Washington DC, USA: While International Volunteer Day is held on 5 December, in North America National Volunteer Week (NVW) 2008 is from 27 April to 3 May. In the US, this week is about "engaging individuals in service, inspiring a nation to join a movement for change, and recognizing deserving volunteers with the President’s Volunteer Service Award and other meaningful signs of thanks". The campaign slogan is 'Volunteer to Change the World'.

Click here for the United States NVW site and here for Canada's.

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Sgt. Brian Fountaine was recovering in Walter Reed Army Medical Center when he got an unexpected visitor who offered to build him a house -- free of charge. The visitor was John Gonsalves, founder of Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit volunteer group that builds houses for severely injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Read article

Youth volunteerism is surging as high school and college students use the Internet to mobilize quickly and nationally.  Read article

California, USA: Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger is creating a cabinet-level office for volunteer management, the first such state cabinet position in USA.  Read article

In the run up to the US presidential elections next year, opinion writer Ross Mackenzie questions what kind of civic engagement or volunteering scheme candidates will support.

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