President Obama Calls on Nation to Volunteer

Through September 11, any community volunteer efforts can count doubly- locally and nationally. President Barack Obama wants service projects recorded on Serve.gov, a website devoted to a new national service initiative titled United We Serve. Obama said the efforts will focus on some core areas of his economic renewal plan: education, community building, and energy independence.  

He spoke specifically to the need for educational volunteers. “We can rebuild our schools, but we need people to be mentors and tutors in those schools,” he said in a speech on the first day of the project, June 16.  

At the site you can create a service project, register your project, and recruit volunteers. Also, you can join existing service projects based on your location or interest. 

Through this website, I’ve found some book donation programs for which I’ve applied. These programs acknowledge the reading proficiency loss that so many city students suffer from, unknowingly, in the summertime.  

Past the initial summer push, the project will continue to grow in to a more sustained effort. While far reaching in time and wide in scope, the service project isn’t wholly altruistic. As Americans increasingly see our resources stretched overseas, volunteers can be happy to invest time in one of the last vestiges of American democracy- free, compulsory education. Building our own infrastructure and recording our efforts can only help sustain our country and children’s futures.