Throw rocks, or lend a hand?

A call to voluntary service isn't what Focus on the Family Action anticipated [.pdf] in the trench warfare days prior to President Elect Obama's landslide Nov. 5 victory.

Rather than seeking to curtail freedoms, the Obama Presidential Inaugural Committee has invited Focus on the Family, among others, to involved itself in a volunteer effort which is to be part of pulling the nation out of the deepest hole it has been in since the Great Depresson.

The Committee wrote:

Every time our nation faces crisis, our national experience has shown Americans rise to the challenge. While government has an important role to play in helping rekindle our economy and addressing the problems of a distressed nation, President-elect Obama believes each of us, as Americans, have a responsibility to do what we can for our communities and fellow citizens. We are one nation.

The United States is once again at a crossroads and that is why the President-elect hopes to use the occasion of his Inauguration to rally our nation to commit to service in our communities. We are asking for your organization’s participation in meeting this challenge.

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.

Interested?

You may wish to begin by downloading a guide to organizing a service event.

Everything in order, use the Event Creation Webform to register you National Day of Service event.