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4 - The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, June 24, 2009
SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
Students to Give Local Homes
a Facelift
President Obama Unveils ‘United We
Serve,’ Calls on All Americans to
Commit to Volunteer Service
In the midst of tough
and uncertain economic
times, more than 23,000 stu
dents have made a decision
to pay money out of their
own pockets in order to help
improve living conditions for
people across the United
States and Canada.
“This will be a life
changing week for all
involved,” said John Bailey,
Team Leader for World
Changers. “The students who
participate in World
Changers will see that they
can make a difference. And
the residents whose homes
are worked on see that the
young people offer hope for
our future.”
On average, participat
ing students pay $260 to take
part in the week.
This summer, 98 World
Changers projects will take
place in more than 85 cities
from Alaska to Florida, New
York to California, and many
places in between.
“World Changers” is in
its 19th summer of operation
and is an initiative of the
North American Mission
Board (Southern Baptist
Convention).
Some 415 middle
school and high school stu
dents from across the U.S.
will be in Savannah to work
in low-income neighbor
hoods painting houses,
replacing roofs, and in the
process providing hope to
residents in need.
The major work began on
Monday June 22, and will
continue through the 26.
The students will be staying
at Savannah State University
for the week.
If you would like more
information about this topic,
please call 770-410-6484 or
email Jonathan at jowil-
son@namb.net
World Changers is an
approach to youth mission
projects among Southern
Baptists and other evangeli
cal churches.
For years, youth lead
ers had expressed an interest
in finding types of activities
that would help their youth
to better understand mis
sions through personal
involvement.
At the same time, indi
vidual churches were finding
that the time and effort nec
essary to put together a
“hands-on” work experience
was extensive.
As other organizations
began to test and prove the
validity of large-group mis
sions and service projects,
the then Memphis-based
Brotherhood Commission of
the Southern Baptist
Convention began its own
plans for such an endeavor.
World Changers
national work projects began
in the summer of 1990.
Briceville, Tenn. hosted 137
youth and adults one week in
the World Changers pilot
project. In 1992, World
Changers expanded abroad
with a project in Ciudad
Victoria, Mexico.
World Changers con
tinues to grow.
In 2008, World
Changers coordinated over
22,000 participants in mis
sion ministries across North
America at 95 locations on
1,700 work sites and 47 min
istry sites and reported over
830 professions of faith.
Over $180,000 was
received in donations for the
missions offering.
In a video message,
President Obama unveiled
United We Serve, an extend
ed call to service challenging
all Americans to help lay a
new foundation for growth in
this country by engaging in
sustained, meaningful com
munity service.
The initiative will be
led by the Corporation for
National and Community
Service, the federal agency
dedicated to fostering service
in communities across the
country.
Since his Inauguration,
the President has called on
all Americans to serve their
communities and be a part of
building a better future for
our country.
The United We Serve
summer initiative begins on
June 22nd and runs through
the National Day of Service
and Remembrance on
September 11th.
The National Day of
Service and Remembrance
was created by the Edward
M. Kennedy Serve America
Act, which President Obama
signed in April to help
encourage and facilitate
community service across
the country.
During this summer,
the President is renewing his
call to all Americans to iden-
President Barack Obama
tify needs in their communi
ties, engage in meaningful
service to create change -
and stay engaged with those
projects long after
September.
The President’s call
focuses on four key areas
where everyone can have a
continuing impact in their
community: education,
health, energy and the envi
ronment and community
renewal.
To create new service
projects, to find service proj
ects in their communities and
to share stories about proj
ects that are making a differ
ence, Americans can visit the
Corporation’s website,
www.serve.gov .
President Obama’s
video was distributed via
email by the Corporation for
National and Community
Service. View President
Obama’s full video message
at www.serve.gov .
