[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[April 27, 1997]
[Pages 503-505]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Presenting the President's Service Awards in Philadelphia
April 27, 1997

    The President. Thank you. I like that version of ``Hail to the 
Chief.'' Maybe the Marine Band could pick it up. [Laughter]
    Ladies and gentlemen, these President's Service Awards are 
traditionally presented at the White House every year, but Hillary and I 
are profoundly honored to be here this evening with President and Mrs. 
Bush, General Powell, and all others who are part of this very important 
ceremony.
    As all of you know, we're here along with President Ford, President 
and Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Reagan, here in Philadelphia where our great 
democracy began, for the first Presidents' Summit for America's Future, 
to mobilize every community and challenge every citizen, to give our 
young people a chance to live up to their God-given potential, and to 
ask our young people to become citizen servants, too.
    So tonight we're going to give these awards, very appropriately, in 
the categories that have been set out for the challenge to America, the 
categories that General Powell talked about in his moving opening 
remarks. And I'm going to have the honor of recognizing the caring 
adults. I'm pleased to be joined tonight by a man who has dedicated his 
entire life to meeting the challenge of service, Harris Wofford.

[At this point, Harris Wofford, Chief Executive Officer, Corporation for 
National and Community Service, made brief remarks.]

    The President. You know, you might have guessed that before he 
headed our Nation's citizens service effort and the corporation for 
national service, Harris Wofford was in politics--[laughter]--the 
Senator from Pennsylvania. But before that, he was a college president; 
before that, a founder of the Peace Corps; a top aide to President 
Kennedy; a friend and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King. Hardly any 
American living today better personifies citizen service than Harris 
Wofford, and I thank him for that.
    As I said, we begin by recognizing that every single child needs a 
caring adult in his or her life to teach and guide them. Every child 
needs to know that he or she is profoundly important to some grownup. 
The three Americans we honor now have devoted themselves to meeting this 
challenge.
    Marjorie Klein knows that parents are our children's first teachers, 
and she's doing everything she can to help them. At 20 inner-city 
schools throughout the Philadelphia area, PACT, or Parents And Children 
Together, the organization Marjorie founded, brings parents into the 
classroom to read to the children and to help their children learn to 
read. At the same time, parents can improve their own literacy and 
tutoring skills, and they can even earn college credit. We salute 
Marjorie Klein and PACT for their tremendous commitment to families and 
our children.

[The President presented the award to Ms. Klein.]

    The President. Earl Phelan deeply believes that mentoring is the key 
to young people's success. Through B.E.L.L., or Building Enterprises for 
Learning and Living, the organization he helped to found, he has given 
hundreds of African-American young adults the chance to be role models 
and tutors to inner-city elementary school students throughout the 
greater Boston area. Under their tutelage, those children are thriving, 
their futures are brighter, and therefore so are ours. Tonight we honor 
Earl Phelan for his remarkable contribution to our American community.

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[The President presented the award to Mr. Phelan.]

    The President. Pat Esparza learned early in life that confidence and 
pride can make all the difference to a young girl's future. A single 
mother of three by the age of 19, she worked her way through school and 
devoted herself to helping at-risk girls. She founded Las Mariposas as a 
dance studio, but for the people of El Paso, Texas, it is a community 
treasure. At Las Mariposas hundreds of young girls have learned to dance 
and to value themselves and their culture. We honor Pat for giving the 
young girls of her community the confidence and pride they need to 
succeed in life.
    Congratulations.

[The President presented the award to Ms. Esparza.]

    All of them have helped to make sure that more of our young people 
do, in fact, have a caring adult to give them the support they need to 
build positive futures. Your work is an inspiration to all of us. I 
thank you for doing it, and I hope all of us will now be more willing to 
follow your lead. God bless you.

[Former First Lady Barbara Bush, assisted by actor John Travolta, 
presented the second group of awards. Former President George Bush, 
assisted by actress Brooke Shields Agassi, presented the third group of 
awards. Hillary Clinton, assisted by movie director Rob Reiner, 
presented the fourth group of awards. Following the award presentations, 
singer Patti LaBelle performed.]

