National Service and Volunteer Week, 1997

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Part IV

The President

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Proclamation 6986--National Service and Volunteer Week, 1997

Proclamation 6987--Pan American Day and Pan American Week, 1997

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 6986 of April 11, 1997

National Service and Volunteer Week, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Citizen service is a vital force in American life,
helping to build a stronger sense of community and
citizenship and engaging Americans to meet the
obligations we all share. Whether tutoring children,
mentoring teens, renovating housing, restoring public
parks, responding to natural disasters, or caring for
aging parents and grandparents, those who serve and
volunteer are strengthening our communities for
America's future.

The era of big government may be over, but the era of
big challenges for our Nation is surely not. Citizen
service reflects one of the most basic convictions of
our democracy: that we are all responsible for one
another. It is a very American idea that we meet our
challenges not through big government or as isolated
individuals, but as members of a true community, with
all of us working together.

Americans can take pride in knowing that our tradition
of service is being preserved and expanded. As we
recognize the devoted service of our Nation's citizens,
we must continue to foster the spirit of volunteerism,
making service the common expectation and experience of
every American. Working together, we can respond to our
shared problems and build a better future for the
generations to come.

National Service and Volunteer Week is a time to
celebrate the American spirit of service and
volunteerism and a time to encourage citizens to use
their individual talents to serve the common good.
During this week and throughout the year, let us salute
all those who devote their time, their talents, and
their energy to improving our communities--through
organizations like AmeriCorps and other programs within
the Corporation for National Service; the Points of
Light Foundation; Learn and Serve America; the National
Senior Service Corps; and thousands of other voluntary,
civic, religious, and neighborhood groups.

Later this month, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia,
we will convene an historic Presidents' Summit on
Service. I will be joined there by every living former
president, or his representative, and other prominent
Americans as we take specific steps to serve our
children and to rebuild our communities. Our mission is
nothing less than to spark a renewed national sense of
obligation, a new sense of duty, a new season of
service.

I hope that the many related activities in the days
leading up to this important event will make all
Americans think about our shared responsibility for one
another. Citizen service can take many shapes--it can
mean joining AmeriCorps as a high school student,
volunteering nights or on weekends in a religious group
or neighborhood association, or devoting years of one's
life to service in the Peace Corps or in the Jesuit
Volunteer Corps.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim the week of April 13 through
April 19, 1997, as National Service and Volunteer Week.
I call upon all Americans to observe this week with
appropriate programs, cere-

monies, and activities to express appreciation for all
those who serve and to encourage others to continue the
American legacy of service.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-first.