Earlier this week Barack Obama sent an e-mail to his supporters, urging them to help victims of the California wildfires. It was the first active call to service from the president-elect (his Change.gov website has a section devoted to his plan, and to emphasizing that service will be a cause of his presidency). One of Obama’s more prominent supporters–Arianna Huffington–was moved by the e-mail to write a very thoughtful post on The Huffington Post about the role of service in Obama’s vision for America. Key excerpt:

Obama has always said that a call to service would be “a central cause” of his presidency. “We will ask Americans to serve,” he said in a signature speech in July. “We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing challenges.”

Clearly, those challenges have never been more pressing in our lifetime. As unemployment hits a 14 year high — and heading higher — layoffs mount, foreclosures stack up, and local governments throughout America gird themselves for a coming wave of service cutbacks and hospital closures, we have metaphorical fires burning all across the country. Fires that threaten to turn into a social conflagration.

In the past, Americans could look to the safety net of social programs put in place by FDR during the Great Depression to mitigate the effects of an economic downturn. But, as Steven Greenhouse documented in Sunday’s New York Times, the U.S. has become a “far different place” since the recession of the early ’80s: unemployment insurance is less generous, welfare has been scaled back, as have job training and housing programs.

These holes in the social safety net make a commitment to service even more urgent. This is a moment where it isn’t enough to look to the government; it’s a moment where we need to look to each other — and to ourselves.

Obama clearly understands this. “In America,” he has said, “each of us is free to seek our own dreams, but we must also serve a common purpose, a higher purpose… Because, when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem — they are the answer.”

This statement speaks volumes about Obama’s belief that “government depends not just on the consent of the governed, but on the service of citizens.”

It’s well worth reading the full post, and feel free to add your voice to the comments. Service–particularly through this coming holiday season–is a great way for every American to show that they are ready for a new era of service. And if you want to get started, just go here, and plug in your zip code to find lots of service opportunities in your community.

Tree Planting in Puerto Rico: “We’ve got it covered, Arianna!”

GOOD magazine (a spectacular publication), has written their “GOOD Sheet” on volunteering in America - with a ServiceNation mention! The information given is pretty basic, but it’s a great introduction, and presented in an engaging format.

Check it out here, and look at their chart to figure out what kind of service could be right for you! (Look for the SN mention below JFK.)

In 1994, Congress declared Martin Luther King, Jr., Day to be more than an acknowledgment of a great man and his works. Dr. King’s legacy is that of service; “anyone can be great,” he said, “because anyone can serve. On MLK Day, across the country, people honor Dr. King by participating in the King Day of Service.

This year, MLK Day is January 19, and it promises to be the biggest King Day of Service yet. MLKDay.gov will tell you exactly what you need to know to get involved - find an opportunity to serve, create an event, pledge nonviolence, and more. The 19th is also the day before the Inauguration - what a great time to show our leaders what service can do.

So you are too busy and stressed to find time to volunteer? No worries. The folks at The Extraordinaries have got your back. They are making it easy for you help others with whatever minutes of time you happen to have–by hooking you up via your mobile phone. ServiceNation friend and ally, Kari Dunn Saratovsky at the Case Foundation, explains it all on the Social Citizens blog. You can also get the gist of what The Extraordinaries are up to with this handy-dandy video. Whoa, must be tech Tuesday here at C/W.

The good folks at Edurelief think so, and if they are right (they need $2000) 500 kids at a school in northern Mongolia will benefit. So if you are on Twitter, help them out with a small donation and write about it on your Twitter feed. Great idea, right? Then go here to get started. Need a little more inspiration? Then watch:

Edurelief 2007 Promo from Edurelief on Vimeo.

ServiceNation friend and leader, Dr. Mehmet Oz (founder and chairman of HealthCorps), speaks with RollingOut.com about healthy lifestyles and diabetes. And in addition to exercise and a good diet, he endorses service and its power to help us become a healthier nation (and gives a nice shout-out to ServiceNation). And you know what they say? Always follow Doctor’s orders!

During the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt started the CCC to get Americans involved in public works projects and create jobs. It was an ambitious precursor to the service movement, and we’re wishing them a spectacular diamond jubilee!

Exposure to the CCC workers has impressed [Chris Litzau, head of the Milwaukee Community Service Corps,] with the durable benefits from the program, he said.

“From the worst of times, you have the greatest human spirit arise,” Litzau said. “People need an opportunity to start somewhere. We provide that step to those individuals to really start to shine.”

Give a laptop. Give a laptop. Change the world.

The XO laptop is about the size of your junior high math book, has built-in wireless connectivity, needs a tenth of normal laptop power, and can recharge with solar power. It’s durable, water-resistant, and made especially for children. And you can buy one for you, give one to the cause, and water the seeds of change.

The idea is One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), and it’s an initiative set to target the worldwide lack of education. Laptops in the classroom, especially in classrooms that are tragically understaffed and underserved, are increasing attendance, engaging children, and creating active learners. OLPC addresses other problems in this setting, such as language barriers, lack of textbooks, and mentoring. There’s 11,000 laptops headed for Afghanistan, 5,000 in Rwanda, 145,000 ordered for Peru.
The XO is $199 to give one, and $399 to give one and get one. The idea is spectacular and sustainable, and the implementation is fufilling these promises.

Shu’aidu Ishaq, a student who received a laptop, says, “When I was given the laptop I was very happy. The first thing I did was browse to some websites in Nigeria. Whenever there is the internet I browse. I get information from other countries such as Brazil. I hear that they have laptops there now as well. When I get back from school I teach my father.”

That’s being the change.

I’m becoming more and more excited as service gets more and more press. ServiceNation supporters have been saying it over and over, and now everyone’s catching on: the time for service is now.

Civic engagement can’t solve all our problems, which expand with each ripple from the global financial collapse. But if you take the spirit of Myra Esparza and magnify it a million times, you’ll have a sense of what’s possible now that service is suddenly cool.

Esparza, despite a strong distaste for the two-party system, got swept up in Obama-mania and campaigned for him, sending donations of $5 and $10 when she was able. Now the Pacoima native and recent college grad is a coordinator at a nonprofit called Youth Speak! Collective in Pacoima, where she helps keep teens on track in school and ushers them into community service.

Steve Lopez, LA Times, says the time is right now. I’d take that in two ways. The time is right, because our country needs a concentrated citizen effort to address our biggest social problems. And the time is now - because we need it now.

Another week, another Friday, another excuse to post some transition-to-the-weekend music. And proving once and for all that our multimedia man in Boston, Ning-Jun Yuan has the most eclectic, and interesting taste among us, I present you with his latest beat-busting choice. It’s animated. It’s about Vikings. It’s “War Photographer” by Jason Forrest. Hit it, Ning.

Alrighty, then. It reminds me of another vid I came across this week, which is more funny than Top 40. Have you ever wondered what a bunch of Marines doing the Cha-Cha might look like? Wonder no longer.

Have a great weekend!