All for Good helps each of us find local opportunities to serve. United We Serve is President Obama's summer initiative that launched on June 22 and will continue through September 11, 2009.
From the site:
All for Good helps you find and share ways to do good.
Each of us has a role to play in improving our communities and our country. Small actions add up to a big difference.
Help improve your community
* Find volunteer activities near you.
* Share volunteer activities with your friends.
* See what your friends are interested in.
* Track volunteer activities you care about.
* Sign in with Facebook, Google, or more »
This project is endorsed by our First Lady, Michelle Obama and seems to serve as the backbone for President Obama's United We Serve initiative by connecting people with local opportunities to serve.
From the United We Serve site:
"United We Serve" is a nationwide service initiative that will help meet growing social needs resulting from the economic downturn. With the knowledge that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools, President Obama is asking us to come together to help lay a new foundation for growth. This initiative aims to both expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own "do-it-yourself" projects. United We Serve is an initial 81 days of service but will grow into a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all Americans.
The All for Good project has been met with some controversy centered in concerns that it duplicates existing efforts and includes "the requirement to grant All for Good the right to license the information they provided to third parties" (from The Chronicle of Philanthropy http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=8596)
It is this writer's opinion that the duplication of access to participation in good works can only be a good thing. Isn't the idea of proprietary philanthropy just a little oxymoronic? But then again, there may be factors of which I am unaware.
In any case, a national call to serve is not new. But, somehow, this time it feels less like propaganda and more like a genuine movement toward compassion and unity in America.
President Obama Speaks on the United We Serve effort that kicked off on June 22, 2009 and will run through September 11, 2009:
It is only been a day since the last Weekly Wonder. But, I felt the need to balance the tragic nature of the last wonder with something a bit more positive...
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