MLK Day of Service - January 19, 2009

President-Elect Obama declared today a National Day of Service, in addition to it also being Martin Luther King day. Inspired after the phenomenal inaugural concert last night, Theresa and I decided to head back into DC today to volunteer at RFK stadium to assemble care packages for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.


We weren't the only ones! The real volunteers, who were organizing all of us, kept thanking us over and over again for coming, yet we felt like we barely did anything! They deserved the thanks! We showed up for our designated 1 hr. shift to make repeated passes through an assembly line like trick or treaters on Halloween, acquiring the designated contents from volunteers, sealing our bags shut, and returning to the end of the line to do it again. Our volunteer leaders asked us each to do at least 5 bags so that they could meet the goal of 75,000 bags by the end of the day. After we filled 5 bags, we headed over to the letter writing station to write thank you notes to the soldiers.

It was nice not only to be helping in a small way, but to be involved with a volunteer effort that recognizes the sacrifices our service men and women are making on behalf of all of us. These wars have been going on for years, and I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time I've done anything aside from donate money to help support the troops. It's nice to see the President-Elect calling for everyone to take responsibility and participate in making this country a better place. He may have Messiah status, but he can't do it alone.

The best part of the afternoon was our dance lesson! Yes, you read that right. Before we were allowed to fill a single bag, we had to learn the "Obama Dance." Our dedicated volunteer leaders led us in Obama cheers and coached us to Obama Dance move perfection. It got a little bit competitive with the other volunteer groups in the stadium, but fun was had by all. I captured it on video below.

There is a great spirit in Washington, DC right now. There are so many people in town, yet everyone is in a good mood, happy to help a stranger, and join together for the greater good. I just hope it lasts past inauguration day!