Self Improvement » Community Services

Young Hands Making a Difference

icamm — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 14:15:03 +0000

What is the more important goal of any kid? Well if you are a kid or have a kid, you can guess the answer right away. It isn’t concerns about having enough to eat, where they will sleep or whether the bomb will be dropped tomorrow. No the worse fate that can befall a kid is summed up in one plea – “What can I do? I’m bored!”

It may seem like an odd suggestion then, to both the kid out there and to the ones charged with battling this dread affliction of “boredom” in the kids on our lives that there is one medicine for boredom that you may not have given a chance. And that is community service.

Now this may be a tough sell because on the surface, community service isn’t a toy or a video game or something designed to entertain kids. It is something so much different from any of those repacked amusements. It’s for real. Lots of computer games are made to give you the feeling you created something whether it’s a city, an alien planet or a spaceship. But when you turn off the computer, that creation is gone because it never was real.

With community service you DO create something and not by talking to a pretend civilization on the computer screen. Oh no, what you create is real, it will be there tomorrow when you go back. And you are dealing with real people and solving real problems. All of a sudden, the kid isn’t so much a kid any more. He or she is a valuable member of the community, just like an adult and there is not better feeling than that!

There are tons of other great reasons to get involved in community service this summer or as a hobby to replace the endless hours playing computer games. There is such a huge variety of things you can get involved with through community service that you can get your hands dirty on a hobby or an interest that you really want to be involved in. And you won’t be just enjoying that great interest by yourself because you will be working side by side with other youths, older kids in college or beyond, young dads and moms and even grandparents all who don’t want to sit home and be bored and would rather be out there being somebody for someone else.

Volunteering can even give you as much variety as playing games or fooling around with toys might give you and you don’t have to beg mom and dad to buy you a thing. In most towns or cities, there is a community service coordinating group that will have dozens and dozens of ways you can plug in and do something for someone else. Some of the great ways you can pitch in and help out might include…

* Helping stock food that will go out to famine victims or hurricane survivors.

* Serving meals at the homeless shelter to families who really need the help. In fact, after the meal is over, those homeless kids would like nothing more than to spend a few hours with some new friends enjoying a simple game or just learning about each other.

* Help the Special Olympics put on one of their athletic outings. If you or your kids love sports, what better way to put that skill to work helping others than letting someone who isn’t as lucky as you know that great feeling of winning a race or sinking a basket.

* Reading to a shut in or to the blind. You think its great hearing a story? You haven’t had a thrill until you read it to someone else who has never heard it and you see their face as they enjoy every new twist and turn of the plot.

Community service gives young hands a chance to really make a difference to others in the community. But maybe the most important thing it does is it opens kid’s eyes to how great it is to stop worrying about themselves and help someone else out for a little while. It is the kind of addiction your mom and dad will be glad you got into. And chances are you will never again complain, “What can I do? I’m bored!”

What’s in it for Them?

icamm — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:00:03 +0000

Have you noticed how many of the really big businesses in every community always seem to also put a lot of effort into community service projects? If you look closely at the promotional material these companies put out, you would accept that the reason a business might decide to dedicated a few thousand or hundred thousands of dollars from their vast corporate coffers to help out the community because they “just want to give back to the great community we all live in.”

That sound pretty good to be sure. But it helps to dig a little deeper. We all know that the purpose of any business is single minded and that is to make money. They have an obligation to their stockholders or their owners to make as much of a profit as they can to return to those investors a good reward for the initial investment they put into the business.

This is not evil or imply that a business is somehow selfish. This is just the reason for being for a business and as long as they do business in a socially responsible way such as maintaining a safe working environment and paying a fair wage, we encourage business to follow their calling to make lots of money because when they do that, everybody wins.

So why do big businesses set aside a percentage of their funding to do community service projects? It’s a good question because perhaps you are a businessperson trying to decide if getting involved in community service is a good business decision. Well it turns out it makes very smart business to do something so “un-businesslike” as to do community service projects for the city in which you are based. Some of those reasons include…

. It’s free advertising. When a company jumps into a community service project, it is rarely done anonymously. A service project in the community is a great way to create lots of “feel good” advertising. This gets the company name out into the community, which builds what is called “good will”. Good will is actually an entry in the corporate ledger books as an asset that has monetary value to any company.

. It builds corporate morale. Employees like to work for companies that are good citizens of the community. Often times the company will sponsor a day where employees can go work on a community service project with a workday and get paid for it. This gives the employee a nice break and builds good feelings both in the community and in the employees, which improves productivity. Improved productivity improves profits.

. It builds trust. People will only do business with someone they like and trust. And people will go out of their way not to do business with someone they don’t like or trust. So trust between a company and the customer base is essential for strong sales and continuing to be a profitable business.

. It’s deductible. Just like individuals can write off money or goods we give to charities, companies can classify expenses used for community service in a way that benefits them at tax time. Sometimes companies need all the deductions they can get and charitable ones are not only good dedications but good use of funds to improve the corporate image.

. It’s a hedge against bad news. If a big company in your town has ever had to do layoffs, you know the bad press that can cause for that company. If the relationship of trust between the company and the population, particularly the pool of workers is damaged, building a workforce in good times becomes more difficult. By building good will in good times, that can offset bad news such as layoffs and actually turn a bad spell for the company into a source of pity and support from the community rather than a source of distrust.

This is not to say that companies don’t have their “hearts” in the right place when they do community service. But the benefits of pitching in to help the community in which they live are not only good citizenship, its good business.

What You Can Do for Your Country

icamm — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:15:03 +0000

At one time the method for keeping the armed forces supplied with young men was done with a draft in which some form of selection process required by law that young men just out of high school to join the military to serve a term of service. But in the 1970s, the United States moved to an all volunteer army and our nation has been defended by this type of military system ever since.

The truth is that for decades, the idea of volunteering to serve a stint in the armed forces was never in question in households in America. Until the problems of the draft relative to the Vietnam conflict, in most homes in America, parents taught their youth that going into the military was the natural next step after high school but before going into college. Many older Americans today can remember learning from their parents that it is a boy’s civic duty to serve their country in the military and that becoming a proud member of America’s fighting forces is what truly gave a youth his credentials to be “a man”.

While social change has reduced the awareness in the population that service in the military is actually the highest form of community service, the military continues to be a viable way that a young person can pay back this great country for the honor of their citizenship and start their lives as adults at the same time.

