Yes We Can! Long Island 2012Answering the Call to Serve In Our Communities
In his campaign for President, Barack Obama urged Americans to “answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century.” Yes We Can! Long Island is responding to that call. Rather than stand down after the election, we have chosen to continue to work to shape our country’s future and to become “the change we seek.”
The President’s agenda calls for greater support for volunteerism, public service, service learning in our schools and investment in the nonprofit sector to help address the challenges America faces. It echoes the calls of President Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson that led to formation of the Peace Corps and V.I.S.T.A.
At the local level, we will support community-based organizations that address issues on Long Island ranging from hunger and poverty to healthcare and environmental protection. Community service brings new meaning to issues that, through the prism of national politics, often appear as abstract concepts.
Hunger Advocacy Project (HAP)
Loren Unger provides this call for community service:
I received the information below from Neelofer Chaudry, Advocacy Director for MICAH. She will be speaking at this event. In her own words, here’s what she plans to cover: “I plan to take a few minutes to talk about the connection between the housing crisis and hunger and how MICAH is working in specific towns on Long Island to mobilize the faith co mmunity to support affordable housing projects such as the Heartland project by writing handwritten letters, signing petitions and speaking at town hall hearings; as well as talk about our school food recovery efforts and possible letter writing campaigns with Rock and Wrap It Up!”
According to Hunger in America, a comprehensive study of domestic hunger:
259,000 Long Island Residents, including
93,000 children and
39,00 seniors
ARE HUNGRY
The Hunger Advocacy Project (HAP) is a network of citizens uniting as a public voice for hunger on Long Island via legislative advocacy and community outreach and education.
Please join HAP for Coffee, Tea and Cake
Saturday, March 14, 2009
From 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
At Long Island Cares Inc. The Harry Chapin Food Bank
10 Davids Drive
Hauppauge, NY 11788
Are you willing to write letters to elected officials or local newspapers? Are you interested in reaching out to your community to raise awareness about hunger and hunger relief? We invite you to become an Ally for Hunger Relief as we band together during this difficult time of struggle in America. Together we can bring hunger awareness to the forefront of legislative agendas and help connect our neighbors in need with services available in the community.
~ Please R.S.V.P. at your earliest convenience to alavine@licares.org with your name and phone number to let us know you want your voice to be heard~
This meeting will be facilitated by Andria Lavine, HAP and Long Island Cares Intern, Paule Pachter, Executive Director of Long Island Cares, and Randi Dresner, President and CEO of Island Harvest.
“You can see America’s already-frayed safety net coming apart, strand by strand.
That is why it is so urgent to buttress the government programs and charitable groups struggling to provide resources to the growing pool of those in need. Service, volunteerism, and giving are absolutely central to our recovery as a nation — not questions of noblesse oblige.
As Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, said when he testified to the House Education and Labor Committee: “Service is in our DNA as a nation and as a people.”
Indeed, while we are trying to move the economy to full capacity through the stimulus package, bailouts, etc., we also need to make sure that our communities are operating at full capacity. Our full capacity of giving. Our full capacity of service. Our full capacity of compassion.
That’s why the passage of President Obama’s plan to expand service in America should be a Congressional priority. The Serve America Act, introduced by Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch, is scheduled to come up for debate this month in the Senate, while House leaders are working to produce a matching bill. The legislation would increase the number of full-time service positions (based on the AmeriCorps model) from 75,000 to 250,000.”
Darkening Clouds–Silver Lining?
Arianna Huffington, Huff Post, March 5
Article:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/darkening-clouds-silver-l_b_172339.html
Barbars,
For the sake of our members and to clarify my understanding of your comment, are you referring to Community Emergency Response Teams? If that is your point, what does it take to offer training for neighbors to help neighbors in case of a local disaster?
What’s the thinking about getting involved with local CERT groups through the Nassau and Suffolk OEMs? We’re smart and with CERT training might make a big contribution in public service to our communities.