Showing posts with label United We Serve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United We Serve. Show all posts

Monday, July 20, 2009

Serve it Forward

We’ve posted a few stories at this point about the Department’s involvement with the President’s service initiative, United We Serve. A few days ago, a great story by Lisbeth R. went up on Serve.gov about her involvement with Citizen Corps. Citizen Corps is FEMA’s national service program: their goal is to increase the capacity of American communities to respond in emergency situations, and they’ve set up all sorts of opportunities for people to make their families, their homes, and their communities safer.

It’s a great way to get involved with the Summer of Service—check out Lisbeth’s story, and get involved.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fugate Roundtable Video

For those who missed it, check out the video from earlier this week of FEMA Adminstrator Fugate's roundtable discussion on community service and preparedness. The discussion centered on the President's United We Serve initiative, and took place at a Denver fire house.




Visit Serve.gov for more information on how to get involved. jxmkp7t2sb

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

We the People...United We Serve


Service is about community. It's about a commitment to taking some time each day, or each week, or each month to make the community around you - be it a neighborhood, or a church, or a school - better. Service in this context often, if not always, means education. Mentoring a child, teaching a senior citizen on how to use a computer, tutoring English as a second language...these are all great forms of service that use skills you might not even think about having.


There is a community of individuals in this country who share the dream of becoming a US citizen. Each who becomes a citizen takes an oath to "...support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America..." Service to this community can mean helping educate these aspiring Americans about the founding principles of our nation and the Constitution, so that they can fully understand the responsibility and reward of their decision to take the Oath of Allegiance.


Last night, Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute visited the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights in New York City and discussed the importance of the Constitution with a citizenship class. “We the people, is the core principle of the U.S. Constitution,” said Deputy Secretary Lute. She also shared her personal take on the importance of understanding where each of us impacts the history of this country, and what "We the people" means to each of us and the communities of which we are a part.


It's easier than you might think to take some time this summer and get involved. You can visit serve.gov to learn more.

Monday, June 22, 2009

"United We Serve" Roundtable Wrap Up


This afternoon, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate sat down at a firehouse in Denver and talked with some local first responders and volunteers about the President's new call to service, United We Serve. Administrator Fugate was joined by Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, and five Colorado first responders. The group discussed what drew them to service, and how others can respond to the President's call.

The video is available at DHSon.tv, and we urge you to watch. We can't necessarily predict when a natural disaster, or terrorism, or another event will affect our daily lives, but it's up to us to stand up and be ready.

While Administrator Fugate was in Denver, Secretary Napolitano was in Orlando, participating in a volunteer project with FEMA's Citizen Corps and Deputy Secretary Lute will be in New York this evening to lead a citizenship class. More on those later. For now, what is United We Serve?

The idea is simple: Get involved. Get involved now. Make change, and preparedness, and recovery real in your community. This summer, the President is urging all of us to visit http://www.serve.gov/ to find service opportunities in our communities. Serve.gov provides volunteer opportunities around the country, connects Americans to local charities and non-profits, and allows people to create their own service events and invite their friends and neighbors to join in.

Remember that the work doesn't end this summer.

"...I hope you will continue the service-work you begin this summer for the rest of your life. Because America's new foundation will be built one community at a time -- and it starts with you."
- President Barack Obama

Visit Serve.gov today to get started.

Live Webcast: United We Serve

Join us today at 1 PM EDT for a live webcast at http://www.dhson.tv/.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate will host a roundtable discussion at a Denver, CO firehouse with local firefighters and community volunteers. The discussion will help kick off President Obama's United We Serve initiative, an unprecedented nationwide call to community service. Find out what it's all about, and what you can do in your community. Watch the event as it happens at http://www.dhson.tv/.