The problem with the perception that volunteering for military service is no longer a natural path of community service may come from the false perception that the military exists solely to fight wars. And while that is job one for any military unit, the ways that our military has been used especially in times of crisis to perform community service within the borders of this country has left a long history of achievement as its legacy.

Any young person that wants to join an organization dedicated to the single minded pursuit of being of service to others cannot find a better place to do that than the various branches of the military. Because the military is generally well funded, well trained, housed full time in preparation for crisis and kept at a high state of train gin and readiness, they can be called into help out when the community finds itself in need.

Each year as hurricane season hits us, you see the military respond heroically. Nowhere was that more evident than the evacuations from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina that just could not have been possible without the tireless work of the military. But their efforts to keep America safe from the inside as well as the outside doesn’t stop when the hurricanes slow down. Whether it’s a tornado in the Midwest, fires in the west, volcanoes in the northeast or any other disaster that might hit our population, the military always see to be the “first responders” to such crisis.

This high calling of our military is even more evident in the reason for being of our various National Guard units. While it’s true that in the last few years, they have been needed with that difficult conflict we are facing in the Middle East, historically this has been a military force with the two pronged mission of protecting the population at the local level and helping out when the community has a need.

It’s good to step back from our current view of the military because it can become distorted because of the emotions we all associate with the conflicts our country has been faced with in the last few decades. But getting a historic view and taking into account the heroic work all branches of our military have done to perform important community service at the local level, we can conclude that there is no better place for a young person to seek a way to follow that commission given by President Kennedy long ago to ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity

icamm — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:15:03 +0000

There may be no more recognizable organization name that comes to mind when we think of community service than Habitat for Humanity. This is an organization that does not view world poverty or reaching out to the disadvantaged as just subjects of speeches. Habitat for Humanity literally puts their backs into the mission of helping the disadvantaged, one home at a time.

There is no doubt that the high profile “celebrities” that have worked in Habitat for Humanity have done a lot to raise the awareness of the community services this fine organization does in communities around the nation and around the world. President Jimmy Carter’s tireless work with Habitat for Humanity has left us with even more powerful images of his leadership than perhaps he left us when he completed his term as President.

But those images are never of an ex-president enjoying the accolades of admirers at an expensive Washington or Hollywood dinner to raise money for a cause. No, the images of President Carter working with Habitat for Humanity are the images that anyone who gets involved with this cause will remember. They will recall images of dozens and dozens of helpful citizens, of all ages, races, creeds and backgrounds, working together with their sleeves rolled up to build a house for a neighbor, even if that neighbor is from halfway around the world.

Considering that the mission of Habitat for Humanity is driven by the calling to build homes for people in need, one house at a time, the figures of their success are truly staggering. As of their 2005 figures, Habitat for Humanity had built over 200,000 homes worldwide and those homes have given safe, clean, affordable shelter to over one million needy people. No wonder, as each new owner of a Habitat for Humanity home looks at their beautiful new home, they universally call the work of Habitat for Humanity “a miracle.”

The organizational system that Habitat for Humanity uses is a model for helping the less fortunate but avoiding the pitfalls that often occur when a government agency gives a handout. The future owners of a Habitat home enter into an agreement to work shoulder to shoulder with the volunteers who are building their home investing “sweat equity” into that home. This investment builds pride and a sense of ownership. But along with those benefits, it takes those same new homeowners and adds them to the army of workers who will turn around and go out and help build another home for someone just like themselves who could use a helping hand to afford a home where their family can live.

It is small wonder that Habitat for Humanity was awarded the Presidential Metal of Freedom in 1996, the highest civilian honor the government can give. When awarding this metal, President Clinton said that Habitat for Humanity was “…the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United States.”. A truly phenomenal and “miraculous” movement such as Habitat for Humanity does not go unnoticed as we witnessed when President Carter, a tireless worker for Habitat for Humanity, was given the Nobel Peace Prize for his continuous work on behalf of the disadvantaged in our society and around the world.

Thousands of citizens have flocked to work with others in Habitat for Humanity to build homes for their neighbors. The movement is ecumenical Christian, independent of government funding, non-profit and totally driven by an army of volunteers. And yet is has truly been an example of how communities can come together to help others for the sheer joy of community service.

The Greatest Generation

icamm — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:15:03 +0000

Not long ago, Tom Brokaw, a well known newsman and author wrote a book about the heroic sacrifices that the men and women during World War II made to stop Hitler and his allies and save our nation and the world from tyranny. The name of that book was The Greatest Generation. Now there is absolutely no question that the tremendous effort and self sacrifice that our grandfathers and grandmothers made during those dark days represents very best of what America is all about. We will never be able to thank them enough for what they did to preserve this great country for us and for our children.

But there may be another greatest generation that deserves recognition as well. And that generation is the next one. The reason that generation has the chance to be the greatest generation as well is that we have the chance, right now as the parents, the guardians, the teachers, the Boy Scout leaders, the Sunday School teachers and the mentors of these young people to show them what greatness is and how they too can be for their times the greatest generation.

To help the next generation to demonstrate that kind of greatness, we must instill in them a sense of community awareness, devotion and pride that will generate from everything they do. If the next generation is only what used to be called “the me generation”, they will only do what makes them happy right now. Greatness comes from doing something that means something for the community. So by teaching our youth how to be involved in community service from a very early age, we equip them to be as great as any generation that came before.

Being of service to the community is a skill and an attitude that is caught and not taught. So by making sure we, as the adults in their lives, are always looking for ways to get involved in community service, the youth will mimic our behavior as youth will always do and they will catch the fever and get a taste for community service that will last a lifetime.

A wise man once said about helping the poor that if you give a man a fish he is fed for a day but if you teach him to fish, he is fed for a lifetime. This ethic is true about teaching our youth that community service is fun and that neighbors helping neighbors is what makes life worth living. That is teaching our kids to fish. And the result will be a love of community service that will last a lifetime.

We have good mentors in our quest to raise the greatest generation. And there are outstanding youth organizations that thrive on community service and passing the torch to the next generation. From Boy Scouts to school clubs to youth groups to the YMCA, wherever there are mentors of youth, there is community service going on.

