Jerry’s Kids

Forty one years. That is quite a long time. And that is how long Jerry Lewis has been going on television every single Labor Day to conduct the annual telethon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This phenomenal fund raising effort has set a high standard for achievement and has changed our view of Jerry Lewis from that of just a talented entertainer, actor and comic to one of the great philanthropists of our time.

But if the “Jerry Lewis telethon” as it has come to be called, were only an annual TV show where big stars come on around the clock for a couple of days to raise money for research to find a cure for muscular dystrophy, that alone would be a wonderful thing. But this Labor Day telethon has taken on a much larger meaning and role in American life to the extent that it has become one of the seminal nationwide community service events of the calendar year and arguably the largest national coordinated community service event of all time.

The event we see on television is only the forward front of a full scale nationwide campaign that sweeps across the country each year. It is one of the most ambitious and well organized community service efforts of all time because during the weeks leading up to the big telecast, literally thousands of community service projects will be held in every community in the nation, all with the goal of making a good sized contribution to “Jerry’s kids.”

The variety of ways that people across the nation find to raise funds for this phenomenal telethon are truly amazing. This one cause has tapped the incredible creativity and willingness of people to get out there and work to try to cure a disease that is so awful for children.

Some of the ways people have raised money include…

1. Firefighters commonly flood the intersections collecting funds in their boots.
2. Youth groups put on car washes in every convenience store in town. It is impossible not to have a clean car on the weeks leading up to the Labor Day telethon.
3. Churches hold bake sales to generate funds for Jerry’s kids.
4. College fraternities have slave auctions to reach their financial goals.
5. Businesses will have employees save up their change all year and dump in a big bucket to be taken to the bank to be counted and donated to Jerry’s kids.
6. Restaurants will have a round up campaign to help patrons find a painless way to give.

These many events that are held I public buildings, schools, churches, and businesses almost everywhere throughout the country, has a multi faceted effect. Obviously the first outcome is an incredible flood of money that is raised to battle this disease. But there is something else less obvious that happens when such a large amount of people take the time to leave their homes and get out to do something totally dedicated to community service and helping those who cannot help themselves.

There is an enthusiasm, a momentum and a sense of excitement that sweeps the country each labor day as institutions, organizations or businesses try to top their last years effort and outdo themselves to give more to Jerry’s kids. It is truly one of the finest examples of community service tapping into the power of people’s desire to help and responding to an outstanding leader that we have in Jerry Lewis. This one weekend raises millions every year to keep battling this dread disease. Not too bad for a vaudeville comedian.

How the Rich Really Get Richer

Somehow we have a fascination and sometimes a disgust toward the wealthiest people in our society. To be sure, they are the ones that get a lot of attention in the tabloids and television talk shows. And the paparazzi love them. But at the same time, we tend to look down on them. We assume that they are spoiled, perhaps got their wealth through unscrupulous means and that they cannot understand the day in day out struggles that the “common folks” go through every day.

But there is another side to the lifestyle of the most fortunate in society and that is their philanthropic and community service work that they do. There is no question that the wealthy have amazing abilities to generate revenue and build powerful and successful businesses. But it seems that once people reach a certain level of wealth, the urge takes over to give to the community and provide the means for some truly great community service work to be done.

There is a long precedent in the country for those who achieve the highest level of success to turn that success around and put it right back into the community. One of the great philanthropists of the American business community was David Packard, one of the founders of Hewlett Packard. Throughout his career, he never allowed the trappings of wealth to affect his lifestyle or his values. So when he had achieved great success, he turned right around and started the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. This ongoing community service organization uses the tremendous endowment of funds that David Packard passed to it in his will to fund dozens of worthwhile community service projects including preschools, community centers, health care for children and children’s hospitals.

A more up to date example of a very rich and successful business man turning that wealth to community service is Bill Gates, the entrepreneur who started Microsoft. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gives literally millions to dozens of worthy projects that are set up to help ease the plight of those victimized by global poverty and illness as well finding ways to encourage global development to help put an end to poverty once and for all.

Looking at this charitable work on the outside, you might think that the rich of our society do this kind of thing for a tax write off or because they feel guilty for all they take out of society. And sure, there are no doubt some of that social class who function out of those motivations. But a higher motivation often is what drives the wealthy to want to do their part.

