    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [April 24, 1995]
    [Pages 585-586]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Departure From Minneapolis
    April 24, 1995

        Thank you. I'm so glad to see you all. As you can see, I'm here with
    Senator and Mrs. Wellstone and Congressman Vento and Congressman Luther
    and Attorney General Humphrey. And I'm glad to be here with all of them,
    and I'm glad to be with you.
        I also want to tell you, I'm glad I've got this big wind because I
    just had lunch downtown at a place called Peter's Grill, and I'm so
    full, I need a nap. [Laughter]
        Let me thank you for coming out today and tell you that I have had a
    wonderful trip to Minnesota. I want to thank the people here at the
    airbase for making me feel welcome, as they always do, and the Air Force
    reservists for their service. And I want to thank the young AmeriCorps
    members who are here today for their service.
        The men and women here at this Air Reserve unit have gone all across
    the globe to preserve our freedom and to fight for the freedom of
    others. They served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. They
    delivered food and supplies to people in Bosnia to help them survive.
    That's the longest airlift in history, thanks to the United States Armed
    Forces and the people here. And people here have even helped to fight
    the fires in California. We're grateful to all of them for all those
    services.
        I want to say something about the AmeriCorps volunteers here. In
    Minnesota alone, in this first year for AmeriCorps, they're

    [[Page 586]]

    making 200 houses or apartments into real homes for working families.
    And that is a noble thing to do. You're teaching more than a thousand
    children who might not make it without you, and I hope you'll keep
    working with them, because they need you. They need you as role models
    and mentors. And in their work, they are also piling up some credits for
    themselves to help them pay for the cost of going to college. They
    represent the tradition of American service at its best, and we thank
    all these young people for their service. Thank you very much.
        You know, this coming week is our National Volunteer Week, and
    tomorrow is a national day of service when a million Americans will join
    with many of you in special service all across America. It is fitting
    that National Volunteer Week should come now because volunteering is one
    of the best ways that Americans, and especially those fine people in
    Oklahoma, can deal with their grief and their pain and their loss.
        I must tell you that yesterday when I saw them and I realized what
    they had been through and how so many of them had continued to work to
    help their friends and neighbors and loved ones--some of them haven't
    slept in days--it reminded me once again that service is the greatest
    gift of citizenship in this country.
        And for all of you who are giving your service, whether here in the
    Reserve unit, or in AmeriCorps, or in some other way through your
    churches and synagogues or clubs or schools, I thank you, because the
    real heart of America is not in the Nation's Capital; it's out here with
    all of you and what you do every day to make your lives and this
    country's life better.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:15 p.m. at the Minneapolis-St. Paul
    International Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Hubert H. Humphrey
    III, Minnesota attorney general. The National Volunteer Week
    proclamation of April 21 is listed in Appendix D at the end of this
    volume. The National Youth Service Day proclamation of April 19, 1994,
    was published in the Federal Register at 59 F.R. 19123.