How will we know if our quest to make the next generation great is a success? The clues will come quietly. When you hear your son or daughter leave the house with enthusiasm to go join in on a project to clean up the park or to sign up at the library to help children to read, you can reflect that you are witnessing the birth in that child a love of giving and a love of community service that will last a lifetime. That is the spirit that made the World War II generation great. By empowering our children to be servants of the community, they too will become for their times, the greatest generation.

The Good Lawyers

icamm — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:30:04 +0000

When you think of a lawyer, sometimes we get an image of high powered men in flashy suits charging $300 an hour to talk legal talk that nobody understands but other lawyers. And when we get those media images of lawyers in our heads, the idea of a lawyer who wants to use his or her specialized talent with the law and that extensive education they all have to have to practice law for community service work seems almost ridiculous.

It’s a good idea in all aspects of life not to let television or movie images of anyone affect reality very much. The truth is there are thousands of lawyers who went into law for other reasons than to make money and run for governor. In every city and town in the country, there are lawyers who work for very little to defend people who need help with the legal system try to get a fair shake in a system that seems to reward the wealthy and the influential.

Most of us know at least a few lawyers. To be sure, there seems to be a lot of them. But if you think about your friends who are lawyers, many have them have a strong sense of community service and a desire to use the privilege and education that has been given to them to benefit society. It is a tradition that goes back for centuries in the legal profession. A lawyer by definition is one who stands between the people and the government to try to help those who have been falsely accused or need an advocate to be treated fairly.

That attitude of responsibility to the community is reflected in the values of the Bar Association of America. The Bar Association holds its members to a high standard of public responsibility and accountability. And part of that sense of responsibility is using their talents and abilities as part of their community service. So part of a lawyer’s commitment includes dedicated a certain amount of hours to the community to be offered as free legal assistance to those who cannot afford a lawyer otherwise.

Now to be fair, this is required by the American Bar Association of all lawyers on a state by state basis. An average of 50 hours a year is required for a lawyer to continue to be a member of the Bar in good standing. This is called “Pro Bono Publico” work (usually shorted to Pro Bono) which is Latin for “in the public good”. But rather than see that as something negative, this reflects the values of the Bar Association and it sends a message to anyone who wants to hang out their shingle as a lawyer that being in service to the community is important and encouraged from the highest levels of the legal profession.

The attitudes of public responsibility don’t just end at the door of the Bar Association building. Many lawyers give far more than their minimum requirements in free legal service to the community. In every city and town in this country, you can find lawyers working side by side with doctors, dentists, construction people and professionals of every description to try and help out people who don’t have a lot to give back but just need that helping hand.

So let’s lay aside our prejudices about lawyers that we pick up from too many movies and television shows that only show the bad ones. When we do that we will realize that lawyers are good neighbors, good family men and woman and really do care about giving back to the community just like you and I do. Those are truly the good lawyers.

The Evidence of Eagles

icamm — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:30:03 +0000

Most of us at some point or another have met a young man who proudly includes in his credentials of his youth that he is an “Eagle Scout”. If you are not familiar with the program of the Boy Scouts of America, that might sound like a strange thing to list as great accomplishments of youth. But there is no question that Eagle Scouts are a unique classification of youth who carry that distinction with a unique pride. It seems that once a boy adds that credential to their resume, they carry that honor with them forever.

In brief, the Boy Scouts program is an international youth organization organized to develop good values, community spirit and leadership in boys that will help them become better citizens in manhood. It is a program that is over 100 years old and that has chapters all over the world. When a boy starts in the scouting program, he works his way up a series of ranks, each of which is progressively more difficult to achieve.

The highest rank of any boy scout is the Eagle rank. Statistics tell us that of the thousands of boys that enter the Boy Scouts program, only 3% are able to achieve that final rank and be able to stand proudly and say “I am an Eagle Scout.” And it is more than just an honor that stays within the BSA. Being an Eagle Scout can be listed on college applications, it can help with advancement in the military and become part of a man’s employment resume right along with time in the military and college experience. It is that valuable to a young man.

When a young man reaches the threshold of this prestigious rank, the requirements of him are high. Boys who wish to get over this final hurdle must work at it usually for over a year to accomplish what is required of them to put that Eagle pin on their uniform. And at the very heart of these strenuous requirements is the concept of community service.

Community service is an integral part of every aspect of the program the Boy Scouts organization puts together for the boys. At each step along the path of advancement, some “service hours” are required of the boys. It is so much a natural part of the way a boy scout thinks that many recreational activates are organized around service projects so the boys come to understand that being in community service is just part of being a citizen. And it can be fun too.

But to make the rank of Eagle, the candidate must complete his “Eagle Project”. This is a distinctive project that must be of significant community value. The process of even getting that Eagle Project approved is strict and held to a high standard. And once the boy has his project approved, it will take weeks if not months to complete it.

Typical Eagle projects include the complete repainting of a community service building, planting trees in a public park, landscaping all of the open areas in a church or organizing a community wide blood drive. There is no question that Eagle Projects make a positive impact on the community. And when a boy successfully completes that project and has turned in all of his requirements to become an Eagle Scout, he will look back with pride on that project and often take family members, friends and show his children and grandchildren that project with pride because he is able to say “that was my Eagle Project.”

So look around the community. Odds are you won’t look far before you will see the impact of the Eagle program in your town. The Boy Scouts make sure the best of their best leave a mark on the community. They want to be sure that wherever their finest leaders can be found, there you will find the evidence of Eagles.

The Church as Good Neighbor

icamm — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:30:02 +0000

There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether religion should be part of public life. This kind of theoretical discussion can be thrown around on national television shows. But anyone who lives in a community in any town in this country knows that the church is as vital a part of any community as the town hall, the library or the local swimming pool.

Whether you have religious convictions or not, the role of the church in community life is impossible to ignore. Most churches have as part of their core reason for being that they will reach out to the community in a wide variety of ways to help the needy and provide comfort to those in need of help in the community in which they reside.

Since this country was founded, the church has been a gathering place where important public factions take place. Just take a walk around Boston where the nation was born and you will notice that many of the important public landmarks that were part of the start of this country were churches. To a church, participating in community service is just as natural as a policeman helping a lost child get home. It just is part of who they are what they do.

If you have a community service project in mind, it is never a bad place to start to go to the church and meet with their administrative board. The church knows that if you improve the community, you make people feel more part of the lives of others. And people who want to be involved in the lives of others get out and go to church. So it just makes good sense for your local church, temple or synagogue to be a vital part of any community service project that can make your town a better place to live.