In many cases, such as Bill Gates, the wealth they have come to know was a byproduct of their brilliant work with their field of endeavor. They never set out to be rich but the marketplace rewarded them for innovation, invention or superior business abilities. These individuals are like you and I in that they set out in life to be as successful as they can be. And just like you and I, many of the wealthy know that being a success in life means more than just your bank account or how new your car is.

So by using the blessings their success has given them to help others, the wealthy get a different kind of fulfillment from life than just luxury and fine living. They learn what many of us already know that to achieve true fulfillment in life, you have to seek it from helping others. By coming down out of their mansions and finding ways to help others in society, the rich discover that the one who gets the most out of community service is the giver. We are fortunate to such philanthropists who are using their wealth to help others. But they have learned that our thanks is not the reward. They have learned that the way to truly get richer is to enjoy a richer life and that there is no richer experience in life than the joy of helping others through community service.

Helping Hands Around the World

When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local community. And reaching out to those in your own town is truly the most dynamic type of community service. But there are dramatic examples of people who reached out beyond the city limits of where they lived to really make a difference in the lives of people around them.

Examples of ways that neighbors reached out to neighbors beyond their borders and out into the larger community of the nation can be found in youth outreach programs through local churches or community centers. Every year thousands of youth spread out all over the country to help those less fortunate than themselves. But there is one example of neighbor helping neighbor even past the borders of our country. This is an example of government working hand in hand with citizens to extend helping hands around the world. And that example of community service on a global scale is the Peace Corps.

The idea of the Peace Corps was the brainchild of dreamers during the 1960s, a decade where the youth of America were searching for self-definition. It took a dynamic leader like John F. Kennedy to take that vision and find a way to organize it into a government program that could capitalize on the energy, the good will and the enthusiasm of youth to reach out to nations around the world. The idea had gained sufficient momentum that it became an important part of Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency so much so that when President Kennedy gave his inaugural speech, it was the Peace Corps he was talking about when he uttered those historic words…

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”

The Peace Corps has given tens of thousands of America’s youth the opportunity to become part of a large community service outreach where that opportunity may not have existed before. Since its inception in 1960, over 187,000 people have served in the Peace Corps.

If we take the time to reflect on the mission of the Peace Corps, it was truly an ambitious undertaking. The scope of this new federal agency was well summarized in the wording of the actual law that brought into being which states that the Peace Corps was established…
“to promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”

One wonders how the Peace Corps really is a way for a young person to ask what they can do for America in that it is an outreach to people in need all over the world. But in truth, efforts like the Peace Corps have done as much to promote democracy and to build good will between foreign nations and the United States as any official ambassador or formal meeting of heads of states could ever do.

The Peace Corps has build relationships between peoples at the local level. And it is when the citizens of nations around the world see the true hearts of Americans and that sense of trust and good will is built up between peoples that the good will that naturally happens on a Peace Corps outing begins to take root and change opinions on a national level about what America is really all about.

We can only hope that the Peace Corps continues to do its good work for many generations to come. The friendship it builds between people of all nationalities can go further to spread democracy and our way of life than any war can do. And in doing so, it fulfills the dream of President Kennedy that America’s youth would be more about helping others than their own ambitions and that this would be his legacy to America and indeed to all the world.

All Frat Houses are not all like Animal House

When you think of a college fraternity, the traditional image of a hard drinking, party central place that encourages boys to skip class, seduce women and generally behave like animals seems to come to mind. Or we think of spectacular cases of fraternity hazings or movies that emphasize wild living at college fraternities like “Animal House”. This is the work of movies and the media who love to emphasize the light hearted side of college life.

Similarly, sororities are depicted as places where rich snobby girls go to discuss fashion, look down on each other and other sororities and develop elitist attitudes. But none of these pictures are at all representative of the good that college fraternal organizations do in helping young college kids grow socially and develop a sense of social responsibility.

In any college town, the work fraternities and sororities do to make a positive difference for the college and for the community that hosts them goes unnoticed and unrewarded with the same kind of media attention that the public gives when the excesses of a few fraternities makes the news. Fraternities are actually not founded with the intent of giving students the chance to live like animals and commit mayhem. Fraternity student leadership groups all around the country struggle with this misconception every year.

