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www.createthegood.org

www.iparticipate.org

Recently, AARP’s Create the Good announced it is collaborating with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) in encouraging all Americans to dedicate time to service – whether they have five minutes, five hours or five days. Working with EIF allows Create the Good to connect potential volunteers with ways to serve that work for them. People of all ages need to know that their communities need them, even if their time is limited.

Create the Good, an idea first developed by AARP that has now significantly expanded, is powered by AARP and more than nine million 50+ volunteers, donors and activists. The point of Create the Good, a phrase first coined by AARP’s founder Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, is that each of us has something to give that can help others. AARP was built on the foundation of volunteerism and Create the Good is a means for good people to get connected to opportunities to create good in their community.

Beginning the week of October 19th, the EIF will mobilize the entire entertainment community in an initiative designed to inspire a new era of service. Hollywood’s leading charity has enlisted the four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC to participate in this project called “I Participate.” Through I Participate (iparticipateusa.org), EIF hopes to make service a part of who we are as Americans and to show what we can achieve when we all pull together. AARP’s Create the Good’s role in I Participate is to help activate 50+ volunteers in communities across the country.

EIF will produce a series of celebrity-driven public service announcements that will reinforce the importance of volunteerism and promote the week. Through these PSAs, EIF will recognize and encourage support for five key areas of service: Education & Children, Health & Well Being, Economic Development, Environmental Conservation, and Support for Military Families. Jesse Dylan, the creative force behind Bono’s “Red” and “One” campaign, and will.i.am’s iconic “Yes, We Can” video, will be creating, directing and producing the PSAs.

In addition, the networks have agreed to infuse their television programs with themes about volunteerism and community service. More than 45 of TV’s most popular shows will be part of this unprecedented week of network programming.

The number of Americans who volunteer regularly has not increased in 40 years. Service experts and community leaders agree: we are at a critical moment when real change is needed. Now EIF and partnering organizations are asking the country to get involved and hopes to generate a new era of volunteerism.

The Create the Good website (CreatetheGood.org) offers ideas for self-directed activities and How To videos for simple service projects people can organize on their own. The site also allows people to submit ideas and email the site to their friends or post it to their social networks.

The holidays are fast approaching and many charities and organizations will be expanding their activities to help those in need. There’s never been a better time to give back and create the good.