It is important to understand the role the church can play in any community service project in town. The church is probably not the place to go to get massive funding for a huge public works project. But don’t count the church out as a funding resource because within the church there may be many influential and wealthy citizens who might be ready to kick in their fair share to make the town a better place to live.

The church, if it is a vital and living religious body, has at its disposal a strong community of enthusiastic members and the ability to mobilize those members to get out and make a difference in the community. The pastor or priest of the local church has the pulse of his or her congregation and he or she knows how to get them moving on an exciting project and, by the way, how to turn them against one just as fast.

So when you go to the local church to discuss that community service project, think of what means the most to that religious institution. They are not motivated by property values, marketing statistics or traffic the project might generate. A church is interested in the people who might be touched and if the project gives them the ability to make a positive impact on the community. That kind of influence will help people feel open to coming to church again and that is what makes churches grow.

So we should look at churches as places that have a tremendous value to any community service project we might need to get started. As people motivators, they cannot be beat. Church members are joiners and doers and they as a rule can be trusted with money, equipment and responsibility. Churches have small communities such as the youth group, the ladies circle or the men’s fellowship that by themselves can take on a community service project and make it a success. So if you have plans to start a project that is going to make a positive mark on your community, remember a church can always be counted on to be a good neighbor.

Teens on a Mission from God

icamm — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:03 +0000

One of the many great lines from the classic movie The Blues Brothers was one that was delivered by Dan Ackroyd when he was explaining the importance of their need to get their blues band back together. He always explained that it was because, “We’re on a mission from God.”

But humor aside, across this country from literally thousands of churches each summer, youth groups head out on trips, some far away and some across town to offer community service in the name of their mission of spreading the word about their faith. Now whether you subscribe to the religious views of these many bright eyed teenagers, you have to admit that seeing such an army of youth spending their summer weeks working to help others rather than just hanging out at the pool or making trouble for their parents is a positive thing for everyone concerned.

From a religious perspective, one of the great values of a mission trip for teenagers is that it gives them a chance to genuinely use their faith in service of others. Most religious doctrines include a dedication to service to mankind in one form or another. Most of the mission trips that are sponsored from American churches are Christian in nature. And the Christian faith definitely includes teaching that all followers should reach out to the poor and to those less fortunate than themselves as part of their devotion to God.

So taking an organized group of young people out to offer service to the poor, to another culture or even overseas to a disadvantaged area makes those teachings from the church much more real. Even for those who may not subscribe to Christianity, it is clear that a faith that gets out and puts its muscle into community service is a faith that, to borrow a phrase, “puts it money where its mouth is.”

Beyond the religious aspects of the value of such mission trips, there are many tremendous values that are the outcome of mobilizing a group of teenagers to go and help others as part of a community service effort. Some of those values are…

* It teaches the value of work. When youth are given shovels or paint brushes and they have to work 8-10 hours in the hot sun to help other people, they learn a lot about what hard work means and the great things that can come from hard work. This is a lesson that can never been taught as well via lectures or reading a book. It is a lesson best caught not taught.

* It teaches them to work together. Community service projects almost always involves working in teams. As teens begin to bond with their fellow missionaries that are both other teens who are older and younger and with hard working adults, those divisions between generations and between each other melt away as they work hard and enjoy the fun of really doing something worthwhile.

* It gives them a glimpse into the lives of others. Universally when teenagers return from a mission trip, they come back changed after seeing how others less fortunate than they live. This is a big growing experience and one that will only happen in a dramatic, face to face encounter such as they have on the mission field.

We cannot overlook that one of the big values of putting tens of thousands of teenagers into the field to do community service each summer is that many poor, disadvantaged or down and out people get much needed help from an army of kids eager to serve because they are doing it from their reverence for their religious beliefs. The bonding that happens on mission trips isn’t just between the team and each other and it’s leadership. Those receiving the help will bond with the mission teams in ways that none involved will ever forget. And that has value that are probably even greater than the work that got done. Those are eternal values.

Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels.

icamm — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:45:03 +0000

If you have bikers in your community, you can relate to that sense of anxiety you might feel when you see them riding in tandem down one of your city streets. If they are part of a “gang”, they might be wearing the uniform of a biker with the black leather, the emblems of skulls, tattoos and other things that can be pretty frightening as they ride along on their motorcycles.

The image of bikers being dangerous and maybe destructive goes back a long way. You may not know that the origin of motorcycle clubs comes from the post World War II time frame. Many veterans who came back from that conflict with battle related issues found solace in being with others like them doing some “male bonding”. They found the motorcycle and in particular the Harley Davidson motorcycle and that gave them a shared interest that eventually developed into what we eventually recognize as a motorcycle gang.

Now the history of motorcycle gangs is not always pretty. It is true that one of the big motorcycle gangs in the fifties and the sixties were the infamous Hell’s Angels. And those original members of that club were pretty dangerous individuals. But there was a code of ethics to being a biker because they shared the battle experience. They were and are tremendously loyal to each other. And it may surprise you to know that bikers as a rule are quite patriotic and can be outspoken in defense of the country and its interests.

But as the years have gone by, even though it doesn’t seem that the image of the motorcycle gang member has changed, how they view themselves and how they want to make their contribution so society has changed a great deal. The truth is that many bikers have a strong sense of social consciousness, environmental awareness and they are often the first to respond to the needs of others in times of trouble.

Bikers express these values through dozens of community service projects each year. But these are not citizens who seek the limelight or the praise of others. They pitch in and help out with service projects that they feel passionate about in their own quiet and efficient way. And they almost never receive the recognition they deserve for the good things they do in society.

Each year around Thanksgiving, there is a tradition in many cities around the country for the local biker community to organize a “toy run”. As with anything else they do, the biker community makes this event all their own. Often they will gather on a particular Sunday morning with their toys ready to go. The toy of choice is a large stuffed animal or doll that can be strapped proudly to the front of the motorcycle as the parade begins. At a specified time the biker caravan departs riding in tandem in a long procession that can be miles long to take those toys to the point of distribution to give them to the poor or those who cannot afford such things for Christmas.

This kind of dedication to community service is a deep part of the ethical values that is what it means to be a part of the biker community. Throughout the year, bikers will perform hundreds of small acts of community service that never get reported or become part of an organized effort. Whether it is stopping to help out those in need on the highway or performing clean up or improvements in the nation’s parks, the biker community shows its commitment to the environment and to the community in dozens of quiet ways.

