Hands On Network, the prominent volunteerism organization, partners with Starbucks to promote community service. Jan. 21 through 25, Starbucks offers you a free drip coffee if you pledge five hours of volunteer service.

In the wake of the most service-focused MLK Day ever (thanks to Barack Obama’s example, and the impetus of Service Nation), it seems everyone is getting into the  act of doing good. Hands On Network and Starbucks have come together to answer President Obama’s call to service.

On Starbuck’s Pledge 5 website, you can watch a counter add up all the hours pledged in exchange for a 12-ounce drip coffee. More importantly, you can search volunteer opportunities available through Hands On Network.

(You can also search volunteer and year of service opportunities on Idealist.org.)

Here’s the Starbucks ad:

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Bonnie Thie, Country Director

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In this episode of the The New Service Podcast (click to listen), the guest is Bonnie Thie, the country director of Peace Corps’s China program.

Bonnie served in Peace Corps Afghanistan, where she served for three years in the 1970s. She served 18 years with the Environmental Protection Agency most recently as the director of policy, communications and resource management in the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds in Washington, D.C. and in the EPA’s Seattle Air Quality Office, working with states, tribes and Environment Canada to protect and improve air quality in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.  After attending law school at the University of Oregon, she practiced law in Alaska, first in private practice and then as assistant attorney general for the state of Alaska, working on oil and gas leasing, as well as a range of municipal law and use issues. Her undergraduate degree is in history from the University of Washington, which is currently the #1 producer of Peace Corps volunteers in the nation.

As an alum of the Peace Corps China program, I talked with Bonnie about the impact of Peace Corps experience on its Volunteers, the role of a Country Director, and the inevitable cultural confusion that comes with crossing borders.

I talked with Bonnie in mid-December. At the time, one of Peace Corps China’s founders, Ms. Zhan Yimei, was battling lung cancer from a hospital room in Chengdu, Sichuan. Last week Ms. Zhan lost her battle. Bonnie and Amy talk about Zhan Yimei in the interview; you can read more on The New Service blog about Ms. Zhan’s indelible contributions to Peace Corps China.

Learn more about Peace Corps China by reading Returned Volunteer Peter Hessler’s account of his years in the program, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze.

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A new Facebook Cause lets you share your commitment to volunteering on MLK Day, and to urge your friends to do the same.

The Corporation for National and Community Service — the group that oversees AmeriCorps — has joined together with the Presidential Inauguration Committee, Facebook, and Facebook Causes to launch a Facebook Cause, Answer Obama’s Call to Renew America Together.

Capitalizing on social networks, organizers hope to help to galvanize millions of people to volunteer on January 19th, MLK Day. In the announcement from Nicola Goren, Acting CEO of the Corporation:

In the four days leading up to the election, this type of strategy resulted in nearly 2 million people taking part in a get-out-the-vote effort that reached nearly 20 million people with reminders to vote.  By activating our networks, we have the opportunity to create a similar effect by asking millions of Americans to volunteer on January 19th and redouble their service commitment for the remainder of 2009.

Her announcement also includes these instructions:

1. Join the cause Answer Obama’s Call to Renew America Together.
2. Invite Your Friends to join the cause.
3. Donate your Status Message.  Once you’ve joined the Cause, you can donate your Facebook status message to pledge/promote their participation on the King Day of Service and to encourage their friends to do the same.
4. Take the King Day Impact Challenge and encourage your friends to create their own service projects and pledge actions to address issues such as hunger, the environment, the classroom, mentoring, or disasters/crises.

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