[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (Monday, May 1, 1995)]
[Pages 724-726]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the President's Service Awards

April 27, 1995

    Thank you very much, Eli Segal, for your words of introduction and 
for your outstanding leadership of our national service efforts. And 
thank you, Marlee Matlin, for your leadership in a volunteer capacity of 
the most important volunteer efforts in our country.
    Just over a week ago we were reminded that there are those who want 
to see our Nation torn apart. But amid the grief and the

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destruction we have also seen how quickly the overwhelming majority of 
Americans come together to help each other to rebuild and to make this 
country stronger.
    When Hillary and I were in Oklahoma City last Sunday, we saw a 
community working around the clock to rebuild itself. Compassion and 
assistance flowed in from all over the United States. Americans were 
united in a spirit of service. It is that spirit which we honor today.
    It gives me tremendous pleasure to be here with all of you to 
celebrate National Volunteer Week and to honor the recipients of the 
President's Service Awards for 1995. Today we'll hear stories of 
ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things, teachers and homemakers, 
carpenters and business leaders, people from small neighborhood 
organizations and large corporations. Our honorees comfort the sick and 
fight illiteracy. They repair our parks and keep our young people out of 
gangs. They come from all corners of the Nation. They are diverse in age 
and background. Yet they are united by something larger than all of us, 
the simple desire to fulfill the promise of American life.
    A couple of days ago I was in Iowa for our Rural Conference. Those 
of us who come from small towns know that we don't have a person to 
waste in our communities or in our country. Large or small, our 
communities have never been built with bricks and mortar alone. They are 
sustained by the faith that there will always be people there to lend a 
hand.
    That's why more than 90 million Americans lend a hand every year--90 
million. At a time when the American people are working harder and 
longer than they have been in the last 10 years at their own jobs, they 
still find time to volunteer to help others. Americans know we can never 
be fulfilled as a country unless we are prepared to take responsibility 
for each other.
    I'm proud that we're joined to honor this year's award recipients by 
two young members of AmeriCorps, Brent Bloom and Izabel De Araugo. They 
and their fellow corps members are showing that we gain when we give. In 
return for help with college, they're helping others. AmeriCorps efforts 
go hand in hand with the voluntarism we celebrate today. It is a great 
partnership.
    I want to say a special word of appreciation for Brent Bloom. He 
lives in Oklahoma City where he works in a homeless shelter while 
studying for a pre-med degree at Oklahoma University. A little more than 
a week ago, Brent heard the explosion that was felt all around America. 
He went straight to the Federal building, told the first police officer 
he saw that he knew emergency first aid, and then spent the rest of the 
day and well into the night sorting through the wreckage and saving 
lives. [Applause]
    In the weeks since, he has been working with Feed the Children, 
helping children, families, and the extraordinary rescue teams. He 
deserves our gratitude and the applause you just gave him. He and 
countless others who are working to heal the wounds from last week's 
bombing are living proof that we are truly a nation of volunteers. They 
show us once again that altruism will always triumph over the forces of 
divisiveness.
    Let me say, too, if I might, a word of appreciation to another 
volunteer who is not here today. When the explosion occurred in Oklahoma 
City, a nurse named Rebecca Anderson rushed to the bombed Federal 
building as well to help. She was hit by some falling debris in the 
building, suffered a hemorrhage and later died. She left behind four 
children. But even in death, she continued to serve, for she donated her 
heart for a heart transplant which occurred yesterday and saved the life 
of one more person. That is the real America, and no matter what else 
happens, we should never forget it.
    You know, voluntary derives from a Latin word which means both wish 
and will. I cannot imagine a more accurate combination for what we 
celebrate today; uniting the wish for a better world with the will to 
make it happen, neighbor to neighbor, community to community.
    Each act of service pulls us together and pushes us forward. Let's 
keep it up.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:54 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.

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