So when you see those menacing looking bikers on your city streets, maybe you can smile and give them a friendly wave. Because while they often look tough and menacing, these are fellow citizens who care deeply about each other and about the communities in which they live. And just knowing that can go a long way to take the “hell” out of the Hell’s Angels for all of us.

Real Patriotism

icamm — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:45:05 +0000

Patriotism is a word that has gotten a lot of use in the last few years as more and more people try to define what patriotism is based on how much you fly your flag and how many magnets you have on your car. But the expression of patriotism we show at the fourth of the July when we cut loose with those fireworks or we shout in agreement at stirring patriotic speeches are not the kind of patriotism that makes this country as great as it is.

This is not to say that there is no place for that kind of patriotic expression. To be able to express devotion to country openly is one of our rights. And when all citizens of this country can do that in agreement, it builds community and the kind of pride that makes the nation strong.

There is a phrase that one of the army divisions uses to explain to anybody who asks what makes that unit so brave and able to do such amazing things in battle or whenever called into duty. It is a very simple phrase but one that is full of meaning. It simply says “deeds not words.”

The concept of deeds being the true substance of patriotism is nowhere better shown than in the many acts of community service that go on in this country every week of the year. All over this great land, clubs, Boy Scout troops, churches, businesses and every imaginable kind of organization go into the community to do service projects to make their communities a better place to live.

Maybe this doesn’t seem like patriotism because we tend to associate patriotism with love of the country as a whole. But none of us live in the country as a whole. Each of us lives in a community that taken together make this wonderful country as great as it is. The country isn’t great because it photographs well from space. It is great because in little towns and small cities and big metropolises and out in the country, Americans get out and find ways to help each other and to help their communities grow and continue to prosper.

That spirit of community service is always on display when you see moments of crisis in part of the country. We see situations every week where there is a tornado here or a fire there or a lost child in one small town or a family who loses everything in another. When we see that, without fail, you see the local community rally to the aid of those who lost the most. In fact, when the national media does their job of letting us know when the need is great, the nation as a whole will pitch in and do all they can to help out their neighbors in another state, even though these are neighbors they have never met and that they will never see again.

Obviously dramatic events like the 911 attacks show that kind of spirit most dramatically. At the local level, even in a town like New York City, on the sight where there was tremendous danger and loss of life everywhere, those New Yorkers became what we all are. They became Americans and even with the threat of more danger, they got in there and helped the wounded. And then day by day, week by week, those Americans set upon a community service project to end all community service projects as they began to put those neighborhoods back together again and make a community out of what terrorists turned into a war zone.

But the local community service is not the end of the story. Soon from all over America, from small towns and big cities, armies of volunteers, coordinated by wise agencies that we depend on in times like these, moved into New York to lend their hands, neighbor to neighbor to help rebuild that city. Never mind if that mother from Peoria knew about New York or agreed with them politically. She saw a neighbor in pain and a town attacked by an enemy. And Americans come together when we need each other. That is the heart of what makes community service work. And that is the true meaning of patriotism.

Merchants Reach Out

icamm — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:45:02 +0000

Sometimes we see some tremendous acts of community service that one of the really big businesses in town takes on. A huge international bank may donate some huge statue to the local park. A big oil company who has been in the city since it was started might fund a library or a new museum. When these things happen, those big businesses usually get their names attached to those projects. And while we are all grateful for the contribution these businesses make to our towns, nobody is kidding themselves that they just do that as part of smart business and to take the write off.

It is sad to be so cynical but when we think of true community service, it isn’t some massive company that has no real face or personality to us that really makes a difference. It is when that local merchant who runs the local five and dime or ice cream shop or that new business getting started pitches in that we really see the “community” part of community service start to mean something.

They say that small business really is the heart of our economy. But small business is what makes any city or town in America thrive. Even if the business is a branch of a large national chain, if the business functions for very long in your neighborhood, it doesn’t take long for it to become a local business.

Local merchants have good reasons to get involved in community service projects that are even more compelling than the reasons huge companies do it. Huge companies do it because they went to a seminar in New York where some hot shot wrote a book telling them it’s a good idea to appease the locals. But with a local business, there are no hot shots telling them how to appease anyone. They ARE the locals and they love your community just as much as anyone.

“Love” is a term not lots of people apply to the place they live very much. But our immediate neighborhood with the video store across the street, the pizza place just up the block and the grocery store that employs kids from your daughter’s Sunday School class just a mile away all make up a local neighborhood that you do have feelings for. So it is not wrong to want to make an investment in the businesses and public use spaces that will improve the quality of life for everyone you know.

Too often we sit around and wait for the government to kick in and make our lives better and improve things are broken down. We put too much value on the idea that “I paid my taxes, not the mayor can just get down here and fix our park”. The pivotal word in that complaint is “our”. The town you live in and particularly the part that means a lot to you is yours and it is all of our jobs to take care of what means a lot to us.

At the local level, it is the local merchant who can really make a difference in improving the quality of life for his family and the families that shop with him. By working together with other local merchants, you can fund small community service projects and even get out of the store and roll up your sleeves and help out yourself. When you do that, you will get a feeling of pride in YOUR town and in your neighborhood. And that pride will be shared by your neighbors who, incidentally, are also your best customers.

Jerry’s Kids

icamm — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:15:05 +0000

Forty one years. That is quite a long time. And that is how long Jerry Lewis has been going on television every single Labor Day to conduct the annual telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This phenomenal fund raising effort has set a high standard for achievement and has changed our view of Jerry Lewis from that of just a talented entertainer, actor and comic to one of the great philanthropists of our time.

But if the “Jerry Lewis telethon” as it has come to be called, were only an annual TV show where big stars come on around the clock for a couple of days to raise money for research to find a cure for muscular dystrophy, that alone would be a wonderful thing. But this Labor Day telethon has taken on a much larger meaning and role in American life to the extent that it has become one of the seminal nationwide community service events of the calendar year and arguably the largest national coordinated community service event of all time.

The event we see on television is only the forward front of a full scale nationwide campaign that sweeps across the country each year. It is one of the most ambitious and well organized community service efforts of all time because during the weeks leading up to the big telecast, literally thousands of community service projects will be held in every community in the nation, all with the goal of making a good sized contribution to “Jerry’s kids.”