“The challenges we face are
unprecedented in their size
and scope, and we cannot
rely on quick fixes or easy
answers to put us on the road
to recovery,” President
Obama says in the video
message. “In this new centu
ry, we need to a build a new
foundation for economic
growth in America. My
Administration has already
begun this work with dra
matic new investments in
education, health care and
clean energy - investments
that will create new jobs and
lay the foundation for lasting
prosperity. But we cannot do
this alone here in
Washington... ’ ‘Economic
recovery is as much about
what you're doing in your
communities as what we're
doing in Washington - and
it’s going to take all of us,
working together.”
The goal of United We
Serve is to help make volun-
teerism and community serv
ice part of the daily lives of
all Americans in order to
help build a new foundation,
one community at a time.
Further details about the
June 22nd kickoff are forth
coming.
SSU Collecting Final Data for Obesity
Outreach Study
Coastal Heritage Society Welcomes
Foreign Diplomats to Savannah to
Help Launch New Websites
Savannah State
University Community
Outreach Obesity Program
(COOP) officials are calling
on all project participants to
take the second health
screening at the St.
Joseph’s/Candler African-
American Health
Information & Resource
Center (AAHIRC), located
at 1910 Abercorn St.
Screening hours are 11:30-
6:30, Monday-Friday.
Those who complete
the screening process will
be eligible for prizes and
rewards, including a $50
drawing to be held on July
3.
joined since August 2008
are eligible for the final
screening, and we need their
participation,” said Hetty
Jones, Ph.D., a professor in
the department of natural
sciences and mathematics at
Savannah State. “The check
up is important because
early detection can prevent
or delay the onset of certain
diseases.”
While personal infor
mation will remain confi
dential, the statistics will be
recorded and shared with
the granting agency, the
University of Kentucky
Center for Poverty Research
through funding from the
National Institutes of
Health.
The results may help
Savannah State qualify to
receive additional funds for
health interventions.
Parlez-Vous Francais?
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? If
not, you should know that
many visitors to our fair city
do!
Now the Coastal
Heritage Society has teamed
up with the State of Georgia,
the Savannah Convention
and Visitors Bureau, the Inn
at Ellis Square, the Coastal
Museums Association, and
the family of the late
Honorary French Consul to
Savannah, Dominique
Audran, to make sure those
who speak French and
German have more welcom
ing and fulfilling experi
ences in our city.
We’ve created a new
website, www.sejoursavan-
nah.com , which is written
entirely in French.
It features a history of
the contributions of French-
speaking people in Savannah
(historians estimate that at
one point in the 19th century,
one in three Savannahians
was a native French speak
er!), as well as an interactive
map showing sites of interest
to French visitors.
We are currently devel
oping a companion German
website as well, which we
plan to launch in the near
future.
The French website is
dedicated to the late
Dominique Audran, who, as
General Manager of the Inn
at Ellis Square and Honorary
French Consul, greatly deep
ened the ties between France
and Savannah. Mr. Audran
passed away following an ill
ness last year.
A press conference at
1:30pm, Wednesday, June
24th, in the conference room
at the Savannah Economic
Development Authority
(SEDA) building on
Hutchinson Island (131
Hutchinson Island Road,
Savannah).
The Consul of France
in Atlanta, Monsiuer Philippe
Ardanaz, and the Consul of
Germany in Atlanta, Dr. Lutz
H. Gorgens, will take part in
the press conference.
We will project the
French website live onto a
large screen during the event.
Founded as a maritime
history organization in 1975,
the Coastal Heritage Society
is today a 501(c)3 nonprofit
organization employing more
than 120 people and manag
ing more than $30 million in
public resources in
Savannah, Georgia.
Coastal Heritage
Society serves more than
150,000 people annually at
our three historic sites: Old
Fort Jackson National
Historic Landmark, the
Savannah History Museum,
and the Roundhouse Railroad
Museum. Both the History
Museum and Roundhouse
are located within the Central
of Georgia National Historic
Landmark District.
More than 700 people
around the nation who care
about history have joined our
ranks as donors and mem
bers.
“All participants who
THE SAVANNAH TRIBUNE
1805 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Savannah, Georgia 31401
Ph. (912) 233-6128 FAX (912) 233-6140
www.savannahtribune.com
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