68. Participating in the National Day of Service on September 11

In the United States, September 11 has been officially recognized and established under federal law as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Organizations all over the nation…including nonprofits, employers, faith and religious groups, cities and schools…organize projects and use this day to encourage the people of our nation to serve and reach out to others. On today’s episode I’m giving you just a little background on this day and also some ideas for how you can participate.

Links mentioned in the episode:
JustServe.org
American Red Cross-sign up to donate blood

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Do Something More YouTube

Transcript

Melissa: In the United States, September 11 has been officially recognized and established under federal law as a national day of service and remembrance. Organizations all over the nation, including nonprofits, employers, faith in religious groups, cities and schools, organize projects and use this day to encourage the people of our nation to serve and reach out to others. On today's episode, I'm giving you just a little background on this day and also some ideas for how you can participate. Welcome to the Do Something more podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here. Hello. Welcome back to another week of the podcast. This week it's going to be me, the host, Melissa Draper, talking about the National Day of Service and remembrance that is recognized here in the United States. It is going to be happening next week from the time this episode drops. So I wanted to share a little bit just about the history of it and what it is exactly for those that might not be familiar with the day of service, and then also, of course, to give you some ideas on how you can participate in that day of service. But first, I just want to thank you for being here and listening to the podcast. I took a little break for the summer, but it's been great to be back on here putting out new episodes. I've done some new interviews the past couple of weeks, and so I'm really excited to be highlighting some new people and organizations that are doing good in their communities and know that you will look forward to those as well. So stay tuned. We have some great episodes coming up in the next couple of months. And also, just as a friendly reminder, if you want to show the podcast some love, if you want to give a little service to this podcast, I always appreciate reviews and good ratings on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this podcast. And of course, sharing an episode that you particularly enjoyed with a friend or sharing these things that we're doing and letting others know about the podcast. Both of those help my podcast to be found by people that are looking for this kind of content. So thank you for each listen, each download, each chair. That means a lot to me. So, as I said today, I wanted to talk about the National Day of Service. I just couldn't let it go by without recognizing it because it's kind of a big deal, especially when you're a podcast that focuses on service and volunteering. First of all, what is the national Day of service? Well, it is actually a federally recognized day, so it is officially recognized and established under federal law as a day of service, which I think is pretty cool. It has been set to happen each year on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks here in the United States. And so on that anniversary, it's now been designated as that National Day of service and remembrance. Originally, that day was also called Patience Patriot Day, but it's also now called the Day of Service. The National Day of Service was founded by the 911 nonprofit My Good Deed, and they wanted to create that day as a day to transform the anniversary of 911 from a day of tragedy into a day of doing good and recognizing the sacrifices that were made by so many on that day to serve and to help their fellow Mandez. They wanted to take that day and recognize those acts by encouraging others to do their own service in their own unique ways, which, again, I think is pretty cool. So it was actually in 2009 that President Barack Obama amended the Patriot Day presidential proclamation that was first established by President George W. Bush and that officially designated September 11 as a national day of service and remembrance. So the September 11 National Day of Service and remembrance, and there's actually another one on Martin Luther King Junior. S birthday. Those two are the only days of service officially recognized and established under federal law and presidential proclamation. So they have been established for everyone all over the United States who recognize and to take the opportunity to serve and to reach out to others. So I think really that from my perspective, and as I've read and learned more about this day of service, it's just been the last few years, I personally had learned that it was actually a federally designated day and kind of a big deal. A lot of the activities and service projects that you can find to participate in on a larger community scale, they've kind of traditionally happened on a grassroots level. So all across the nation, you'll be able to find service projects by local nonprofits. I have been able to see many of the nonprofits here have specific projects that they put together for this day of service, recognizing that a lot of people want to participate in it and encouraging them to do so. Bye. Having specific projects there for them. Some employers might encourage their employees to participate in it. Obviously, a lot of faith groups and churches will establish different projects around here. We also have a lot of cities that come up with projects and things and encourage the members of their cities to participate. And then it's even been done. I've seen in schools and with students to have different service related activities or projects that they can participate in. So a lot of it may vary where you live, who's organizing, or who's doing things. But it's really, like I said, kind of a grassroots thing where you can find these different organizations in your community and see what they particularly are doing for the day of service, a lot of good things that can be done. And then obviously, you don't have to participate in an organized project. If you have something you and your family just want to do to recognize this day, if you've maybe already tried to recognize September 11, I know many families like to recognize that day, maybe sit