Did you or will you volunteer?

[alienlovechild 75]

Millions answer Obama's call to service, honor King

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

At least a million Americans answered Barack Obama's call to service Monday on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day like none before it. On this day, the eve of the inauguration of the nation's first African-American president, the dream of the civil rights leader was closer to reality.

From neighborhood schools to community gardens, from senior centers to veterans hospitals, volunteers inspired by the president-elect and the man who paved his way to the White House a generation ago, fed the hungry, donated blood, wrote to servicemembers and visited the sick.

Everywhere, volunteers took Obama's urging that there be "no idle hands" literally. In Sioux Falls, S.D., students at John Harris Elementary School carefully cut fleece rectangles to make blankets for refugees and new immigrants in a project called "Making a Warm Welcome."

"It makes me feel good, because we can make blankets for people coming to our country that don't have much stuff yet," said Camryn Burgers, 8, as she twirled a strip of red fleece through her hair.

"We need more people to do this more often, instead of just every now and then on a holiday," said Mike Moore, whose Florida Tech Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity took part. "The world would be a better place if people would just take the time to pick up a gum wrapper."

The nationwide turnout was the biggest since Congress declared the federal holiday a day of community service in 1994, organizers said. The response fulfilled the wish of King's widow, Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006, said her nephew Isaac Newton Farris, president and CEO of The King Center in Atlanta.

"We wanted a day to reflect him and his life," Farris said.

Many volunteers saw dual meaning in the holiday.

"Obama is all about change. That's what King was all about. It's our time to step up and take action," said Melissa Cuff, 32, as she accepted canned food for the Capital Area Food Bank in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington. Cuff, a YMCA administrator from St. Paul, said volunteering "was part of the experience of being here in D.C. for the inauguration."

More than 300 people volunteered for the event sponsored by the hunger relief group Feeding America, which featured a rally with actor Ben Affleck, singer Josh Groban and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. It was among dozens of projects that attracted inauguration-goers in the capital, including one at RFK Memorial Stadium to assemble 75,000 care packages for the military.

For Damika Moss, a senior at Thurston High School in Redford, Mich., the day took on personal meaning. Recalling her long-gone grandparents, Moss, 17, visited Ruth Taisey, an 87-year-old resident of the Presbyterian Village nursing home in Redford.

"I've lost a lot of my family," Taisey said. "It seems I'm all alone."

"You're not alone today," Moss replied. "You've got me."

Many found ways to help on websites run by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service and the Presidential Inaugural Committee or tracked events on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The CNCS said there were 12,100 projects involving at least 1 million people, double the number last year.

"In this time of economic distress, we need citizen service more than ever," said CNCS Board Chairman Stephen Goldsmith. "Service is a solution that can bring us closer to Dr. King's dream of a better America."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...ofservice_N.htm

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

We'll be working with a community food bank through our corporate IT employees organization.

[Carlawarla 1]

I volunteer right now twice a week, so honestly, I didn't yesterday. My husband works for the Feds however, and he took up the challenge and went to a park and picked up garbage. Took him 3 hours. I was very proud of him!

[almaty 19]

i have volunterred in the past..

and provide some free counseling services...

[Danno 1,228]

Come on man.... where are all the Obama-Bots who are ready to change the world?

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Come on man.... where are all the Obama-Bots who are ready to change the world?

Waiting for someone else to do it.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Come on man.... where are all the Obama-Bots who are ready to change the world?

Waiting for someone else to do it.

Yeah we Obama voting gamma males are sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the brave alpha male Republicans to save the day for us.... again.

I tell ya, we sure can get used to this.

Wait, we already are!

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Come on man.... where are all the Obama-Bots who are ready to change the world?

Waiting for someone else to do it.

Yeah we Obama voting gamma males are sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the brave alpha male Republicans to save the day for us.... again.

I tell ya, we sure can get used to this.

Wait, we already are!

You volunteered your vote. Right?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Actually, I sold it. Didn't you?

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Actually, I sold it. Didn't you?

Matter of fact I did. I just told the Obama supporter that it was legal due to the new a.c.o.r.n law.

[Nagishkaw 510]

I used to volunteer at the local animal shelter.

[almaty 19]

amen to that sister mocassin...

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

when I was in jail, I volunteered to clean litter from the highways.

[almaty 19]

lol..that is called force volunteering

[NickD 203]

I used to volunteer at the local animal shelter.

Ha, my wife did a lot of volunteer work while waiting for her EDA, built up quite a reputation for being neat, conscientious, and competent, the phone was ringing off the hook for her services. Word gets around quick. But that had to come to an end, what was good about it, she received instant employment because of her reputation. What was bad about it, is just about any organization she worked for had paid employees and she didn't get a red cent, not even a couple of bucks for gas. After she was employed, the phone still didn't stop ringing, even after six months. Sorry, but I have full time employment now.

All for volunteering, if everyone would volunteer, but what about volunteering for an organization where the CEO is making a couple of million per year? Still have to put bread on the table.