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AARP Survey: 70
percent of Americans believe the Country has
not lived up to Kennedy's Inaugural
Request…Create The Good Network launched to
engage more Americans in service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Seven in 10 Americans do not believe the
country has lived up to President John F.
Kennedy's inaugural challenge to "Ask not
what your country can do for you - ask what
you can do for your country," according to a
survey released today by AARP Create The
Good.
The problem might be the way they are being
asked: though 73 percent of respondents said
they would choose to give time over money,
they reported that requests for monetary
donations had increased more than requests
for time in the last year.
The poll comes as President-elect Barack
Obama calls on Americans to renew their
commitment to community service and as the
nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day
of Service.
"The results tell us something very
promising: that Americans are ready to
answer the call to serve," said Tom Nelson,
AARP's chief operations officer.
"Across the nation, Americans of all ages
gave back today in honor of Dr. Martin
Luther King. But this is not just a one-day
activity - rather, it is a commitment to
make making a difference part of our lives."
To help Americans answer the call to serve,
today AARP launched its new Create The Good
Web site (www.AARP.org/CreateTheGood),
where thousands are already connecting to
flexible opportunities, tools and online
communities, and making a difference across
the country.
"We believe that small actions yield big
results," said Nelson.
"Whether you have five minutes or five hours
a week, there are simple things you can do
to help."
Although survey respondents felt that
requests for monetary donations (34%) have
increased more compared to requests for
volunteer time (11%), when asked what they
would choose to give to solve a national
problem, they overwhelmingly selected time
(73%) over money (16%).
Younger respondents were more likely to say
they would prefer to give time compared to
older respondents.
Though respondents overwhelmingly thought
older people volunteer more (71%) than
younger people (15%), there was no
statistically significant difference between
the proportion of younger and older
respondents who said they had volunteered in
the last year.
More than half of respondents (52%) rate
volunteering to help others as an important
goal and almost seven in ten respondents
(68%) said that they have volunteered in the
last year.
The survey was conducted via telephone by
ICR from among a nationally representative
sample of 1,011 adults age 18 or older. The
margin of error for total respondents is
+/-3.08% at the 95% confidence level.
Visit Create The Good today at
www.AARP.org/CreateTheGood to get
connected to tools, people and hundreds of
ways to make a difference.
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