AmeriCorps, the national service program that already has given more than 100,000 young people the opportunity to serve their country, has tied opportunity to responsibility. In community after community, AmeriCorps members have proven that service can help us meet our most pressing social needs. Indeed, independent evaluators who have reviewed AmeriCorps have concluded that national service yields a positive return on investment. National service, though, has never been a substitute for the manifold contributions made by more than 90 million citizens across the United States who volunteer their time to worthy causes every year. Rather, as leaders of volunteer organizations have often maintained, national service has proven that the presence of full-time, trained service participants enhances tremendously the effectiveness of volunteers.
Volunteers enrich our lives every day with their generosity and compassion.
They respond to myriad unforeseen developments and critical persistent needs. Volunteers open their hearts and homes to offer not only shelter and food, but, most important, the hope and support people desperately need to begin putting their lives back together. This spirit of citizen service has deep and strong roots in America's past. By nurturing this spirit we can help ensure a better future for our nation.