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January 20, 2009

Inauguration 2009
Volunteers Prepare Care Packages For U.S Soldiers

As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, more than 10,000 volunteers descended on Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington to make care packages for U.S. military personnel overseas.

At the event, which was the largest service effort in the city, hundreds of volunteer managers were needed to organize the crowds.

One of them, Alice McAlexander, from Abilene, Tx., motivated about 50 volunteers who were sitting in the stadium seats and waiting to get to work. Standing in front of them on the roof of a dugout, she gave the Obama campaign’s well-known cheer.

“Fired up?” she said through a megaphone.

“Ready to go” responded the volunteers, who hailed from as far away as Florida and California.

She then taught the crowd the “Obama dance,” a Macarena-esque move to get people excited — and warmed up in the cold weather.

Ms. McAlexander, who worked for the Obama campaign in Virginia, said that President-elect Barack Obama wanted to harness the grass-roots energy from his campaign and turn it into volunteer spirit for his presidency.

After some last minute-instructions, the volunteers filed into huge white tent on the stadium field. Inside the “snake pit,” as Ms. McAlexander called it, volunteers were given plastic bags. They then walked past rows of tables. and other volunteers dropped toiletries into their bags. As one volunteer said, it was trick-or-treating for the troops.

Future first lady Michelle Obama filled some bags in the morning, and in the afternoon, Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty congratulated the volunteers for filling 85,000 bags, exceeding the goal by 10,000.

The event, which was sponsored by the mayor’s office, the Target Corporation, and Operation Gratitude, a California charity, attracted many people who had come to Washington for the inauguration of Mr. Obama.

Will Muskatt drove from Charlotte, N.C., to see the festivities and support the military at the stadium event.

He said as a black American, “I wanted to show my excitement for Obama and support Dr. King.”

Photos of the event will be online at The Chronicle’s Flickr group.

— Ian Wilhelm

Tuesday January 20, 2009 | Permalink

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