Stars, regular folks heed Obama's call to service

[babylonsister]

Stars, regular folks heed Obama's call to service

By BRETT ZONGKER
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Usher helped build a school library. Superman and Spider-Man rolled up their sleeves. And thousands of volunteers around the country marked the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday by heeding President-elect Barack Obama's call to service.

They picked up trash in Los Angeles, donated blood in Miami and fed the hungry in Olympia, Wash., in response to Obama's call for a "day on" Monday for Martin Luther King Day.

"We responded to President Obama's call today because he responded to our call," said David Blair, a 48-year-old volunteer in Miami.

And the stars who poured into Washington to see Obama's inauguration pitched in, too. Usher helped build shelves at a school library in southeast Washington with Brandon Routh, the star of "Superman Returns," Tobey Maguire of "Spider-Man" fame and dozens of other volunteers. Oprah Winfrey's TV crew and MTV were on hand to capture the moment.

"Change has come to America, but we are the reality of that change by simply becoming part of service projects, volunteerism," the 29-year-old singer said. "That is change in motion."

The effort to spruce up the school and similar projects in cities across the country are part of a long tradition of community service on King holidays. Volunteers, though, are signing up with new urgency this year, organizers said.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DAY_OF_SERVICE?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Cha]

1. Awesome! I made sure I took off work early

and participated in a community service action. It happened to be with a high school group calling themselves.. Better World Club and we were writing letters to Soldiers and to President Obama about continuing the cleanup and rebuilding of the aftermath of Katrina. I was laughing a lot 'cause the kids are funny:D

And in the letters to the Soldiers they told them that "they wanted to write them on this MLK Day when Obama has called for a national day of service to let them know of their thoughts and appreciation..and to stay safe and know they're in our hearts."

I cried when I read the letters.