the MLK Day Facebook Cause; or get real-time photos at Flickr and project reports on Twitter.
“Through President-elect Obama’s call to service, the hard work and planning by thousands of community groups, and the savvy use of the Internet, we will see an extraordinary demonstration of the power of citizen action across America tomorrow,” said Nicola Goren, acting CEO of the Corporation. “We are thrilled that President-elect Obama has made service a centerpiece of his inauguration and will make it a central cause of his administration.”
A wide variety of projects are being planned, including: delivering meals, refurbishing schools and community centers, collecting food and clothing, removing graffiti, reading to children, and more. Many organizations use the day as a springboard for year-round civic action, such as signing up mentors or tutors, or youth taking pledges of nonviolence.
Below, are some highlights:
* Thousands of volunteers will gather at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, in Washington, D.C., to assemble more than 75,000 care packages to send to our troops for the "Day of Service for Our Military" project, sponsored by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Serve DC, in partnership with Operation Gratitude and Target.
* More than 65,000 volunteers will serve in 900 projects in the 14th annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service, the largest in the country. Organizers are using the day to launch MLK365, a new year-round initiative promoting sustainable civic engagement and volunteer opportunities
* The Points of Light Institute and its Hands On Network will engage more than 100,000 volunteers in projects across the country that are expected to serve more than one million Americans.
* Yesterday, the National Alliance of Faith and Justice recruited mentors for children of prisoners and other at-risk youth at more than 425 places of worship as part of Justice Sunday.
* More than 600 Boys & Girls Clubs are participating in the King Day of Service, engaging members in community clean-ups, writing letters to soldiers, organizing food drives, visiting senior centers, and creating care packages for sick children.
* The American Red Cross is teaming up with HOPE worldwide to engage volunteers in 25 cities to canvass door-to-door and provide vital fire safety information to help residents prevent home fires, protect their loved ones, and strengthen their community.
* Many major U.S. corporations are participating in King Day by encouraging their employees to serve and supporting local projects. Examples include Shell, Target, Best Buy, Kaiser Permanente, and Walmart.
* More than 16,000 college students from 130 campuses in 28 states will engage in King Day service projects organized by Campus Compact -- with projects ranging from neighborhood clean-ups, to preparing and serving meals to hospice patients.
* In Buffalo, N.Y., several hundred members of the Western New York AmeriCorps program will supervise 4,000 volunteers for projects -- including boarding up the windows of dangerous condemned houses, to teaching community members how to run their own community garden.
* At colleges across the U.S., The Campus Kitchens Project will engage college students and community volunteers in leading hunger relief programs to share on-campus kitchen space, recover unused food from campus cafeterias, and deliver meals to low-income neighborhoods.
* Children for Children, in New York City, will engage 3,000 elementary and middle-school students in a day of hands-on service projects honoring Dr. King at two schools in Midtown and Harlem.
* Youth Service America has launched Semester of Service to encourage students, ages 5-25, to engage in service-learning starting on King Day and culminating on Global Youth Service Day [April 24-26, 2009].
The seven national strategic partners for the 2009 King Day of Service include the Points of Light Institute, The Corps Network, North Carolina Campus Compact, Youth Service America, Service for Peace, Campus Kitchens Project, and the National Alliance of Faith and Justice.
National nonprofit partners include the AARP, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, American Red Cross, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [ASPCA], America's Promise Alliance, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Breakthrough Collaborative, Causecast, City Year, Do Something, First Book, Habitat for Humanity International, HOPE worldwide, The King Memorial Foundation, Lutheran Social Services, MENTOR, National Marrow Donor Program, ServiceNation, Student Conservation Association, United Way of America, VolunteerMatch, and YouthBuild USA.
Corporate partners include Cargill, Clear Channel, Comcast, Shell Oil Company, Starbucks, Target, and UPS.
A complete list of partners is at http://www.mlkday.gov/about/partners/index.asp.
The Corporation for National and Community Service improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. Each year, the Corporation provides opportunities for four million Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. For more information, go to http://www.nationalservice.gov/.
GoodBiz113's take: Opportunities abound for businesses of all sizes to serve -- with time, energy, leadership, products, services, money, etc. Answer President-elect Barack Obama's call now to get involved at the local, state, regional and/or national level. The ROI will be greater than your fiscal year-end bottom line could even begin to quantify.
SOURCE: Corporation for National and Community Service
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