Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Council – Posting #33

Rosie here from the Faith In Youth Partnership. As my first year of service comes to an end, I have taken time to reflect on my year both personally, and within the Michigan’s AmeriCorps program. Why is service so important to me and why should it be to others as well? These thoughts are quickly bound by one word: Ubuntu.

"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."
- Desmond Tutu

This message is the root of service in my life. Service is about becoming a whole person because you have made your neighbors whole.

"I am because you are, because we are."
- Desmond Tutu

These words are particularly pleasing at the moment because there is a call for people of this nation to SERVE. President Obama has called on us to help aid our nation's recovery by serving in our communities. One particular way to get involved in this national summer service movement is through the website www.serve.gov!

Whether you have Community Centers that could use volunteers or you are thinking of starting an organization of your own, www.serve.gov has something for everyone!