If Holy Week isn't proof enough that spring is just around the corner, today is Opening Day at Fenway Park! (Opening Day: Take Two due to yesterday's storm.) The Red Sox are hoping that Senator Ted Kennedy will be able to throw the first pitch this afternoon, which reminded me toput up a post about the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.This was released on March 31st:

Seventy-five years to the day after President Roosevelt signed the Civilian Conservation Corps into law, the House of Representatives today sent President Obama a sweeping expansion of national service that will engage millions of Americans in meeting national needs and solving local problems through volunteer service. ...The legislation would reauthorize and expand national service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency created in 1993. The Corporation engages four million Americans in result-driven service each year, including 75,000 AmeriCorps members, 492,000 Senior Corps volunteers, 1.1 million Learn and Serve America students, and 2.2 million additional community volunteers mobilized and managed through the agencys programs.

Highlights of the act can be found in the link above, but it willfocus on hugely increasing the number of volunteer and service opportunities, strengthening the nonprofit sector and developing stronger methods of accountability. Opening Day, service opportunities, Easter - so many things to be excited about!

Marianne L. Tierney is a PhD student in theology at Boston College.

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