Jun 22 2009
President Obama Wants Everybody to Volunteer
Email from Obama
I’m feeling important again today. You guessed it; I got another personal email from Barak Obama. It’s a pretty fancy message too with a video right in the middle; they must have a cracker jack tech team at the white house. No invites to a cabinet meeting yet, but I’m on the email list. I also got a notice that I won the Canadian Lottery, an offer for a free cell phone, and a message from a widow in Africa that needs my help getting her money out of the country and away from all the corrupt people trying to cheat her out of her fortune, it’s so bad she has offered me half her money if I will just help her. I’ll deal with those other opportunities later, but first I need to tell you what the President wanted in his email. Probably the easiest way to do that is just to share it with you, (notice it starts “Dear Friend”, I must be important to be friends with the president) so here it is:
President Barack Obama to me
Dear Friend,
Last week, I announced United We Serve - a nationwide call to service challenging you and all Americans to volunteer this summer and be part of building a new foundation for America.
And when I say “all,” I mean everyone - young and old, from every background, all across the country. We need individuals, community organizations, corporations, foundations, and our government to be part of this effort.
Today, for the official kick off of United We Serve, members of my administration have fanned out across America to participate in service events and encourage all Americans to join them.
The First Lady is rolling up her sleeves and getting to work too. But before she headed out today, she asked me to share this message with you.
Our nation faces some of the greatest challenges it has in generations and we know it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get us back on track.
While Michelle and I are calling on every American to participate in United We Serve, the call to service doesn’t end this fall. We need to stay involved in our towns and communities for a long time to come. After all, America’s new foundation will be built one neighborhood at a time - and that starts with you.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
So now you are in the loop too; the president wants us to participate in “United We Serve” and help rebuild our neighborhoods by volunteering and helping our neighbors. To kick the project off the First Lady, Michelle Obama, is rolling up her sleeves alongside the First Lady of California Maria Shriver and Corporation of National and Community Service acting CEO Nicky Goren to help build a public playground at Bret Harte Public Elementary School in San Francisco.
All kidding aside, even though I may have a light hearted view of my importance with the President, it is an important message. Here in Sacramento we have a lot of volunteer opportunities where people have already been giving their time. We had a Volunteer-a-thon on Good Day Sacramento and they teamed up with Mayor Kevin Johnson and got pledges of over 100,000 hours of volunteer service for organizations in our community, we had Teens Go Green, Creek Week, the 4th of July Parade is coming up, and we have Hands on Sacramento, an organization that matches up volunteers with community projects, and the Sacramento SPCA just to name a few. No matter which opportunity you choose the message is the same, “Get involved!”
Now I have to go check my email for more opportunities, maybe I can use some of my Canadian Lottery winnings to help that poor woman in Africa get her money out of the country.
