Proclamation 6790—National Volunteer Week, 1995

Our ancestors built this Nation on the spirit of independence and the strength of community. Yesterday's Americans came together to raise a barn, till a farm, or teach a child to write. They came together to care for one another and to lift up their neighbors in need. For rich and poor, old and young, giving their talents to benefit the community was the most fundamental responsibility of American citizenship.

Through the years, this basic ideal has endured. Service remains the noblest quality of the American character. Our people still come together to build a house, plant a garden, or tutor a child. Elementary school students help older Americans in their daily lives. Seniors help struggling teenagers stay out of trouble. Countless dedicated citizens claim our country's challenges as their own. Their service sets a powerful example of leadership and compassion for each of us to follow.

As a partner in progress, government can expand and strengthen this great American legacy. AmeriCorps, the Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America now provide service opportunities for more than a million of our citizens. These initiatives enable us to keep faith with the covenant of citizenship. This week, we celebrate the tens of millions of volunteers who give their time, their energy, and their hearts to making our world a better place.

We are indeed fortunate that, even as we face difficult problems in our streets, schools, homes, and communities, citizens are volunteering to help one another in numerous ways. Some spend a few hours every week. Others give entire days—even years—of their lives to service. Each makes a lasting contribution to the substance and the spirit of community in America. And each helps lead us into an ever brighter future.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 23 through April 29, 1995, as "National Volunteer Week." I call upon all Americans to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities in expression of their commitment.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and nineteenth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON