More on National Days of Service - Jan 17-19, 2009

Hello Community Organizers!

As I posted earlier in this blog, we are being asked to hold community service events the weekend before the Presidential Inauguration. Serendipitously, this is also the weekend of Martin Luther King Day.

Here's more about the National Day of Service, from the description by the Inaugural Committee:
 

In 1994, Congress transformed the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday into a national day of community service to further commemorate a man who lived his life in service to others. As a tribute to that legacy and the very real needs of our nation, the President-elect and Vice President-elect will launch a national organizing effort on the eve of their Inauguration to engage Americans in service. This national day of service will fall on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 19, 2009 and, unlike past calls to service, President-elect Obama will ask Americans to do more than just offer a single day of service to their cities, towns and neighborhoods. He will ask all of us to make an ongoing commitment to our communities. Never has it been more important to come together in shared purpose to tackle the common challenges we face.

The call will go to all Americans to organize service projects and join others at events in their communities. As the Co-chairs of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, we invite you and your organization to join other Americans to organize service projects in your communities. The Presidential Inaugural Committee will offer Americans a new website to help promote your events and for Americans to make their commitments, build communities, find opportunities to serve and share their results. These can be events that orient people to your organization's work, engage people in direct service, or bring people together to reflect on Dr. King's legacy and how they can commit to becoming more engaged citizens.

So, this will be a nationwide effort that will be well publicized and posted on the PIC website.  It is important to note since this is an official Presidential Inaugural Committee event, we will not be using any of MyBO's resources for this event.  OK, here are the latest details:

Phase 1 (Dec 17 - Jan 2)

• They are asking people to step forward and volunteer to take ownership of a service project.
• Anybody can be an event lead.
• The project can be any non-partisan event that serves the community interest.
• Volunteer organizers can pick a local nonprofit organization or school to support.
• We are encouraged to work across party lines with these projects.
• They are asking us to host several events in each CD.
• Events can be large or small and we are encouraged to have both.
• Events can be held anytime during the 3-day weekend of Sat-Mon, Jan 17-19.

Phase 2 (Jan 2 - Jan 16)

• On Jan 2, a searchable website for all America is scheduled to go live.
• Emails will be blasted out and there we expect a high level of interest.
• Event leads will recruit through their own social networks.
• We will hold phone banks to help recruit people to attend these events.
• Logistics will be worked out for the event just like any other event we have held.

Now is the time to show we are going to govern in a new way! Pick your charity and let's get going!

You can propose a project by filling out this form.

Thanks!
 Chip