The variety of ways that people across the nation find to raise funds for this phenomenal telethon are truly amazing. This one cause has tapped the incredible creativity and willingness of people to get out there and work to try to cure a disease that is so awful for children. Some of the ways people have raised money include…

* Firefighters commonly flood the intersections collecting funds in their boots.

* Youth groups put on car washes in every convenience store in town. It is impossible not to have a clean car on the weeks leading up to the Labor Day telethon.

* Churches hold bake sales to generate funds for Jerry’s kids.

* College fraternities have slave auctions to reach their financial goals.

* Businesses will have employees save up their change all year and dump in a big bucket to be taken to the bank to be counted and donated to Jerry’s kids.

* Restaurants will have a round up campaign to help patrons find a painless way to give.

These many events that are held I public buildings, schools, churches, and businesses almost everywhere throughout the country, has a multi faceted effect. Obviously the first outcome is an incredible flood of money that is raised to battle this disease. But there is something else less obvious that happens when such a large amount of people take the time to leave their homes and get out to do something totally dedicated to community service and helping those who cannot help themselves.

There is an enthusiasm, a momentum and a sense of excitement that sweeps the country each labor day as institutions, organizations or businesses try to top their last years effort and outdo themselves to give more to Jerry’s kids. It is truly one of the finest examples of community service tapping into the power of people’s desire to help and responding to an outstanding leader that we have in Jerry Lewis. This one weekend raises millions every year to keep battling this dread disease. Not too bad for a vaudeville comedian.

It Takes a Village

icamm — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:45:03 +0000

A few years ago a book came out called “It Takes a Village” that created a stir. But the stir was probably because the author was Hillary Clinton more than the topic itself. But in this book Mrs. Clinton advanced the theory that in society, much of what we do that has value, including raising children is not just the work of individuals. It takes community action to make things of lasting value happen.’

This concept may have had some political reason for being written but Mrs. Clinton did introduce into the public mind that phrase which is really an outstanding summary of why community service works so well. The

If you live in a city of any large size, we have more trouble thinking of our community as a “village”. And to some extent the size of the city might also have an influence over your willingness to get involved in community service projects. But there is a way to view even life in the big city in such a way that you can find good reasons to make a contribution.

Even if you live in one of the large metropolitan areas of the country, the truth is, we all to some extent live in a village. You have a limited area that you travel for the most part. Most of us go to the same grocery stores, play at the same parks, attend the same church each week and use a limited number of streets even if you live in surrounded by one of the biggest cities in the country. Philadelphia, one of the largest cities in the country, is known as the “city of neighborhoods.” And within those neighborhoods everybody knows each other and life is localized. In a way, those neighborhoods are right in the middle of a big city.

So, you too live in a village within the large city around you. And within that village, you can see ways that you can make a contribution to the lives you touch and that touch yours. Some great community service ideas that you can look for that will affect your “village” might be…

* You learn from your child that the family of one of his friends cannot afford to repair their porch. You can mobilize the parents of many of the children in that class and show up there on a Saturday with a surprise porch repair crew. That kind of spontaneous event will bring bonding to just that “village” of parents of kids in that school room that could build friendships that will last a lifetime.

* You find out that a family owned business is going to have to go out of business because they cannot bring their building up to code. You can circulate a petition of the many customers who love that business like you do and organize a fund raising campaign to get that building fixed. This doesn’t just have to be about money. You can get everybody into the act having yard sales, bake sales and doing other fund raising events to keep that wonderful family owned operation a part of your community for a long time to come.

* A local church has all of their beautiful stained glass windows blown out by a tornado. You can use your research skills and the skills of other business people to find some replacement windows in a defunct church and get them sent to your community to make that church beautiful again.

All of these things make life better in the streets and community centers of the area of town where you live. And when you pitch in and make your little area of the world a better place to live, the good feelings and friendships you build have positive effects that are beyond measure. And above all you took the time to be of help so can say even with Hilary Clinton that it really does take a village.

How the Rich Really Get Richer

icamm — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:45:17 +0000

Somehow we have a fascination and sometimes a disgust toward the wealthiest people in our society. To be sure, they are the ones that get a lot of attention in the tabloids and television talk shows. And the paparazzi love them. But at the same time, we tend to look down on them. We assume that they are spoiled, perhaps got their wealth through unscrupulous means and that they cannot understand the day in day out struggles us “common folks” go through every day.

But there is another side to the lifestyle of the most fortunate in society and that is their philanthropic and community service work that they do. There is no question that the wealthy have amazing abilities to generate revenue and build powerful and successful businesses. But it seems that once people reach a certain level of wealth, the urge takes over to give to the community and provide the means for some truly great community service work to be done.

There is a long precedent in the country for those who achieve the highest level of success to turn that success around and put it right back into the community. One of the great philanthropists of the American business community was David Packard, one of the founders of Hewlett Packard. Throughout his career, he never allowed the trappings of wealth to affect his lifestyle or his values. So when he had achieved great success, he turned right around and started the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. This ongoing community service organization uses the tremendous endowment of funds that David Packard passed to it in his will to fund dozens of worthwhile community service projects including preschools, community centers, health care for children and children’s hospitals.

A more up to date example of a very rich and successful business man turning that wealth to community service is Bill Gates, the entrepreneur who started Microsoft. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gives literally millions to dozens of worthy projects that are turned to help ease the plight of those victimized by global poverty and illness as well finding ways to encourage global development to help put an end to poverty once and for all.

Looking at this charitable work on the outside, you might think that the rich of our society do this kind of thing for a tax write off or because they feel guilty for all they take out of society. And sure, there are no doubt some of that social class who function out of those motivations. But a higher motivation often is what drives the wealthy to want to do their part.

In many cases, such as Bill Gates, the wealth they have come to know was a byproduct of their brilliant work with their field of endeavor. They never set out to be rich but the marketplace rewarded them for innovation, invention or superior business abilities. These individuals are like you and I in that they set out in life to be as successful as they can be. And just like you and I, many of the wealthy know that being a success in life means more than just your bank account or how new your car is.

