An Evening with Alan Khazei

We hosted the Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year and author of Big Citizenship at the newly renovated Sandwich Town Hall on Tuesday night. Alan was inspiring as he talked about his journey from idealistic college kid to the co-founder of City Year to running for the US Senate seat after Senator Ted Kennedy passed away. When asked how to truly make a difference when volunteering doesn’t seem enough, Mr. Khazei urged the audience to both volunteer and be politically active. He used his own experience as an example. In 2003, when the budget for AmeriCorps was cut by 80%, Alan organized a 100 hour “citizen’s hearing” in the Capitol, where hundreds of those who had been impacted by AmeriCore testified on the non-profit’s behalf. The funding for the program was not only restored, but the budget was increased for the following year – all thanks to the political activism of those who believed in AmeriCore’s mission. Inspiring stories like this fill the pages of Mr. Khazei’s book, Big Citizenship, and it was invigorating to hear about his experiences in person.

It was also a special night because Alan honored our own big citizen, Kirby Holmes, for her generous volunteer work in the town of Sandwich.

"Big Citizen" honoree Kirby Holmes with Alan Khazei.

Members of the Sandwich High School Key Club, which Kirby co-chairs, helped us out at the event. A big thank you to Andrew Towey, Ben Siranosian, Erica Borbiere, Amy Kanyas, Elise Kinchla, and Sarah Haggerty from Sandwich High School for your hard work!

For those who who want to honor their own Big Citizen, you can visit the book’s website and send them an ecard. It’s a nice way to thank those we so often forget to thank. http://www.bigcitizenship.us/ecard. For those who missed the event, Sandwich Community Television was there and it should be available on their website shortly. And, we have signed copies of Big Citizenship at the shop!

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