USA Freedom Corps head Desiree Sayle presents President's Volunteer Service Award
Volunteer this summer and change your life for the better
Posted Thursday, July 15, 2004 - 4:21 pm
By Desiree T. Sayle
Desiree Sayle is deputy assistant to President Bush and director of USA Freedom Corps. She was in South Carolina on July 10 and presented the President's Volunteer Service Award to the participants in the Miss South Carolina Pageant.
Volunteer service is a cornerstone of our great nation. From our earliest beginnings, we have been blessed to have men and women who are ready, willing and able to help a neighbor in need. As President Bush often says, the strength of America is found in the hearts and souls of our citizens. The American spirit of compassion is alive and well in the Palmetto State.
This past weekend at the Miss South Carolina pageant in Spartanburg, I had the honor and privilege of presenting the President's Volunteer Service Award to 59 Miss South Carolina Teen and Miss South Carolina contestants who have dedicated a total of 26,041 hours to community service. South Carolina leads all Miss America organizations in service hours, with more than 149,041 hours of service performed by contestants this year.
Rewards for volunteer service are not limited to pageant contestants. Everyone can do something, and the benefits of sharing your time and energy will be great. Whether you choose to mentor a child, clean a park, obtain emergency response training, bring care and comfort to an elderly person, or volunteer internationally, you help someone else and change your life for the better.
President Bush is committed to strengthening and expanding volunteer service in America. In his January 2001 inaugural address, he challenged Americans to be "citizens, not spectators."
Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, he called on us all to dedicate at least two years or 4,000 hours over the course of our lifetimes to volunteer service. He also created the USA Freedom Corps, an office of the White House charged with expanding volunteer service opportunities across the country. Americans are serving in record numbers — 63.8 million people volunteered in 2003, an increase of 4 million people from 2002.
USA Freedom Corps is actively working with nonprofits, including faith-based organizations, to help them build capacity and connect with volunteers. One important way USA Freedom Corps is helping organizations recruit volunteers is through our Volunteer Network — a searchable, Web-based resource containing more than a million volunteer opportunities with 75,000 organizations.
In addition, the USA Freedom Corps Web site currently features a summertime initiative, "A Call to Summer Service," to encourage more people to use the longer summer days to give back to their communities. The need for volunteer service increases during the summer months. For example, food banks need additional help sorting and serving food to alleviate the absence of school lunch programs while school is out.
To recognize the millions of volunteers who are dedicated to volunteer service, and at the direction of President Bush, the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation created the President's Volunteer Service Award. Americans of every age can qualify for the award, and more than 60,000 Americans have received the award so far.
We are also working to increase volunteer opportunities at the federal level. Peace Corps and AmeriCorps both enjoy record-level funding under President Bush — and both programs are growing as a result: AmeriCorps is on target to have a record 75,000 members this year and, as of 2002, the Peace Corps had 7,533 volunteers in the field, a 28-year high.
President Bush also launched Citizen Corps, a grassroots program aimed at providing volunteer opportunities for those who want to help our nation prepare for and respond to terrorism and other emergencies. There are currently 1,226 local Citizen Corps Councils across the nation, with 18 located right here in South Carolina.
Citizen Corps also coordinates the efforts of several existing and new volunteer programs, including Neighborhood Watch, Volunteers In Police Service and Medical Reserve Corps. Through these programs, Americans can find meaningful volunteer service opportunities using their talents that will help strengthen communities and make our nation and our world stronger.
To learn how your family and friends can join the millions of Americans already volunteering this summer, or to find out how you can earn the President's Volunteer Service Award, visit www.usafreedomcorps.gov.
I thank the women of the Miss South Carolina Pageant for their warmth and compassion, for serving as role models of service for America's young people and for answering the president's call to service.
