[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 123, 111th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 8363--APR. 21, 2009

Proclamation 8363 of April 21, 2009
National Volunteer Week, 2009
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Our Nation's story begins with a call to volunteer. Confronting the
injustices of tyranny and small odds of victory, patriots rallied one
another to serve a cause greater than themselves. As the beneficiaries
of this legacy, we possess an obligation to volunteer and serve our
fellow citizens with similar selflessness and optimism.
Americans keep this proud tradition alive every day across our country.
They are protecting us in uniform, feeding the hungry, tutoring

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children, comforting seniors, and reaching out to veterans. They are
providing critical support to schools, shelters, hospitals, and nursing
homes, through faith-based and community organizations, at home and
abroad. Volunteers change lives and strengthen our Nation and our world.
My Administration is committed to supporting and supplementing the
crucial efforts that Americans make to volunteer. The Edward M. Kennedy
Serve America Act, which I signed into law today, will help millions of
Americans of all ages to volunteer and to direct that service towards
meeting our most pressing challenges. It truly will usher in a new era
of service.
This landmark law recruits an army of 250,000 per year to engage in
intensive service, and it focuses that work on today's challenges,
including clean energy, education, health, veterans care, and economic
opportunity. It creates new service opportunities for seniors, baby
boomers, and young adults, and improves service learning in our schools.
The law also creates a Social Innovation Fund. This fund looks for new
ideas in communities and leverages private, nonprofit, and faith-based
support to invest in local innovation. The fund also allows us to test
the impact of new ideas and expand successful programs to scale.
Volunteering provides the opportunity to join and better a community.
Every American who volunteers can become an integral part of a school, a
hospital, or a neighborhood. Those who give of their time also join our
Nation's proud history of service and help preserve this tradition for
generations ahead. During National Volunteer Week, we express heartfelt
thanks to all who have worked hard in this effort, and we urge more
Americans to reach out and meet the manifold unmet needs of fellow
Americans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 19-25, 2009 as
National Volunteer Week. I call upon all Americans to join ongoing
volunteer service efforts, and to create new ones.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of
April, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
third.
BARACK OBAMA