Celebrities
Ashton Kutcher, Barack Obama, Cameron Diaz, Courteney Cox, Dakota Fanning, David Arquette, Demi Moore, George Lopez, Jason Bateman, Kevin Connolly, Lucy Liu, Molly Sims, Nicole Richie
February 3, 2009 by Isra Shah
Actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have recorded a star-studded “Presidential Pledge” in collaboration with MySpace and Katalyst Films to encourage Americans to get involved in community service via USAService.org. The move is part of an effort to answer President Barack Obama’s call to begin the “work of remaking America.”
During his inauguration speech on January 20th, President Obama asserted that despite all that “government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.”
“The price and promise of citizenship,” according to Obama, is that “we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world.”
It was this call to duty that inspired Kutcher and Moore to record the commercial. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kutcher explained that, "The truth is it’s going to take millions, hundreds of millions, of people for that [change in the world] to happen.”
“It’s going to be because of what all of us do. He’s the catalyst. It’s his inspiring message that asks us to be of service to each other. “
“Someone came into our office and had the idea of doing pledges for Obama, and instantly it was like, ‘We have to do this’," he said.The commercial, aired online and viewable here, features celebrities sharing their personal commitments to service. The pledges range from simple tasks (“I pledge to turn the lights off”) to grand endeavors (“I pledge to find a cure for Alzheimer’s”). Participants included famous faces such as George Lopez, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jason Bateman, Dakota Fanning, Nicole Richie, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Kevin Connolly, Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, and Molly Sims, amongst others.
In a statement, Kutcher emphasized the interactive nature of the PSA announcement, saying, “We are honored to be working with MySpace to rally the entertainment industry to answer President-elect Barack Obama’s call to service. The ‘Presidential Pledge’ is a platform for people across the nation and throughout the world to make a first-person commitment of service to our new president, articulating a specific intent or action to become an agent of positive change.”
Read the full text of President Obama’s Inaugural Address here.
To record and post your own ‘Presidential Pledge,’ visit the MySpace site .
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3 comments
The USAService.org website is fine, but missed the mark in at least one regard: There are already lots of worthwhile websites that collect and publish volunteer opportunities - there are so many that someone who wants to volunteer can spend a lot of time searching on all of them and maybe give up after visiting several.
BUT, if those websites shared data (by way of RSS style feeds), the volunteer would only have to search on one website (any one of them). This isn't even difficult; I've written a prototype proof-of-concept app that aggregates, caches, and indexes event data (at Eventfeed.org).
This could be "disruptive" - it could really change the landscape for volunteerism websites, by making it much easier for people to find service opportunities that fit their ability and availability.
So here's my pledge: to work diligently to make this happen, and thus make it easier for others to serve.
Two other really great places for people to find volunteer opportunities are www.volunteermatch.org and idealist.org!
We had the help of Alec Baldwin, Dom Joly, Chevy Chase, Glenn Close, Rob Lowe, and more celebs at our event in Lake Louise. It's setting a great example for others.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=jnH68DLcuqo
9 months ago