down with their children, explain the history behind it and some of the things that happened that day. For many of us that lived through that day, we have some of those own memories ourselves. And so I know for me, it's been very important to make sure my children understand the things that happened that day and the sacrifices that were made by many. And so this is just something that you can maybe add on to the things that you're already doing with your family to try and commemorate and teach and encourage children to learn and to know more about this, lots of different ways that you can participate. Now, if I got you all interested and you're thinking, Kay, great, awesome, how can I find out about service projects? Well, of course, if you've listened to the podcast for any amount of time, the first place I'm going to encourage you to look is justserve.org dot. We've mentioned justserve before on the podcast. I've mentioned it. Some of my guests have mentioned it that come on the podcast. It's a great website. You can go on justserve.org and you can put in your zip code. You can find service ideas or projects within so many miles of where you live, and it will pull up all sorts of different things. There's a lot of filters in there you can do, too. So if you're looking for specifically day of service projects that are set up for the day of service, a lot of organizations have gone on there and put specifically, this is for the national Day of Service. This is what we're doing for it. Can put in that filter and go find those specifically. Again, like I said, in my area, a lot of the cities around here have projects. So projects to beautify and clean up the city. That's the way my family personally has participated in it before. But there's also a lot of nonprofits that have specific projects. And I've seen also many times because obviously September 11, every year it falls on a different day of the week. And many of these organizations recognize that people might not be as available during the week for work or other reasons. I've seen a lot of projects either the Saturday before September 11 or the Saturday after. So a lot of organizations will have projects on those Saturdays. Sometimes they'll have projects for a specific time, like in the evening on September 11, or you'll see different days during the week. So if you're thinking, I don't have time specifically on September 11 to serve, there's actually so many options. And many of these organizations are having these projects available all throughout the week and especially on those Saturdays before and after, because, of course, they recognize that people have different times, that they're available to serve and have the desire to serve, but need a little flexibility on when they can do it. So that's a great option. Another thing that I've seen, I've seen the American Red Cross will usually do a lot of blood drives around this time. So if that's a cause that's important to you, you can get on the American Red Cross website and look up where some local blood drives are and participate in that for the day of service, you don't need to do a specific organized project. It's just if you're wanting to be part of your community or get involved more with your nonprofits or see what the different religious organizations are doing for this day of service, just serve can be a great way to find some of those projects and to really get involved. And there's just so many available because everybody loves participating in this day. Another idea, I wanted to throw one more out there. Again, if you're wanting to recognize this day, but it's just a week away and you're busy, or it's the beginning of the school year, or you're feeling the stress of life. One encouragement that I would give is maybe you could sit down with your family if you have children at home, with your spouse or partner, or even with a group of friends that you regularly do things with or hang out with. Sit down with one of those groups of people that you're interacting and sharing your life with a lot, and come up with specific service projects that maybe you could do throughout the end of the year. So write down some different ideas and things that you could participate in together to serve in your community, serve in your neighborhood, to your neighbors and friends, serve in your schools, if that's important to you, or just things that you want to do to reach out to the one around you and to serve those around you. So sit down and come up with some ideas. Sometimes we just need to sit and brainstorm and have some ideas readily there available so that when the opportunities arise, we can say, hey, let's go and participate in this. I think what's really so neat and cool about this day of service is that it is encouraging Americans of all ages, all backgrounds, to come together to lead and help each other in these community service projects. And to not just honor the lives and service of those that were lost on September 11, but to cross those divides and differences, to put aside maybe some of those opinions, political beliefs, ideologies, whatever it may be, that are different than your neighbors or those around you, to put those aside for a day, to serve together side by side with neighbors, with strangers, with friends, and to build those bridges in our communities. I think most of us can agree that this is really a time that we need to fill that sense of community and unity. And that is one of the reasons I originally started this podcast was I have seen how service is so unifying and it's so universal because pretty much everyone agrees that we need to be serving, we need to be helping, we need to be lifting. And pretty much everyone, when they hear those stories of others doing that, look at that and say, that's good. I like that. That's important. And I love that our country has here in the United States, established this day, this specific day for us to come together and to serve and unite our hearts, our efforts, our work, even our limitations, to put them together so that we can accomplish and do the things to help those that need to be helped in our communities. I hope that I've given you a little encouragement and inspiration to participate in this idea. Go check out justserve.org comma. Go ask around different resources in your own community and find a way to participate in this national day of service and remembrance on September 11. And of course, I hope this week, whether it's on the day of service or another day, you find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire, or make a difference.