The Great American Service Program for the 21st Century - A Message to Barak Obama

Dear Senator Obama,
About a month ago in the NY Times there were two articles next to each other. The first discussed a shortage of workers for the apple and fruit orchards in upstate New York, brought on by the anti-immigrant movement. The second article related the difficulties that college students and recent graduates are having finding summer work. It occurred to me that a very common sense approach to both of these issues would be to develop a program for college students to work at these small family farms picking fruits and vegetables. They would be paid and also receive some form of college credit for their service. With parental permission, this program could also be extended to high school age students by setting up camp like situations that would involve supervision, education programs (including science, business, economics, and history), work picking fruit (as opposed to the usual sports activities of most camps that many young people are not interested in to begin with).

I think such a program offers a number of positive benefits. First and foremost, vital needs for labor and employment will be met. Second, rather than simply work, the students and young people will learn vital lessons about where our food comes from. This helps foster a deeper sense of shared community, service and interdependence. The will begin to appreciate farming as a vital, rewarding, and fulfilling livelihood and greater form of service to their communities and nation. The will learn teamwork and group building skills. They will learn and begin to appreciate the values and history of the American family farm in an era multinational agribusinesses, that will soon see global food shortages. The will learn vital lessons in science and biology, business and economics.

I believe the benefits of such a program cannot be overstated and could be clearly and easily articulated to the public. It is a non-partisan issue that appeals to people across the whole political spectrum. It is a national issue that avoids the narrow pitfalls of local "pork-barrel" spending. All it needs is a leader like yourself to stand-up and advocate for such a program and probably a very modest initial federal investment/tax incentives to help get it off the ground and running, as it would ultimately be self-sustaining given that there is a product to be sold. It is my hope that you will consider this issue and lead it to become the first great American service program of the 21st century.