Former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford (D-PA) will be honored with the National Service Liftime Leadership Award for his dedication to citizen service and for outstanding leadership in advancing national service as a civic commitment and legislative priority at this year’s Friends of National Service Reception next week in Washington, D.C.
The national service community will gather on Tuesday, February 12th at Union Station’s East Hall to celebrate and honor Members of Congress, Governors, and private citizens who have worked to protect and expand National Service opportunities for all Americans. The fifth annual Friends of National Service Reception is co-hosted by Voices for National Service and The Corps Network and presented by the Comcast Corporation and CVS Caremark.
Ms. Dorothy Johnson of The Ahlburg Company, Mr. Richard Stengel of Time Magazine, and U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) will also receive lifetime recognition awards; Governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) will receive the Outstanding National Service Advocacy Award; and select Congresspeople will also be honored for the contributions to the National Service Movement. A complete list of honorees can be found below.
LIFETIME RECOGNITION AWARDS AND HONOREES
National Service Lifetime Leadership Award
For life-long dedication to citizen service and for outstanding leadership in advancing national service as a civic commitment and legislative priority.
Senator Harris Wofford
Citizen Service Award
For investing in the civic health of our nation through support of national service.
Dorothy Johnson, The Ahlburg Company
Richard Stengel, Time Magazine
Career Service Award
For a career of extraordinary support of national service.
Senator Jack Reed
2007 AWARDS AND HONOREES
Outstanding National Service Advocacy Award
For outstanding leadership and advocacy of national service as a state and federal priority.
Governor Charlie Crist
Distinguished Service Award
For advancing national service legislation to expand high-quality opportunities for citizens to serve their communities and our country.
Representative George Miller
Representative Howard McKeon
Representative Carolyn McCarthy
Representative Todd Platts
Outstanding New Member Award
For elevating national service as a first term legislative priority.
Representative Phil Hare
Representative John Sarbanes
Special Recognition Award
For strengthening civil society across the generations through a commitment to seniors and to disadvantaged youth.
According to a recent e-mail to their mailing list of staff and volunteer alumni, Clean Vibes is back for their 11th summer of responsible waste management at music festivals across the country.
We have already been very busy gearing up for what promises to be the busiest Clean Vibes season to date. Lots of new festivals are making a commitment to reduce their footprint and want to work with us to ensure that they are walking the sustainable walk, not just talking the talk. We are also exploring the possibility of spreading the Clean Vibe into new realms of events that are very different from our beloved music festivals. All of this is a bit overwhelming but also very exciting as it will allow us to educate a much wider spectrum of people about recycling and responsible waste habits.
All that being said, we are now accepting applications for the 2008 season. The new applications can be downloaded from our website.
Please be sure to read the descriptions of the positions carefully. For all returning supervisors, you have the option of having a phone interview/recap with me in lieu of a written application. If you are interested in a phone interview, please email me and we will set up a time to talk. Also, as always, all applicants have the option of submitting an audio version of the narrative section of the application in case you feel more comfortable speaking your answers than writing them.
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Finally, we will begin signing up volunteers for Langerado within a few days. As soon as the event is activated in the database, I will send an email to the database to let everyone know that they can sign up. Sorry for the delay on the sign up for this event – it has taken several months to finalize our involvement in Langerado. We hope to see lots of familiar faces in south Florida next month!
Please be in touch if you have any questions and we hope to see you soon!
Clean Vibes is dedicated to responsible on-site waste management of outdoor festivals and events. By actively encouraging and promoting recycling and proper waste disposal, this passionate group of staff and volunteers hopes to inspire and educate a new generation of responsible stewards. Founded by Phish fans for The Great Went festival in 1997, Clean Vibes’ goal is to decrease the amount of trash entering landfills and incinerators by increasing the amount of recyclables collected and delivered to recycling centers.
Ending where and how it began, former U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) will serve in New Orleans’ lower 9th ward immediately after withdrawing from the 2008 race for President of the United States. Edwards announced his White House bid nearly 13 months ago and then rolled up his sleeves, volunteering alongside residents to refurbish a hurricane-ravished part of the Crescent City.
Edwards planned to announce his campaign was ending with his wife and three children at his side. Then he planned to work with Habitat for Humanity at the volunteer-fueled rebuilding project Musicians’ Village, the adviser said.
With that, Edwards’ campaign will end the way it began 13 months ago - with the candidate pitching in to rebuild lives in a city still ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Edwards embraced New Orleans as a glaring symbol of what he described as a Washington that didn’t hear the cries of the downtrodden.
President George W. Bush (R) marked last week’s Martin Luther King Jr. King holiday by volunteering and calling on Americans to honor his legacy by showing compassion on the holiday and throughout the year. The President and First Lady Laura Bush joined dozens of volunteers at the Martin Luther King Jr. library as they repaired and shelved books and taught lessons about King’s life to children. More than a half million Americans served at over 5,000 King Day of Service projects across the country. “They say Martin Luther King Day is not a day off, it should be a day on,” said the President. “But a day on should be not just one day. It really ought to be every day. And our fellow citizens have got to understand that by loving a neighbor like you’d like to be loved yourself, by reaching out to someone who hurts, by just simply living a life of kindness and compassion, you can make America a better place and fulfill the dream of Martin Luther King.”
