Posts for January, 2013
Today’s post is written by Carolina Freire, founder of Voluntarios de Panamá, an NGO committed to mobilizing and connecting volunteers to national causes and organizations. With United Way Panama and USAID she founded Ponte en Algo, the countries first online volunteer center. She is a Central American Leadership Initiative Fellow of the Aspen Institute and Young Global Leader 2012 of the World Economic Forum.
Panama is known for its Canal, record breaking economic growth and rich biodiversity. Less known is the fact that the country remains one of the most unequal in the world and faces important challenges when it comes to poverty reduction and expanding opportunities for health and education, especially for the less privileged. Despite a burgeoning economy, 2 out of 10 children under 5 years old in Panama face chronic malnutrition and half of them live in poverty.
Friends,
The word "supper" means different things to different people, but for me it evokes memories of a big Southern fried chicken dinner around my grandmother's dining room table with family and friends and lots of stories, arguments and jokes.
Gathering around a common table has always been central to creating community and finding solutions. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of "the table of brotherhood." And there was a reason that one of the most potent acts of the civil rights movement was the simple insistence on having a seat at the table in restaurants across the South.
Dear Friends,
Vice President Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden and a dozen of their kids and grandkids joined Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and nearly 10,000 volunteers at the D.C. Armory yesterday to put together 100,000 care kits for U.S. military personnel, disabled veterans and civilian first responders. In his remarks thanking the thousands gathered for donating their time, Vice President Biden said, "Dr. King imbued in the public this notion of absolute service," and noted that it was this legacy of volunteerism and service that Points of Light and President George H. W. Bush have continued.