Volunteering & Volunteer Students

As you may have heard, back in April, President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. Among many other steps toward expanding national service, the act also calls for September 11 to become an annual National Day of Service and Remembrance.

My colleague Amy Potthast recently wrote about the new (and official!) website dedicated to the day, 911day.org. The creation of the site was led by David Paine and Jay Winuk, whose brother Glenn was killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Amy writes:

Their mission is to inspire us all to honor the memories of the people who lost their lives during the tragedy of of September 11, 2001, with good deeds and other service every year on the anniversary of the attacks:

In this way we hope to create a lasting and forward-looking legacy — annually rekindling the spirit of service, tolerance, and compassion that unified America and the world in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The website allows you to post your plans to serve during the week of 9/11, find volunteer opportunities (powered by the new volunteer opportunity aggregator All For Good), educate yourself about September 11th, download service project toolkits, and donate $9.11 (or another amount) to the organization behind the site.

The Kennedy Serve America Act, signed into law in April, not only expands national service, but also establishes September 11th as the annual National Day of Service and Remembrance — though not a Federal holiday, it will be another day of community service similar to MLK Day. The Corporation for National and Community Service is authorized to make grants and provide support to groups that organize projects around September 11th annually. Read more about the history of the National Day of Service and Remembrance.