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me editor:
During the holiday season I’m always pleased to see a surge of newspaper and TV reports about the 440,000 community volunteers who serve through our ACTION programs. It is well-earned and welltimed recognition. America’s volunteers truly embody the season’s spirit of giving and caring.
But this is also a good time to recognize that volunteer efforts are not mere “feel-good” stories to warm our hearts during the holidays. Volunteer achievement is vital to our nation’s future. Without community action by involved citizens, we stand little chance of conquering the great challenges of drug abuse, illiteracy, homelessness, hunger, and undereducation among our “at-risk” youngsters.
The tragedy of drug abuse gets headlines, but volunteers who effectively fight drugs gain too little notice, and the public too rarely learns about programs that work and could be replicated in their communities with private incentive and support.
Eight years ago, President Reagan challenged Americans to mobilize and form partnerships to help each other. The people responded, and volunteering has reached record heights, with 45 percent of all adults — 80 million citizens — now active as volunteers. As the President has said, we have brought back “the recognition that voluntary action, pri
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