Friends,

This has been an amazing week in the history of our nation and an extraordinary week in the collaborative work of creating a true “service nation.” I wanted to share just a few of the successes and news from our affiliate network and partner corporations and organizations over this last week.

The President called on us to serve in the celebration of the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and HandsOn Network responded by mobilizing approximately 100,000 volunteers in more than 2,600 community projects across the nation. A special thank you to our partners including Delta Air Lines, Chrysler, The Corporation for National and Community Service, Eli Lilly and Company, FedEx, Nike, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Target, Quaker and many others.

As one of the co-conveners of ServiceNation, Points of Light Institute participated in the New Era of Service dialogue with Congressmen John Lewis, Martin Luther King III, First Lady of California Maria Shriver, incoming Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Tobey McGuire, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and others. This breakfast gathering, sponsored by Target, cast a light on this important moment for the service movement and created a clarion call for the passage of the Serve America Act in the first 100 days of the new administration. We concluded the breakfast dialogue by supporting Greater D.C. Cares, Target and more than 1,500 volunteers in the revitalization of six District of Columbia Public Schools.

HandsOn Network celebrated the historic presidential inauguration of President Barack Obama by answering the call to service and pledging to deliver over a million community service projects to solve critical problems in education, the environment and the economy this year. AmeriCorps Alums proudly marched in the 56th Inaugural Parade, outfitted in uniform attire sponsored by Nike.

On Jan. 21, Starbucks and HandsOn Network launched the “I’m In!” campaign, a nationwide initiative to make it easy to participate in the President’s call for national service. In nearly 1,000 Starbucks stores across the nation, the American public gad an opportunity to pledge five hours or more of community service and connect with a HandsOn affiliate to turn that pledge into community volunteerism. There has been a steady stream of media coverage of this campaign — currently 81 million impressions and coverage on the Oprah Show and a special CNN segment. Check out Starbucks innovative “!” commercial that is helping to drive people to sign up for projects.

This has been a big week for advancing the momentum and solidifying service as part of the national agenda. Please take a moment and read an op-ed that was featured in the New York Times by ServiceNation co-convener John Bridgeland and Bruce Reed and an op-ed that my father co-penned with me that was posted in the Huffington Post on Monday, Jan. 19.

Let’s keep the momentum of this week going and fulfill the promise to truly transform the nation and the world through the power of people!

Yours In Service,
Michelle Nunn
CEO Points of Light Institute and Co-founder HandsOn Network