Atlanta, Nov. 10, 2011 – Points of Light today called on the nation to honor the service of our military men and women by serving others. As part of its observance of Veterans Day and a year-round commitment to engaging and serving veterans, members of the military and their families, Points of Light reinforced the White House Joining Forces initiative by inviting Americans to take simple actions beginning on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, with a goal of generating five million acts of service by Veterans Day 2012.
Points of Light’s All for Good technology is powering the Joining Forces website and provides service opportunities around the country, as well as the opportunity to pledge your service in honor of a veteran or member of the armed services through Operation Honor Cards. More than nine million hours have been pledged and, to date, more than 3.7 million hours have been served.
Volunteer opportunities include events happening around the country on Veteran’s Day through HandsOn Network, Points of Light’s 250 local volunteer action centers, and other nonprofit agencies. Free, online do-it-yourself project toolkits are also available to help individuals, families or groups do things such as creating welcome home cards or starting an oral history project that provides a structure for understanding and talking with veterans and active service members about their experiences.
Veterans Day service projects include:
• HandsOn Jacksonville: Civilian and military volunteers will serve together, building and renovating homes
• HandsOn Athens: The organization is coordinating a parade in honor of retired military veterans featuring a World War II veteran as grand marshal, floats, community members and the support of every veterans organization in the community, including the local high school’s ROTC members and National Guard units
• Volunteer Center of Los Angeles: At the Veteran’s Home of California of West Los Angeles, Bank of America volunteers will volunteer side-by-side with veterans, returning military members and their families to continue the development of a community garden; volunteers will plant fruit trees which will be harvested to serve the residents of the Veteran’s Home throughout the year
• The Volunteer Center of North Texas: Will host a Mission Serve Veterans Day service project in partnership with the East Dallas Boys and Girls; Dell employees will join together with military veterans and family members – organized by the USO – for a day of service and celebration
• Wilson School Kids Care Club, Ft. Benning: The Club has been volunteering with the Tuskegee National Veteran's Hospital, supporting them with toiletry kits packaged by the kids and entertaining them with visits and patriotic songs; the hospital has invited the kids to march with the veterans in their Veteran's Day Parade
Additionally, Points of Light announced 11 everyday heroes are being honored as Daily Points of Light Award winners to recognize both their military service to the nation and their ongoing commitment to making the world a better place.
The Daily Point of Light Award honors individuals and groups creating meaningful change in communities across America. The award was established by former President George H. W. Bush and, during his presidency, he distributed 1,020 Daily Point of Light awards, placing volunteer service at the top of his agenda and he continues to sign all of the awards today.
“While these men and women and their families have made tremendous sacrifices for our country, their service has not stopped now that they are home,” said Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light. “We are honored to recognize these 11 and the thousands more they represent as they continue to live out President Bush’s original vision of a thousand points of light. As he so eloquently said, ‘This is the genius of America – ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.’ Nowhere is that extraordinary service more evident than among our military men and women and their families.”
Daily Point of Light Award honorees include:
• Ramon Guitard, a Purple Heart recipient who served two tours in Iraq and lost both legs when a roadside bomb exploded outside Baghdad in 2004. Since his recovery, he has become a motivational speaker with the American Red Cross and Operation Homefront to encourage those with disabilities to lead independent lives.
• Taryn Davis became a widow at age 21 when her husband was killed serving in Iraq. When she realized resources were scarce for young widows, she began The American Widow Project, which has served 500 military widows around the country since 2009 with resources and support, including a 24/7 hotline providing an immediate connection to another widow.
• In April 2004, at just 13 years old, Brittany Bergquist heard a news story about an American soldier stuck with a $7,000 cell phone bill he accrued by communicating with his family while he was serving in the Middle East. Struck with the heartache that must come when service members cannot talk to their families, Brittany launched Cell Phones for Soldiers, Inc., a nonprofit organization that has collected more than 2.5 million cell phones to keep deployed troops in closer contact with their loved ones.
Points of Light is honored to be the national administrator of the Community Blueprint Network, and is committed to engaging and supporting veterans and military families year-round in partnership with our network of more than 70,000 community organizations.
The Community Blueprint Network is an initiative conceived by more than 50 military service nonprofits and government agencies that has identified eight critical needs facing veterans, returning service men and women and their families: employment, K-12 and higher education, behavioral health, housing stability and homelessness assistance, financial and legal issues, family strength and reintegration. Within each of these issue areas, the Blueprint has created promising practices that support community leaders in addressing these needs.
The goal of the initiative is to increase collaboration, innovation, best practice sharing and more efficient delivery of services. Bristol Meyers Squibb Foundation and Walmart have supported pilot sites implementing the Blueprint process in Norfolk, Va. and Fayetteville, N.C. Points of Light is uniquely positioned to integrate the power of volunteers into this initiative and bring the Blueprint to scale by offering the resources online as well as expanding the number of Blueprint sites and implementation of promising practices with the support of HandsOn Network affiliates, national service resources such as AmeriCorps Alums and VISTA, and through Kids Care Clubs.
Community Blueprint Network is guided by an advisory council made of representatives from the American Legion Auxiliary, America’s Promise Alliance, American Red Cross, Armed Forces Services Corporation, Blue Star Families, Give An Hour, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC), Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), National Military Families Association (NMFA), Operation Homefront, Service Nation: Mission Serve, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) and Veterans Innovation Center.
# # #
About Points of Light
Points of Light is the leading volunteer organization with more than 20 years of history, a bipartisan presidential legacy and the largest volunteer footprint in the nation. Our mission is to inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the world. We connect people to their power to make a meaningful difference, by providing access to tools, resources and opportunities to help volunteers use their time, talent, voice and money to meet the critical needs of our communities. We are organized to innovate, incubate and activate new ideas through our action networks, including: HandsOn Network, the largest network of 250 local volunteer centers across the country and around the world; generationOn, the youth service movement that ignites the power of kids to make their mark on the world; and AmeriCorps Alums, the national service alumni network that activates the next generation of service leaders. For more information, visit www.PointsofLight.org.
We put people at the center of change.