Presidential Documents

18973 

Federal Register 

Vol. 74, No. 78 

Friday, April 24, 2009 

Title 3— 

The President 

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 children, 

comforting seniors, and reaching out to veterans. They are providing critical 

support to schools, shelters, hospitals, and nursing homes, through faithbased 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. 


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18974 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 78 / Friday, April 24, 2009 / Presidential Documents 

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. 

[FR Doc. E9–9621 

Filed 4–23–09; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 3195–W9–P 


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