So by using the blessings their success has given them to help others, the wealthy get a different kind of fulfillment from life than just luxury and fine living. They learn what many of us already know that to achieve true fulfillment in life, you have to seek it from helping others. By coming down out of their mansions and finding ways to help others in society, the rich discover that the one who gets the most out of community service is the giver. We are fortunate to such philanthropists who are u sing their wealth to help others. But they have learned that our thanks is not the reward. They have learned that the way to truly get richer is to enjoy a richer life and there is not richer experience than the joy of community service.

Helping Hands Around the World

icamm — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:45:04 +0000

When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local community. And reaching out to those in your own town is truly the most dynamic type of community service. But there are dramatic examples of people who reached out beyond the city limits of where they lived to really make a difference in the lives of people around them.

Examples of ways that neighbors reached out to neighbors beyond their borders and out into the larger community of the nation can be found in youth outreach programs through local churches or community centers. Every year thousands of youth spread out all over the country to help those less fortunate than themselves. But there is one example of neighbor helping neighbor even past the borders of our country. This is an example of government working hand in hand with citizens to extend helping hands around the world. And that example of community service on a global scale is the Peace Corps.

The idea of the Peace Corps was the brainchild of dreamers during the 1960s, a decade where the youth of America were searching for self-definition. It took a dynamic leader like John F. Kennedy to take that vision and find a way to organize it into a government program that could capitalize on the energy, the good will and the enthusiasm of youth to reach out to nations around the world. The idea had gained sufficient momentum that it became an important part of Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency so much so that when President Kennedy gave his inaugural speech, it was the Peace Corps he was talking about when he uttered those historic words…

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”

The Peace Corps has given tens of thousands of America’s youth the opportunity to become part of a large community service outreach where that opportunity may not have existed before. Since its inception in 1960, over 187,000 people have served in the Peace Corps.

If we take the time to reflect on the mission of the Peace Corps, it was truly an ambitious undertaking. The scope of this new federal agency was well summarized in the wording of the actual law that brought into being which states that the Peace Corps was established…

“to promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”

One wonders how the Peace Corps really is a way for a young person to ask what they can do for America in that it is an outreach to people in need all over the world. But in truth, efforts like the Peace Corps have done as much to promote democracy and to build good will between foreign nations and the United States as any official ambassador or formal meeting of heads of states could ever do.

The Peace Corps has build relationships between peoples at the local level. And it is when the citizens of nations around the world see the true hearts of Americans and that sense of trust and good will is built up between peoples that the good will that naturally happens on a Peace Corps outing begins to take root and change opinions on a national level about what America is really all about.

We can only hope that the Peace Corps continues to do its good work for many generations to come. The friendship it builds between people of all nationalities can go further to spread democracy and our way of life than any war can do. And in doing so, it fulfills the dream of President Kennedy that America’s youth would be more about helping others than their own ambitions and that this would be his legacy to America and indeed to all the world.

Getting the Government out of Community Service

icamm — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:30:03 +0000

We live in a time when we tend to look to the government to do a lot of things. For some reason, we tend to think that just because we have to pay taxes, it is our government’s job to fix everything that is broke and arrest anybody we don’t like. But if we can get a more rational view of what the government can do and moreover what it cannot do, we then can define what is local and should be handled by people in our own comity.

There are many projects that are just outside of what the government ought to be sticking their noses into. This is particularly true concerning the federal government. Too often we push to the national level discussions and decisions about the quality of life in our own communities when no matter what the federal government does, nothing will make our communities a better place to live more than people coming together as neighbors to make it so.

A good example is the care of local parks and public areas. If we expect the government to pay a service that has no connection to our community to come in and make things right in the public spaces used by our children and that are important to our neighbors, we can be sure the job isn’t going to get done right. One of the reasons that there is a general disrespect for public gathering spaces is that people don’t see those spaces as part of their local community. If you think you are littering on yet another piece of government property, you won’t think twice about treating it with disrespect because it isn’t yours.

It really is a matter of ownership. When we get together as a community and put together community service projects, we are making a statement that this area of our neighborhood belongs to us and it our job to make it nice. A great example of how this can work so well is a new phenomenon of the neighborhood swimming pool. As more public pools have to close, many neighborhoods are coming together, funding the land and construction and having a pool built for that neighborhood so everybody’s kids can have a place to swim.

Without fail these kinds of community spaces are better taken care of and even safer than the old public pools, run by the government, ever were. People are not as prone to leave them in a mess because these are your neighbors living next door to the pool. When young people are there swimming, it isn’t just the lifeguards watching out for their safety. The entire neighborhood is taking responsibility for the safety of those kids. And the result is a safer, cleaner and better community space than could ever have happened if the government had built the pool.

Our local, state and federal governments all have important jobs to do. We need them to make our streets safe to drive, to keep the lights on, to make sure jobs are coming to the state and to keep our relationship with the rest of the world working well. When they do their jobs well, our lives improve because of it. But when the government gets in the middle of projects where they just don’t belong, the outcome is almost always a disaster. So, as a people living in a country run by the people, it is our job to make sure that we take care of the community service and we keep the government out of things that are none of their business and make sure they are doing what is their business. Everybody wins that way.

Frats are not all like “Animal House”

icamm — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:00:06 +0000

When you think of a college fraternity, the traditional image of a hard drinking, party central place that encourages boys to skip class, seduce women and generally behave like animals seems to come to mind. Or we think of spectacular cases of fraternity hazings or movies that emphasize wild living at college fraternities like “Animal House”. This is the work of movies and the media who love to emphasize the light hearted side of college life.

Similarly, sororities are depicted as places where rich snobby girls go to discuss fashion, look down on each other and other sororities and develop elitist attitudes. But none of these pictures are at all representative of the good that college fraternal organizations do in helping young college kids grow socially and develop a sense of social responsibility.

In any college town, the work fraternities and sororities do to make a positive difference for the college and for the community that hosts them goes unnoticed and unrewarded with the same kind of media attention that the public gives when the excesses of a few fraternities makes the news. Fraternities are actually not founded with the intent of giving students the chance to live like animals and commit mayhem. Fraternity student leadership groups all around the country struggle with this misperception every year.

The truth is fraternities work closely with the administration of the colleges they are affiliated with to provide service to the student community and to foster a safe and positive living environment that will mold their members into forces for good in society. The fact that the adult equivalent of the fraternal system are the adult fraternal organizations of the Lions Clubs, the Elks and the Shrine attest to the success fraternities have of instilling values of community service using the power of fraternal bonding. These adult fraternal organizations do immeasurable good for the communities in which they reside and they are just continuing on with the values they learned in their college fraternities.

