Politics

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP / BCN) ― First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off a summer of community service Monday by helping fix up a San Francisco school playground, part of a national effort to champion community service and promote the value of volunteering.

The initiative, known as United We Serve, was announced by President Barack Obama last week.

"We are fired up about United We Serve, we should be fired up!" Mrs. Obama proclaimed as she greeted several hundred volunteers at Bret Harte Elementary School around 12:30 p.m.

The President and Mrs. Obama are urging people to help in the nation's economic recovery by volunteering at schools and hospitals and pitching in on community needs ranging from tutoring to park cleanup.
 
Michelle Obama, joined by California first lady Maria Shriver, used the Bayview elementary school to highlight how volunteer hours can help address large-scale problems.

A corner of the paved schoolyard is being reborn as an inter-generational playground — designed for use by children, older adults and Alzheimer's patients — built entirely by volunteers.

Obama and Shriver helped the volunteers Monday install a slide on the playground. While Mrs. Obama's fashion choices make news everywhere she goes, both she and Shriver came ready to work, in casual pants and white tennis shoes.

The refurbished playground will also include an edible garden with a farmers market stand where kids and seniors can sell vegetables to raise money for the school.

Standing in front of a newly painted mural featuring the city skyline and her husband's "Yes we can" campaign message in English and Spanish, Mrs. Obama urged the crowd to "make sure service is a daily part of your lives." 

Amid cheers from crowds inside and outside school grounds, Mrs. Obama congratulated the roughly 500 volunteers for their willingness to make service part of their everyday lives.

She said that community service is "not something that we just started to do in the White House. It's been sort of the air that we breathe in the Obama household in so many ways."

Shriver had introduced Obama, saying she considers the First Lady a "girlfriend."

"If Michelle Obama, her family and her husband can find time to serve, there is no excuse for any family who says it's too busy," Shriver said.

Shriver, who has championed other playground-building projects, thanked the volunteers for spending their time improving their communities, even when the nation's First Lady isn't watching. Thanks to their efforts, a school that previously lacked play structures will now have swings, slides and even a vegetable garden to enjoy, she said.

Michelle Obama held up Bret Harte's playground project as an example of how volunteer hours can drive large-scale change. Too many children "are living a life on high-calorie food," she said. In marginalized neighborhoods, children have few safe places to exercise, she said.

"Kids have to be active, they have to move their bodies," Mrs. Obama noted, citing obesity statistics among children, particularly African American and Hispanic children.

Mrs. Obama said preventable obesity-related diseases cost the country more than $120 billion each year. 

She explained  that at the White House they had instituted "Camp Obama" for daughters Sasha and Malia, which means the TV and computers are off until after dinner and right before bedtime. "Bedtime is early," she noted. 

A swing set has been installed and the Obama girls "get to swing on the swings, climb on the jungle gym. They're playing; they don't even know that they're getting exercise. That's the value of play and that's what we need to get our kids to do in this community but we have to provide them with resources to make that happen," she said.

Shriver replied, "I've got to institute that in my house, and I'm going to blame it all on you."

Kamil Faridi of San Francisco spent the morning hauling cinder blocks to form a retaining wall and laying down mulch for new landscaping near the playground. He participates in the AmeriCorps VISTA program and runs after school programs at Bret Harte.

"I really like her emphasis on the health side of it," he said of Mrs. Obama's remarks. "Oftentimes kids don't have the same amount of play space as in other parts of the city."

Later Monday, Michelle Obama capped off her service-themed day by telling thousands of volunteers at San Francisco's Moscone Center that Americans can transform the country by integrating community service into their lives.

Mrs. Obama delivered the keynote address to a crowd of 4,500 at the kickoff ceremony for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. She told attendees that she and her husband believe volunteers can renew a nation battling fiscal, environmental and health care woes.

"The only way to build that new foundation for our economy is to establish a new role for service in this country," she said.

Many Americans view service as "icing on the cake, but not necessarily part of the cake itself," Mrs. Obama said. "We've come to believe the real work of moving this nation forward is somehow being done elsewhere."

In her speech, she told the assembled volunteers that what they do isn't easy even in good times.

''In times like these, when we're facing challenges unlike any in our lifetime, and you all know this better than anyone, I know it can feel close to impossible,'' she said.

Her husband is working to change that, she said, but government can't do everything, she said.

Some may view volunteering as something extra, Mrs. Obama said, but ''real change'' comes from ''the bottom up, from citizens working and mobilizing and serving the nation that they love.''

Change is also coming to TV, she said.

The Entertainment Industry Foundation has created an initiative under which the four major networks ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC will include service themes and plots in TV programs during the week of Oct. 19th.

''It's going to be a great thing,'' Mrs. Obama said. ''This is really exciting.''

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also spoke to the attendees. The governor urged residents to seize the current challenges of both the state and nation and respond to them with volunteerism.

"I want the history books to say America stepped up and took action," he said. "We are on the verge of a breakthrough in service, maybe even a revolution."

Funds for government programs are evaporating, Schwarzenegger said, but the needs have not.

"We need volunteers to step up and fill that void," he said. The governor also touted California as the only state with a cabinet-level office dedicated to service efforts.

Each speaker received an enthusiastic welcome, but Mrs. Obama was clearly the star. Cheering audience members jumped to their feet when she took the stage, and hundreds of cameras and cell phones shot in the air to capture the first lady's image. 

She thanked the assembled crowd of volunteers from organizations across the country, and Canada, calling them "pioneers" in the service movement.

"You've done everything in your power to make giving back cool again," she said. "You have helped to make service once again a nationwide movement."

The First Lady's motorcade departed right after she spoke. Outside the Moscone Center, several impromptu vendors were hawking $10 commemorative Michelle Obama T-shirts to receptive buyers. 

Musician Jon Bon Jovi, who is involved with several charities, took the stage after Obama's remarks. Before launching into a musical performance, the New Jersey arena rocker said he believes volunteerism is on the rise.

"Maybe it's because of the economy," he said. "But maybe it's because we're reminded that we're all in this together."

United We Serve is led by the government-run Corporation for National and Community Service. People who want to volunteer can visit http://www.serve.gov to look for local opportunities.

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