Volunteerism

Summit Special Report

Top Story: Top leaders make their pitch for "big citizenship."

The General: Powell's high profile summit role fuels political speculation

The President's Declaration

Transcript: Colin Powell On CNN's "Larry King Live"

The Goals: Nation's most prominent leaders descend on Philadelphia to promote volunteerism.

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Volunteer Summit Wraps Up In Philadelphia

"What matters is what you all do," Bush tells delegates

Hillary Clinton

PHILADELPHIA (AllPolitics, April 29) -- The Presidents' Summit For America's Future ended today with delegates heading back to the grass roots to pursue their goal: to improve the lives of two million needy children by 2000.

Several of the meeting's big guns were on hand to end the event with a flourish. "This summit, these commitments, they are about the habits of the heart that make us Americans," First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton told delegates at Philadelphia's historic Independence Hall.

Retired Gen. Colin Powell told the participants, "You are the real troops. It was the work that you did yesterday [Monday] and this morning that is giving life, that is giving a pulse to this effort of ours that will make it successful."

powell

Echoing the general, former President George Bush praised the "glitz" of the weekend, but noted, "What matters is what you all do."

Delegates are charged with putting together a plan of action for local projects, and not all expressed confidence.

"I'm feeling a strong sense of frustration as I'm going home," Cindy Silverman of Glenville, Ariz., told a panel this morning. "I was hoping I'd go home with answers," about how to proceed, she said.

"One of the challenges is taking this back to our community ... and making it as exciting as everything that they saw from here," Vanessa Smith of Syracuse, N.Y., told The Associated Press.

Across the country, not everyone was excited by what they heard from the summit, at least if the reaction from some AllPolitics readers was any measure.

"Is nothing sacred or revered enough to be free from political harassment?" wrote Andrew Hathaway of Malta, N.Y. "America has been a shining example of generosity and a supply of some of the most helpful and unselfish people for the world. Unfortunately, we are now being made to feel guilty and selfish for not giving more of ourselves."

Marianne Tavelli of Fort Bragg, Calif., wrote, "We do not need Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Colin Powell or any other politician to show us how to care."

Patti Coan of Byron, N.Y., however, extolled the benefits of volunteering on behalf of children.

"If something I say or teach ... may give them a reason to go on when faced with difficulty, then I can think of no greater reward," Coan wrote. "If we lose one of our children to suicide, drugs, crime, whatever, we have lost a part of ourselves. Save them and save our future. Do you want to make a difference? Volunteer!"


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