There are numerous examples of outstanding fraternities around the country that have distinguished themselves in community service. The fraternity, Kappa Alpha was recognized when its Beta Tau chapter at the University of Michigan racked up an astounding 7,200 service hours by its members.

Naturally fraternities will do well at making their frat houses look good. Any drive around a modern campus will show some fine landscaping and the good care frats do at keeping their houses in good shape and attractive. Fraternities are a proud tradition in university life that date back for centuries. That pride is instilled in each new member each fall and much of that pride comes from the outstanding service the fraternity offers to the community.

During the terrible Hurricane Katrina devastation, fraternities all around the country rose to the occasion to help out students from New Orleans colleges who were displaced. But they went a lot further than that as bus after bus of fraternity volunteers brought a new flood to New Orleans, a flood of volunteers to roll up their sleeves and help people who were devastated by the storm.

The varieties of community service projects fraternity members dedicate themselves to are as diverse as the fraternities themselves. They vary from fun loving fund raisers on game day which raise money for deserving causes to reading to, mentoring or tutoring underprivileged kids around town. These are the good deeds college students perform every day that don’t get the kind of press that hazings and spring break excesses get. But they have a much longer lasting impact and they genuinely show that the heart of the fraternity system is grounded in community service.

Community Service is a Family Affair

icamm — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:00:02 +0000

Sometimes we think our kids never listen to us. This can be a particularly difficult problem when kids become teenagers. It seems that no matter what we tell them, they just shrug and give us that obnoxious response of “whatever” and we make no impact at all.

But any child or youth counselor will tell us that this is absolutely not the case. That outside show of indifference is just that, a show. Teenagers do not jump from children to sophisticated, hardened and cynical adults in few weeks or months time. The emotional growth of a human at this age moves along just as slowly as when they were children. So even though they are adult looking on the outside, on the inside you still have a very emotional little boy or girl who want nothing more than to please mom and dad and still try to figure out this new world they are living in.

Children and teenagers value the time they get with their parents tremendously. It might be twenty years later when you come to realize how important it is to them but they need both quality and quantity time with their mom and their dad. It is part of how their personalities form and it has a huge impact on their self esteem and ability to go out there and conquer the world.

They learn how to handle stress from their parents. They learn how to succeed and how to gracefully lose and how to take a loss and turn it into a win from the people they know the best and that is their parents. Yes, they do listen to what you say. But they listen more than you may even realize. They listen to what adults say to each other and to other adults. And they listen even more closely to what you say with your actions.

We all want to instill good values in our kids. But how to do that and still have some fun times with them and do so in the limited time everybody is home. Well one outstanding way is to plan for family outings that include service projects to the community. That is one outstanding way to “talk with your actions” about your commitment to community service.

Now that concept may at first seem like you are just going to add more work to your already full plate of things to do. But doing a service project as a family doesn’t have to be tedious and tiring. There are tons of things you can do that provide service to your community but are lots of fun for everyone including…

* Go have fun at the park but while you are there, pick up every tiny bit of litter you can find.

* Be a volunteer at the family night at church and help the little kids enjoy the rides and games that are planned for them. You own little ones will love seeing you be in charge of the Jupiter Jump and it will build community.

* Find an area along the river where erosion is happening and plant a tree. It will hold back the erosion and you can have fun doing a gardening project and maybe even wet a hook and catch a fish.

* Go down to the shelter and read your favorite books to needy children. The kids can bring the books that were precious to them as little ones and they get to feel that joy of seeing a child laugh at the same things they laughed at when they were young. Be careful though that you don’t find your kids wanting to adopt every kid at the shelter by the time you are done.

Family service projects are a hidden goldmine of fun and bonding for the whole family. Once you get started doing them, you wont want to stop. You will find the whole family rushing to get ready each evening or looking forward to Saturday when they can get out there and do another one. And while you are building family unity and bonding with your kids, they are finding out that community service is a way of life and a great way to have fun at the same time.

Coming Together

icamm — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:30:07 +0000

There is something about community service that causes a sense of coming together that really is not possible in any other setting. When a community comes out either in time of crisis or when a big community project is in the works, you see a side of people that will not surface in their day to day world. This may be why community service projects that mobilize the population to get out and help others are so popular.

Community service gives people a chance to do something for some one else. It also gives parents the chance to get their kids involved in something wholesome, fun and to learn the value of doing a project for a selfless motive. And it gives everyone a chance to get to know others in the community that we might never meet any other way.

United Way functions are great for this because they pull volunteers from businesses all over your community. So you might be working shoulder to shoulder painting a school room with the president of the biggest bank in town or a minister of a church you never otherwise would have gotten to know. The hours working together builds bonds and friendships that are in every possible way healthy for everyone.

There are plenty of historical precedents for how the bonding that occurs in times of community service pulls a community and even the nation together. During World War II, the nation was shocked into action by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. All around the country, communities mobilized in dozens of ways to conserve on precious resources needed for the war effort, to equip, train and take care of the expanding military and sending their sons off to fight this threat to the nation.

To this day there is no time in our history remembered with such fondness as those days after Pearle Harbor when the nation functioned as one person to do all they could to win this battle that was before us. The songs of that era and the movies are cherished even by generations that have come later because they are reminders of a time when the people came together for what was perhaps the greatest community service project of all time, to defeat the enemy overseas by mobilizing here at home.

Similar unity has happened from time to time since then and always, it seems, in response to a crisis. When President Kennedy was shot, when the towers fell on 911 or when the hurricane hit in New Orleans, the unity of purpose among all Americans was evident. If ever there was a time when we showed the world that we were one people with one heart, those were the times.

If we can find ways to create a similar spirit, not as a result of crisis but built around a community need, even at just the local level, we can see a similar unity between peoples that can cause some real social bonding. In many communities there are divisions between neighborhoods based on racial or economic divisions. A strong commitment to community service can cause people to look outward and away from their resentments and prejudices and work shoulder to shoulder with a fellow citizen that they may have treated with hostility in any other setting.

There are many good reasons to sponsor community service at the local level including the good it does for the recipients and the good feelings the volunteers get when they get out and help another person. But this side benefit that happens when a community service project brings people together and makes new friends out of old enemies may be one of the greatest benefits of community service of them all.