One week later, President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union volunteerism initiative was described as ”sputtering” in a New York Times article. The President asked Americans to devote at least two year - 4,000 hours - of their lives to public service, promised to expand AmeriCorps, double the size of the Peace Corps, and created the USA Freedom Corps to help facilitate the process of connecting citizens with volunteer opportunities.
The initiative has had some success. Early on, John Bridgeland (a top Bush aide) helped set up the Citizens Corps, a national network of doctors, firefighters and others who volunteer in an emergency, and today there are 2,300 Citizens Corps councils across the country. The White House says that since 2000 it has recruited more than one million Americans, far more than the 200,000 new recruits Mr. Bush promised.
But the initiative has also fallen short of some goals. The Peace Corps, which had 6,663 volunteers in 2002, today has 8,049 — more than at any time in the past 30 years, but hardly the doubling the president promised.
And though the president also pledged to increase the ranks of AmeriCorps to 75,000 from 50,000, critics said he did so through creative accounting, because fewer than half the 75,000 slots are full time.
“There are a whole lot of shell games they engaged in, in order to try to not back away from the president’s announced target,” said Bob Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard who was consulted by the administration. “I thought Bush got it, and that’s why I worked with him. He talked a good game, the president, but I’m actually pretty cynical of it now.”
In what one might have guessed was in response to thearticle’s criticism, President Bush recognized citizen service in his final State of the Union address last night.
In communities across our land, we must trust in the good heart of the American people and empower them to serve their neighbors in need. Over the past seven years, more of our fellow citizens have discovered that the pursuit of happiness leads to the path of service. Americans have volunteered in record numbers.
But that’s wasn’t the end of it…
Following the address, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who immediately after 9/11 suggested expanding AmeriCorps’ membership to 250,000 and then in 2003 introduced a bill to expand the program to 175,000 members, told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that the President has missed an opportunity to call Americans into service. He cited his encounters on the Presidential campaign trail with volunteers from organizations including “AmeriCorps, City Year, and the ONE Campaign.”
Earlier this afternoon, the White House released a statement from President Bush commemorating the 6th anniversary of the USA Freedom Corps.
People across this great Nation have heard the universal call to love a neighbor and are using their time and talents to make a difference in the lives of others. On the sixth anniversary of the USA Freedom Corps, we celebrate the spirit of service in America and honor the volunteers whose good work represents the generous character of our country.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I created the USA Freedom Corps to build on the countless acts of service, sacrifice, and generosity undertaken by our citizens. The USA Freedom Corps is dedicated to expanding volunteer service and extending the goodwill of the American people across our country and around the globe. By connecting individuals with volunteer opportunities, the USA Freedom Corps has helped ensure that millions of people have a chance to make a difference in the lives of those in need. The USA Freedom Corps also helps strengthen the non-profit sector and supports other national service programs and initiatives such as the Peace Corps, Citizen Corps, AmeriCorps, and Senior Corps. These efforts can help us build a more hopeful country and create a chain of compassion for generations to come.
Volunteers demonstrate kindness and touch lives. With hard work and dedication, volunteers help the less fortunate, respond to crises, mentor children, assist the elderly, and strengthen our communities. I urge all Americans to serve others and to learn more about service opportunities by visiting the USA Freedom Corps website. By providing help and hope to others, Americans can lead the world toward a more caring and compassionate tomorrow.
What will President Bush’s legacy be when it comes to National Service in America?
More importantly, what role with the next President play in expanding National Service programs?
Today, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) joined his neice Caroline in endorsing U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) for President of the United States. At his announcement at an American University rally, Kennedy hearkened back to his brother’s creation of the Peace Corps, call to service, and engagement of a generation.
Now, with Barack Obama, there is a new national leader who has given America a different kind of campaign-a campaign not just about himself, but about all of us. A campaign about the country we will become, if we can rise above the old politics that parses us into separate groups and puts us at odds with one another.
I remember another such time, in the 1960s, when I came to the Senate at the age of 30. We had a new president who inspired the nation, especially the young, to seek a new frontier. Those inspired young people marched, sat in at lunch counters, protested the war in Vietnam and served honorably in that war even when they opposed it.
They realized that when they asked what they could do for their country, they could change the world.
It was the young who led the first Earth Day and issued a clarion call to protect the environment; the young who enlisted in the cause of civil rights and equality for women; the young who joined the Peace Corps and showed the world the hopeful face of America.
At the fifth anniversary celebration of the Peace Corps, I asked one of those young Americans why they had volunteered.
And I will never forget the answer: “It was the first time someone asked me to do something for my country.”
