A Handout for Service

I can see the conversation now, and it goes something like this:

Mommy: "Thanks so much, Johnny, for participating in a day of service with mommy. What do you wanna do now?"

Johnny: "I'm goin' to Disneyland!"

Well, Mommy and Johnny, I hope you don't plan on going to Disneyland on a school day because President Obama wouldn't be too happy about that.



I can't believe Disney is giving out a free day to Disneyland or Disney World as long as you perform a day of community service. Here's the description from Disney's website:


"BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2010, when you sign up here to volunteer a day of service with a participating organization(and your service is completed and verified), you'll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland®theme park, FREE! We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service."


Oh, how sweet! They want to inspire people to serve. Give me a break! What is our country coming to when one has to be bribed in order to perform community service? What is this teaching our children? The whole idea of community service is to volunteer your time for a worthy cause. I fear the good old days of volunteering for the right reasons to help your fellow man and fellow woman are long gone; now, they have been replaced with prizes and gimmicks enticing children and adults alike. Not only is this not teaching the real lesson about the value and true intent of community service, but waving a prize an individual's way goes against everything community service represents. Community service is about performing acts of kindness, helping out where needed and being rewarded with a hug or a smile or even a simple "thank you." Yet in the land of Obama, community service seems to have become a program in which one expects a handout or reward for time served. There is so much that is wrong with this picture.



Not only is bribing someone for volunteering wrong, but it illustrates just how far we have strayed from the values we once held on so tightly to as a country. As a Disneyland Annual Passport holder, I am angry that an amusement park is going to extreme lengths to get into the good graces of the administration. What's next? Giving out cars to school lunch volunteers? Give me a break. As a young woman, my parents taught me to volunteer out of the goodness of my heart, not for a handout. I have found such joy in volunteering at my church, local schools and various organizations around town. While I have a job that I love, I sometimes find the volunteer work I perform more rewarding because frankly, it just feels so good to help out those in need.



As the San Diego Regional Organizer for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, I volunteer my time to spread the word about Sarah. I do not get paid for this job. I volunteer for this committee because I sincerely believe in Sarah and everything she represents. My reward comes in the form of people, not gifts. It feels so good when someone comes up to me and tells me just how much Sarah means to them. It brings tears to my eyes in thinking about all the young women and little girls who have approached my Draft Sarah table at the various tea parties I have attended, just to tell me that they finally have a role model whom they can identify with and look up to. It feels so good to be making a difference and politically educate others, and that, fellow readers, is a feeling that is truly priceless.



There are so many worthy causes out there that deserve our time. When we begin rewarding people with handouts, the true rewarding feelings will cease. The "thank yous" and hugs will no longer have the same affect that they once did. Children are going to expect to be rewarded with a prize just for helping an elderly individual cross the street. I'm sorry, but this is definitely NOT the America I was brought up in as a child.




This administration is seeping through the veins of organizations and corporations around the country- Disneyland and Disney World are just the beginning. We saw this during the campaign too when then-candidate Obama proposed a plan to reward college students with tuition money if they volunteered. What is wrong with President Obama? Does he think that the only way we will volunteer is if we are rewarded? How dare he! Americans deserve far more credit than that. Instead of calling it volunteering and community service, why not call it: "Volunteer-for pay service." The administration is very sly in that they are garnering support from not only Disney, but Hollywood. Over the course of the coming weeks, you are going to be seeing a rapid push to perform community service in the form of advertisements and even newspaper cartoons. This rapid propaganda push to make community service cool and hip is just another step toward the administration further controlling our lives. I want someone to perform community service because he or she wants to! I want someone to perform community service because he or she wants to make a difference. Finally, I want someone to perform community service because they fully believe in the organization to whom they support! I don't want someone performing community service simply because it's the new, hip thing to do, and I don't want someone to perform community service for the wrong reason, which is exactly what rewarding someone with a trip to Disneyland or Disney World will mean! Let's encourage others to volunteer for the right reasons, not for an ulterior motive.