EAST LANSING, Mich. - A national "Celebration of Service," sponsored by AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, will be held at Michigan State University Tuesday, April 6.
The event, which includes a community service fair, will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the MSU Union Ballroom. A short program will be held at 6 p.m.
Harris Wofford, chief executive officer of the Corporation for National Service, and Mark Gearan, director of the Peace Corps, will join MSU President Peter McPherson, a former Peace Corps volunteer, in the celebration and presentations.
Other speakers include a site leader from the MSU Alternative Spring Break Program; a local AmeriCorps member and recent MSU graduate; and a current student involved with training Peace Corps volunteers.
At 9 a.m. Tuesday, 20 current AmeriCorps members and former Peace Corps volunteers will plant more than 1,000 white oak and white pine seedlings at Sleepy Hollow State Park, 20 miles northeast of Lansing.
The local event, part of a "National Call to Service" campaign started by President Clinton in early February, is designed to raise awareness of the work MSU's volunteer organizations perform and to assist these groups with new membership recruitment. AmeriCorps is the domestic Peace Corps program.
This year approximately 100 MSU students have applied to join either the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps.
MSU ranks eighth on the national list of top Peace Corps volunteer-producing universities, with 62 alumni serving as volunteers. Since the organization was founded in 1961, 1,796 MSU graduates have served as volunteers.
It is an opportunity for current students, program participants and others interested in the organizations to hear of the impact community and national service have had on the lives of people in their community, nation and around the world.
For more information, contact Carrie Gray, MSU AmeriCorps campus representative at (517) 353-4400 or at graycarr@pilot.msu.edu; or Will Shields, MSU Peace Corps campus representative, at 432-7474 or at msupeace@pilot.msu.edu.