Tobey Maguire – The New Service

Tobey Maguire, sigh<br>Chair of the ServiceNation Ambassador's program

Tobey Maguire, sigh -- leader of ServiceNation's Ambassadors

Today Service Nation launched its celebrity Ambassadors program, engaging famous people in service projects as a way of highlighting the new day of service and inspiring the public to get involved proactively in building stronger communities.

Guided by an Ambassador’s Council — and led by actor Tobey Maguire — other celebrities who’ve participated in community service events today include other actors: Cameron Diaz in Boston, Anne Hathaway in Los Angeles, Oscar de la Hoya in Los Angeles, and Anna Sophia Robb in her hometown Denver.

Another initiative Service Nation has spearheaded this week included a Mayors Meeting in New York yesterday — convened by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Hands On Network, AARP, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. The two dozen mayors from around the country came together to announce their commitments to the Cities of Service campaign, following in Mayor Bloomberg’s footsteps to highlight and support civic service in their cities.

Finally, Service Nation is hosting an event tonight in New York City at the Beacon Theatre where Secretary of State Clinton will keynote, and many other public leaders and entertainment industry stars will speak and perform.

Idealist’s Joanne Eng is on the ground at that event and will be bringing back a full report for us in the coming days.

Political leaders and celebrities will join Service Nation organizers and coalition members in breakfast honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy of service.

On the morning of January 19th — MLK Day — the Service Nation movement will convene its second large-scale, high profile event to call attention to the need for expanded national service.The event will take place at a public high school in Washington, D.C. After the event guests are invited to participate in a service project.

Celebrities in attendance at the breakfast will be Tobey Maguire (who also attended the Presidential Candidates Forum at the Service Nation Summit in New York last fall), and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Moore and Kutcher will premiere the “Presidential Pledge,” a Web-based video message from entertainment luminaries pledging service commitments.

Other speakers will include Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, Martin Luther King III, and TIME Managing Editor and Service Nation champion Richard Stengel.

Since the September 11, 2008, Service Nation Summit in New York City, a lot has changed. It was just after that event that Lehman Brothers fell, and the economy began to slide out from under us. With the second major gathering of Service Nation, the conversation will turn to policy advances, and the progress that the Serve America Act and The GIVE Act are making in the House and the Senate.

To volunteer in your community on MLK Day, check out the listings on the MLK Day site, or on USAService.org.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::