The truth is fraternities work closely with the administration of the colleges they are affiliated with to provide service to the student community and to foster a safe and positive living environment that will mold their members into forces for good in society. The fact that the adult equivalent of the fraternal system are the adult fraternal organizations of the Lions Clubs, the Elks and the Shrine attest to the success fraternities have of instilling values of community service using the power of fraternal bonding. These adult fraternal organizations do immeasurable good for the communities in which they reside and they are just continuing on with the values they learned in their college fraternities.

There are numerous examples of outstanding fraternities around the country that have distinguished themselves in community service. The fraternity, Kappa Alpha was recognized when its Beta Tau chapter at the University of Michigan racked up an astounding 7,200 service hours by its members.

Naturally fraternities will do well at making their frat houses look good. Any drive around a modern campus will show some fine landscaping and the good care frats do at keeping their houses in good shape and attractive. Fraternities are a proud tradition in university life that date back for centuries. That pride is instilled in each new member each fall and much of that pride comes from the outstanding service the fraternity offers to the community.

During the terrible Hurricane Katrina devastation, fraternities all around the country rose to the occasion to help out students from New Orleans colleges who were displaced. But they went a lot further than that as bus after bus of fraternity volunteers brought a new flood to New Orleans, a flood of volunteers to roll up their sleeves and help people who were devastated by the storm.

The varieties of community service projects fraternity members dedicate themselves to are as diverse as the fraternities themselves. They vary from fun loving fund raisers on game day which raise money for deserving causes to reading to, mentoring or tutoring underprivileged kids around town. These are the good deeds college students perform every day that don’t get the kind of press that hazings and spring break excesses get. But they have a much longer lasting impact and they genuinely show that the heart of the fraternity system is grounded in community service.

Coming Together

There is something about community service that causes a sense of coming together that really is not possible in any other setting. When a community comes out either in time of crisis or when a big community project is in the works, you see a side of people that will not surface in their day to day world. This may be why community service projects that mobilize the population to get out and help others are so popular.

Community service gives people a chance to do something for some one else. It also gives parents the chance to get their kids involved in something wholesome, fun and to learn the value of doing a project for a selfless motive. And it gives everyone a chance to get to know others in the community that we might never meet any other way.

United Way functions are great for this because they pull volunteers from businesses all over your community. So you might be working shoulder to shoulder painting a school room with the president of the biggest bank in town or a minister of a church you never otherwise would have gotten to know. The hours working together builds bonds and friendships that are in every possible way healthy for everyone.

There are plenty of historical precedents for how the bonding that occurs in times of community service pulls a community and even the nation together. During World War II, the nation was shocked into action by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. All around the country, communities mobilized in dozens of ways to conserve on precious resources needed for the war effort, to equip, train and take care of the expanding military and sending their sons off to fight this threat to the nation.

To this day there is no time in our history remembered with such fondness as those days after Pearle Harbor when the nation functioned as one person to do all they could to win this battle that was before us. The songs of that era and the movies are cherished even by generations that have come later because they are reminders of a time when the people came together for what was perhaps the greatest community service project of all time, to defeat the enemy overseas by mobilizing here at home.

Similar unity has happened from time to time since then and always, it seems, in response to a crisis. When President Kennedy was shot, when the towers fell on 911 or when the hurricane hit in New Orleans, the unity of purpose among all Americans was evident. If ever there was a time when we showed the world that we were one people with one heart, those were the times.

If we can find ways to create a similar spirit, not as a result of crisis but built around a community need, even at just the local level, we can see a similar unity between peoples that can cause some real social bonding. In many communities there are divisions between neighborhoods based on racial or economic divisions. A strong commitment to community service can cause people to look outward and away from their resentments and prejudices and work shoulder to shoulder with a fellow citizen that they may have treated with hostility in any other setting.

There are many good reasons to sponsor community service at the local level including the good it does for the recipients and the good feelings the volunteers get when they get out and help another person. But this side benefit that happens when a community service project brings people together and makes new friends out of old enemies may be one of the greatest benefits of community service of them all.