SANDRA SOBIERAJ
Associated Press Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- President Bush put out the call to everyday Americans Wednesday to enlist in his new USA Freedom Corps and pitch in 4,000 hours apiece to the fight against terrorism: ``Stand up to evil with acts of goodness and kindness.''
The president, visiting a community already at work on a local defense strategy, said he's gotten lots of questions since Sept. 11 about what regular people can do to help protect their country from further attack.
``Some don't know where to start and I've got, obviously, a good idea,'' Bush said, fleshing out the $560 million initiative he announced in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
From a coliseum stage here, the president gave out a Web address (http://www.USAFreedomCorps.gov) and a toll-free number (1-877-USA-CORPS) for people who want to get started meeting his challenge. Bush has asked every American to give two years, or 4,000 hours, in service over his or her lifetime.
``It sounds like I'm making a pitch and I am. This is the right thing to do for America,'' he said. The nation is locked in a fight between good and evil, Bush added.
``There really isn't much middle ground _ like, none.''
Appearing to revel in the role of recruiter, he closed his appeal as a rock star might wrap a concert: ``Fight on, America! I love ya!''
Politics mixed almost seamlessly with Bush's call to civic duty.
On stage at the coliseum, he gave an unmistakable endorsement to Elizabeth Dole, the Republican hoping to claim retiring Sen. Jesse Helms' seat in November. Offstage, Bush met privately with North Carolina GOP organizers. Later Wednesday, he was speaking to a Florida rally with his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, who is running for re-election. The president was returning to his brother's state once more on Monday, to speak about the military.
Bush named his domestic policy adviser, John Bridgeland, to direct the massive Freedom Corps project and promised it was no passing wartime fancy.
``When we say we're going to get more people involved, I'll be asking (Bridgeland) on a regular basis, how are we doing,'' Bush said.
The Web site and toll-free number were up and running first thing on Wednesday, but turning presidential vision into actual armies of new volunteer patrols will take congressional approval. Bush said he was counting on political rival Sen. John McCain to help make the new volunteer program law and win the federal money to pay for it.
McCain, R-Ariz., campaigned against Bush in the 2000 primaries on, among other issues, the theme of national service.
Bush proposed recruiting more than 200,000 new volunteers for service programs at home and doubling the 7,000-volunteer Peace Corps abroad.
Without reminding his audience that radical Islamists were behind the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush said he wants to see the Peace Corps ``go into the Islamic world to spread the message of economic development'' and share America's compassion.
Under the president's plan, a new Citizen Corps would be pulled together under the umbrella of the USA Freedom Corps along with the existing Senior Corps and AmeriCorps, which was former President Clinton's brainchild.
The new citizens group would offer Americans a chance to get directly involved in homeland defense by having them pitch in at police and fire stations on more routine duties _ such as taking police reports, doing fingerprinting and other administrative functions _ in order to free the professionals for front-line work.
``Ex-policeman or ex-firefighters, retired docs or nurses _ make yourself available to be a part of your emergency response teams,'' Bush exhorted.
He wants to double neighborhood watch programs and make them more attuned to preventing terrorism; he would triple local emergency response teams. He also would create a Medical Reserve Corps, a Volunteers in Police Service program and a new TIPS system for reporting suspicious activity. Citizen Corps Councils, made up of professional community leaders, would develop action plans.
A byproduct of all this work to buttress communities against future attack will be to improve local police, fire and medical services, Bush said. ``By preparing your community for an emergency, you also leave a legacy behind that will make your community better.''
Bush has additionally proposed requiring colleges and universities to devote half of the funding they get under the federal Work-Study program to community service, so that 250,000 to 300,000 college students would spend about 10 hours a week at nonprofit organizations nationwide. Currently, 7 percent of Work-Study funds go to such efforts.
Related:
