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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
DATE:	 	August 17, 1999
PLACE:  	Community Service Day, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Let me first thank the Principal of Lee Elementary School, John C. Sharp. And I'd like to thank Jeff Immelt of GE Medical Systems for organizing this program as well as everyone participating today -- I'm talking about the good people at Cooper Power Systems, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the YMCA.

As I was getting ready to come out here to be with you, I was reminded of that old story about the pig and the chicken.

Seems a pig and a chicken were walking down the road when they saw a billboard advertising a big charity breakfast helping to raise money to fix local schools. The sign said, "Support your community! Come to the ham and egg breakfast!" The chicken looked at the sign and said, "You know, that's a good cause.Maybe we ought to make a donation." The pig thought about it, looked back and said, "For you it's a donation, but for me -- it's a major commitment."

Well, I don't see any livestock here today, but what I do see are women and men who aren't afraid to make a major commitment. This is a community that has not only heard the call to service but has answered in the most meaningful way any of us can.

You've answered that call because you're proud of your schools, your neighborhoods and your city. You've answered that call because you care about Milwaukee's kids. But maybe more than anything else, you've answered the call because each of you understands the special rewards that come with community service.

It's the reward of knowing that, thanks to your work, Janice Reed -- one of Siefert Elementary's outstanding teachers -- will have more time to teach because she'll have to spend less time worrying about classroom clutter.

It's the reward that comes from knowing that this winter, thanks to your efforts, little children won't have to try to learn in classrooms plagued by cold drafts and peeling paint.

But, perhaps most important of all, it's the special reward that comes from knowing that, thanks to you, Milwaukee - and America - will have a little brighter future than it would have had otherwise.

Through your leadership, your activism and your commitment, you're helping to remind families of something that too many Americans have forgotten. It's that community service - volunteerism -- isn't just part of our nation's past, it's the key to our future.

School by school, you're not only repairing classrooms . you're restoring hope and helping to give these students a better chance to reach their dreams. And, in the process, you're building a more compassionate nation for all of us.

Albert Schweitzer once said, "There is no higher religion than human service." That's why I'd like to challenge you to keep up your hard work and to inspire your younger co-workers that this is part of good citizenship.

Today, young people make up just 26 percent of our nation's population. They're 100 percent of America's future. Today you've shown you're ready to respond to that call to service and build an even better Milwaukee.

That's why we have to make it our personal business to share our passion for community service with our neighbors so that every day becomes Community Service Day.

Congratulations.

Thank you.