How they voted: Garrett opposes Volunteerism too

by: Jason Springer

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM EDT

What a surprise, Scott "Mr 12-1" Garrett held down the no vote for the NJ delegation, this time opposing the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act.

Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act. YES NO Adler Andrews Frelinghuysen Holt Lance LoBiondo Pallone Pascrell Payne Rothman Sires Smith Garrett

Democrats are in blue, and Republicans are in red.

The GIVE Act aims to more than triple the number of volunteers serving in the country from the current 75,000 to 250,000. The Act will also create a new Summer of Service program with stipends for students that can be used to pay for college; it establishes Youth Engagement Zones, a new service-learning program to help bridge partnerships between community based organizations and high schools; it forms four new service corps, including a Clean Energy Corps to encourage energy efficiency and conservation measures, an Education Corps to help increase student engagement, achievement and graduation, a Healthy Futures Corps to improve health care access, and a Veterans Service Corps to enhance services for veterans; finally, it includes a Call to Service Campaign to launch a national campaign encouraging all Americans to engage in service and to observe September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

"With the nation facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, I cannot think of a better time to encourage Americans to be part of the solution to the many challenges we face than through volunteering," said Rothman. "At a time when our public needs are growing and our resources for meeting those needs are declining, we must encourage Americans of all ages to help their neighbors."

"If there were more volunteers we could have more families come in (to the Center for Food Action), but right now we are handling all we can help," said Susan Strauss, a six-and-a-half year volunteer at the Center for Food Action in Englewood, New Jersey. "I like to be able to help people, and volunteering this way is instant gratification - someone puts a meal on their table for their family because of what we do. I think you get more out of volunteering than you give."