On April 27, volunteers joined President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, former presidents George Bush and Jimmy Carter and General Powell in a massive cleanup of Germantown Avenue.  Among the participants in the clean-up were 150 HOBY Ambassadors from the Pennsylvania area.

The next morning, attendees gathered at Independence Mall.  Powell gave a rousing call to action. Local children and youth introduced Clinton, former presidents Bush, Carter and Ford and former First Lady Nancy Reagan. At the conclusion of the event, the presidents signed a Summit Declaration, which proclaimed "each of has a duty to take responsibility not just for ourselves our families, but for one another."  

For the rest of the day, delegates met in working sessions to discuss strategies for taking the Summit back to their hometowns, companies, schools, communities of faith and neighborhoods.   Specialized sessions and state and local sessions wrapped up on Tuesday morning and everyone gathered again at Independence Hall for closing ceremonies featuring Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bush and Powell. And then the real work began.

In keeping with the commitments made at the Summit, HOBY is asking the 14,000 sophomores who attend to undertake a community service project requiring a minimum of 100 hours.  

To step up efforts to help young people realize the personal and social benefits of volunteerism and service, HOBY National will give Ambassadors who successfully completed 100 hours of service, a recognition and rewards package.  All hours must be logged with HOBY National.  Visit the HOBY National web site at http://www.hoby.org and click on the Leadership for Service link.