WASHINGTON—In preparation for Monday’s grand Inauguration Day ceremonies, it seems only fitting that President Barack Obama could be found staining shelves in a D.C. elementary school as the vice president filled care packages for the nation’s servicemen at a nearby armory.
The president and his family joined nearly 500 volunteers at Northeast Washington’s Burville Elementary School Saturday to give the school a makeover, and publicize the administration’s National Day of Service.
“This is really what America is about, this is what we celebrate,” Obama said in a speech at the school.
The National Day of Service is an initiative Obama and the first lady started in 2009 to make volunteering a part of the inauguration weekend.
“This inauguration, it’s a symbol of how our democracy works and how we peacefully transfer power, but it should also be an affirmation that we’re all in this together, and we’ve got to look out for each other, and we’ve got to work hard on behalf of each other,” Obama said.
First lady Michelle Obama said the day sets an example for future generations.
“For all the young people, and we’ve got a lot of young people ... we’re passing the baton onto you all, so the goal is that as you make your way through life, who are you pulling up behind you? And as long as you’re pulling somebody up behind you you’re doing the right thing,” she said.
This year Inauguration Day coincides with Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, also considered a national day of service. Saturday’s National Day of Service was being celebrated not only with hundreds of community events around the District of Columbia but also in cities and towns across the 50 states.
In a military pavilion at the D.C. Armory, volunteers worked hard to achieve the goal of filling 100,000 care packages with donated goods to send to deployed members of the armed services, military families, veterans, and first responders.
