Maria Shriver Uses Holiday to Dig In and Help Out



Maria Shriver Uses Holiday to Dig In and Help Out

Shriver Uses Holiday to Dig In and Help Out

# The first lady urges volunteers in Garden Grove to keep up the good works beyond King day.

By David Reyes, Times Staff Writer

The state's first lady, Maria Shriver, urged Californians to volunteer and take on community service as she observed Martin Luther King Day in Orange County on Monday.

Shriver, whose father, Sargent Shriver, was the first director of the Peace Corps, added star power to the Garden Grove event at the Community Action Partnership of Orange County, where children and adults spent the day packing food boxes.

"I thank each and every one of you," she said.

"You could have been at the beach, at a playground or just hanging around. But you made a choice to come here and help other people…. You are my heroes."

Shriver, who was accompanied by daughter Christina Schwarzenegger, 13, helped observe the 10th anniversary of the holiday as a day of service.

She asked volunteers to continue their community service beyond the holiday and to get others to volunteer.

"You can do anything," she said.

"You can clean a beach, you can pack food, and not just today, but once a week, or every day if that's possible."

Shriver comes from a family with a legacy in community service.

Her father had a record of public service and innovation that began with the Peace Corps and helped foster organizations such as Head Start, VISTA, Job Corps, Community Action, Upward Bound, Foster Grandparents and Legal Services for the Poor.

Her mother, Eunice, and father founded the Special Olympics in 1968.

Spotting a photograph of her father in an office, she motioned for her daughter and told her, "Look, it's your grandfather. He started organizations like this."

Monday's event was organized by the Community Action Partnership, the Volunteer Center of Orange County, Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County, and Alpha Phi Alpha, an African American service fraternity of which King had been a member.

Shriver, in jeans and a top with "California" on it, toured the food bank, said hello to volunteers, posed for pictures and boxed food.

"We're glad to have her here today," said Clarence "Buddy" Ray, the facility's executive director.

"Her father is an icon for community action."

The volunteers packed canned meat and vegetables, pasta and other food into 40-pound boxes that were to be distributed to needy families, senior citizens and children in the county, Ray said.

Volunteer Marne Glass, with the service group OC Links, took a picture with Shri- ver and other Links members.

"It was great of her to come," she said.

Cynthia Meyra, 23, another volunteer, brought nearly two dozen youths from the Garden Grove Boys and Girls Club who packed food boxes assembly-line style.

Shriver's presence, Meyra said, gave the youths a boost.

"When someone like the governor's wife comes here, it makes what they're doing even more important," Meyra said.

Shriver talked to Liesel Stamm, 21, a VISTA member and recent UC Irvine philosophy graduate, after the first lady noticed Stamm's T-shirt with an AmeriCorps patch, a national service organization.

"She just wanted to say hello, and she was interested in AmeriCorps and what I was doing in public service as a VISTA volunteer," Stamm said.

Stamm and others in her VISTA program are spending a year working for the Volunteer Center of Orange County.

Before departing, Shriver encouraged the young volunteers to continue serving their communities and offered a quote from Mohandas K. Gandhi.

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service," she told them.

When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

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January 15, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Bellamy finishing term - Veneman to head Unicef 15 Jan 230 RPCVs volunteer for Crisis Corps 14 Jan Peace Corps Fund needs silent auction items 12 Jan Matt Gould in one-man Peace Corps show in Hollywood 12 Jan Taylor Hackford's "Ray" Nominated for Golden Globe 12 Jan Ambassador Johnson shares memories of Thailand 11 Jan Senator Dodd suggests PC return to Venezuela 11 Jan Ambassador Hull wants PC to return to Sierra Leone 11 Jan Poiriers unhappy with PC investigation of missing son 10 Jan Emile Hons reflects on the Deborah Gardner murder case 10 Jan Judge Paul A. Bastine criticized for stalling Divorce 6 Jan Volunteer Patricia D. Scatoloni dies in Macedonia 4 Jan more top stories...

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Coleman: Peace Corps mission and expansion Senator Norm Coleman, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee that oversees the Peace Corps, says in an op-ed, A chance to show the world America at its best: "Even as that worthy agency mobilizes a "Crisis Corps" of former Peace Corps volunteers to assist with tsunami relief, I believe an opportunity exists to rededicate ourselves to the mission of the Peace Corps and its expansion to touch more and more lives."

RPCVs active in new session of Congress In the new session of Congress that begins this week, RPCV Congressman Tom Petri has a proposal to bolster Social Security, Sam Farr supported the objection to the Electoral College count, James Walsh has asked for a waiver to continue heading a powerful Appropriations subcommittee, Chris Shays will no longer be vice chairman of the Budget Committee, and Mike Honda spoke on the floor honoring late Congressman Robert Matsui.

Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help?

The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005.

Changing of the Guard With Lloyd Pierson's departure, Marie Wheat has been named acting Chief of Staff and Chief of Operations responsible for the day-to-day management of the Peace Corps. Although Wheat is not an RPCV and has limited overseas experience, in her two years at the agency she has come to be respected as someone with good political skills who listens and delegates authority and we wish her the best in her new position.

Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia."

RPCV safe after Terrorist Attack RPCV Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the U.S. consul general in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia survived Monday's attack on the consulate without injury. Five consular employees and four others were killed. Abercrombie-Winstanley, the first woman to hold the position, has been an outspoken advocate of rights for Arab women and has met with Saudi reformers despite efforts by Saudi leaders to block the discussions.

Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors.

The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn.

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