We hope you have had the opportunity to go to Serve.gov lately to see how our United We Serve initiative continues to gain momentum. If you go there now, you will see a video released by Major League Baseball featuring President Obama and every living former President that highlights compelling local stories of service and encourages all Americans to get involved in their communities. The video was aired on FOX to millions of viewers Tuesday night before the All Star Game. You will also see our new Stories of Service blog featuring stories, pictures, and videos in this summer’s five priority issue areas.

Moving forward, our focus will be on drawing attention to the outstanding community work being done across the country and engaging more people in those efforts. We want to shine a spotlight on local organizations, pressing community needs, and volunteer opportunities. During each of our issue weeks, we will ask surrogates – elected officials, sports figures, celebrities, community leaders, local heroes – to participate in featured service activities. They will help generate press and inspire others to action.

If you know of an activity taking place in your state that matches one of the issue weeks below, please be sure to let us know by contacting your designated Field Outreach Coordinator (see attached list). If we are featuring a service activity taking place in your state, we will reach out to keep you informed and to enlist your help in finding surrogates based on your knowledge of the political landscape and your local connections.

Our issue week calendar includes the following themes:

• July 27-Aug 2 Education
• Aug 3-9 Energy & Environment
• Aug 10-16 Health
• Aug 24-30 Safety & Security (supporting military families and veterans and preparing for disasters)
• Aug 31-Sept 6 Interfaith Service

Thanks for your continued assistance and participation.

Lois Nembhard