    The President. Thank you, Patti LaBelle, for giving us all a second 
wind. [Laughter] I want to apologize to all of you for having to spend 
so much time tonight watching me walk up and down stairs. But as you 
know, I need the practice. [Laughter]
    I want to say that this last award in some ways may be the most 
important, because we're recognizing young people who, themselves, are 
serving in an extraordinary way. And one of the elements of this summit 
is the proposition that every young person should serve, and that, in so 
doing, we hope to expand the definition of what it means to be a good 
citizen in this country so that when we ask young people in years to 
come, what does it really mean to be a good American, they'll say, 
``Well, you have to be in school or work, you have to obey the law, and 
you have to serve.''
    I'm joined now on stage by a young public servant, Jahi Davis, an 
AmeriCorps volunteer from north Philadelphia. Like a lot of high school 
students, this young man paid more attention to his social life than to 
his future. Then he nearly lost his life in a serious accident. He says 
now he wouldn't have finished high school without the guidance of a 
tutor who helped him keep his grades up while he was in the hospital. 
When he recovered, he decided to do for others what had been done for 
him. He joined AmeriCorps in 1995, and since then, he has tutored 
children, started a mentoring program in his own neighborhood, and 
rehabilitated houses for low income families. He's planning to attend 
Temple University, where I know he'll continue to give back. Please 
welcome him up here with me. [Applause]
    When 21-year-old Na'Taki Osborne learned that Carver Hills, Georgia, 
a low income African-American community, was the most environmentally 
polluted area in Fulton County, she didn't just become concerned, she 
got involved. She got 200 community volunteers involved, too. And 
together they spent hundreds of hours cleaning up Carver Hills, making 
it a safer and more beautiful place for the entire community to enjoy.
    Thank you, Na'Taki Yatascha Osborne, for caring enough to change 
your community for the better.

[The President presented the award to Ms. Osborne.]

    The President. Amber Lynn Coffman is only 15 years old, but she's 
been volunteering to help disadvantaged people since she was 8. Her 
mother taught her that even one person can make a real difference, and 
for most of her still-young life, she has tried to be that one person 
and to encourage her friends and schoolmates to do the same. Working 
together as a group called Happy Helpers, they make over 600 box lunches 
every week for the homeless and the hungry. Thank you, Amber Lynn, for 
your wonderful commitment to your community.

[The President presented the award to Ms. Coffman.]

    Across America, more and more businesses believe that good 
citizenship is also good business. More and more, they're encouraging 
their

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employees to give something back. Target Stores is a perfect example. 
Through the Family Matters Program, started by Points of Light, Target 
Stores is the first national company to involve its employees and their 
families in community service.
    Last year, nearly 5,000 Target employees and their families 
volunteered. Working alongside their parents, young people learned 
firsthand about the importance and the joy of giving back. We thank 
Target stores for helping so many young children start early on a 
lifetime of service.
    With us tonight to represent Target is Julie Hennessy.

[The President presented the award to Ms. Hennessy.]

    The President. As Oprah said earlier, the 16 award winners with us 
tonight represent volunteers all over our country who are committed to 
helping us all build a better and stronger future. In honoring their 
contributions, we celebrate the spirit of service that has sustained 
America in times of trouble and united us with common hopes and dreams.
    At the dawn of a new century, let us all resolve to join hands to do 
it more. Remember what this summit is all about. These people were doing 
all this before we gathered. Ninety-three million Americans already 
volunteer. What we're saying is that in every community in America, more 
people must do it in a systematic way, and everyone must do it if 
America is going to have the future it deserves and our children are 
going to all be like those whom we honor here tonight.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 9:10 p.m. in Exhibit Hall A of the 
Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. Colin L. Powell, 
USA (ret.), former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; former First Ladies 
Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan; and television talk show host Oprah 
Winfrey.