President George W. Bush will meet Nicolette Meier when he arrives in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday, July 22, 2004. Meier is an active volunteer with the Maine Township Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

President Bush has called on all Americans to volunteer two years or 4,000 hours over the course of their lifetimes, and hecreated USA Freedom Corpsto help foster a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility. Since January 2002, President Bush has met with hundreds of individuals around the country, like Meier, who are answering the call to volunteer service.

Meierbecame active with CERT because she was looking for an educational opportunity for her children and a way for her family to get involved in their community. CERT, a part of Citizen Corps, a component of USA Freedom Corps, provides training in emergency preparedness and basic response techniques which enable citizens to take a more active role in personal and public safety. Each CERT member completes 20 hours of training on disaster preparedness, basic disaster medical operations, fire safety, light search and rescue, and other essential topics. Meierand her three teenagers completed CERT training in February 2004, and were called out on their first deployment two months later to help in the aftermath of the tornado that struck Utica, Illinois.

USA Freedom Corps has launched “A Call to Summer Service,” an initiative to encourage Americans to spend a part of their summer in volunteer service. Through “A Call to Summer Service,” citizens are reminded that the summer months are an excellent time to answer the President’s Call to Service, strengthen their communities, and extend the compassion and greatness of America. Interested volunteers can find ideas for summer volunteering and information on how to get started at www.usafreedomcorps.gov.

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