We have spent the past 24 hours attempting to keep up with our phone lines. On the other end of each call has been a caring community member interested in stepping forward to give of their time on Martin Luther King Day. The national call to service seems to have re-ignited a spirit for community giving and the media has lead the charge to keep volunteerism at the forefront of our attention.
Time Magazine reports their top news story of the week as "Obama's National Call to Service" and issued a special report this week on "The Call to Serve". Earlier in the week, on the Colbert Report Steven Colbert chided, "...And, Alan Khazei wants Americans to volunteer!" after which he berated the Director of Be the Change.org for encouraging our nation to join in the movement to serve others. Today the Huffington Post is awash in service headlines ranging from the Facebook Pledge to service, Starbucks new "You In?" Campaign offering up free cups of coffee to all customers willing to pledge 5 hours of their time, to blogger and novelist Trey Ellis suggesting you should "Volunteer your Fear Away".
As Ellis states, "When times are most troubled it's easiest to close yourself off from the suffering of others. But what if we zig instead of zag? Instead of wrapping ourselves up in fear, and hunkering down until this depression blows over, .....What if we capitalize on this New Year and this new administration and pledge ourselves to helping those with less? If we all pitch in won't we all come out on the other side a little faster?"
Today we want to encourage our fellow non-profits to bask in their moment to shine as entities serving the greater good and can only be pleased that the Santa Cruz Community has chosen to "zig instead of zag" . Keep those phones ringing!
Local Media supporting the call to volunteer:
Sentinal Local News:
MLK Day not a day off for volunteers and non-profits
NPR
Answering the Call to Serve
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