Pitching in is catching on

WASHINGTON Every other Wednesday morning, a yellow school buspulls up in front of Everen Securities on Wacker Drive to pick up 20employees and deliver them to Jenner School in Cabrini-Green. Theyspend a half-day tutoring - on company time.

The volunteer program at Jenner and eight other Chicago schoolsis run by a program founded in 1992 called Working in the Schools.The program will add more schools in Chicago and in 10 other citiesin the next school year, mainly with help from the Chicago-basedEveren.

This type of tutoring work is an example of a nationwide call toAmericans to volunteer. Retired Gen. Colin Powell is leading thevolunteer charge at a glitzy all-star "Presidents' Summit forAmerica's Future" in Philadelphia, which started Sunday and endsTuesday.President Clinton, all the living ex-presidents except RonaldReagan and former first ladies are participating in the volunteerismsummit.Add to the mix celebrities, 30 governors and 90 mayors,including Gov. Edgar and Mayor Daley, nonprofit leaders and corporatechief executives who are being asked to underwrite programs and letemployees volunteer on the company clock. Delegates from Chicago,Rockford, Springfield, DeKalb, Champaign-Urbana and Peoria areattending."It really in a lot of ways is a call to action for people,"said delegate Brook Wiseman, the executive director of the GirlScouts of Chicago.This morning, Chicago's Oprah Winfrey hosts her talk show atIndependence Hall plaza in Philadelphia. Guests at a forum includeClinton, Powell, Vice President Al Gore and former chief executivesGeorge Bush, Gerald Ford and, by satellite, Jimmy Carter. NancyReagan substitutes for her husband, who has Alzheimer's disease. TheRev. Jesse Jackson also is on the panel.Barely beneath the summit surface is a bubbling politicalsubplot. Powell, in asking others to make commitments, is enlistingin the volunteerism cause for three years, giving him a platform fora possible presidential run in 2000 and fueling a growing Powell-Gorerivalry.Powell watchers at the summit will get their fill. But not tobe forgotten are five practical summit goals for needy kids: Helpthem get a healthy start on life; find them a caring adult or mentor;give them a safe place to learn; provide a marketable skill, andoffer a chance to give back through community service.Mobilizing corporations, individuals and nonprofit organizationsand charities to do more comes on the heels of welfare reform and asthe federal government cuts back on social service spending.Is volunteerism a diversion? Should corporate foundations -which reap tax savings for companies and put less money in governmenthands - substitute for government funding of programs?On ABC's "Nightline" last Thursday, Ted Koppel asked Carter whyhe was participating in a summit that makes it easier for thegovernment to slow spending on social programs."There is always plenty to do whether the programs are ongoingor not," Carter said. The former president and his wife, Rosalynn,have spent time volunteering for the home-building Habitat forHumanity.The $2 million summit has been bashed from the left and from theright.Jeremy Rifkin, a longtime liberal activist, sent a letter toPowell saying he was concerned the summit might end up as a publicrelations ploy.Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show host, has attacked thesummit for its emphasis on citizen service.John Borling, chief of Chicago's United Way and a delegate tothe conference, said, "There has always been a sense America is aself-reliant nation and people have to help people at the town orcommunity level and that's what this is all about. . . . We arefocusing on a population that is crying out."Nancy Stevenson, the managing director of Voices for IllinoisChildren and a delegate said, "I feel very positive about thiseffort."Still, the summit should not let government off the hook in itsresponsibility to supply "good education in schools and thegovernment providing access to health care for people in need," shesaid. "It will not be a substitute for many of the governmentprograms which help keep people alive."Daniel Bassill, the president and CEO of Cabrini Connections -Tutor/Mentor Connection, a tutoring and mentoring program, and asummit delegate, said the main challenge is to come back from thesummit "with a charge . . . getting people together in a lot of waysto help kids."Toward that end, a number of Chicago-based organizations aremaking pledges.United Airlines, based in Elk Grove Village, will expand amentoring program from 12 to 120 locations and have 2,000 employeementors by the year 2000. It also will provide on-flight videoprograms promoting mentoring programs and will expand a program forinner-city children that guarantees college tuition.The Oak Brook-based McDonald's Ronald McDonald House Charitiesis pledging $100 million to fund programs for abused and troubledyouths.Sears, headquartered in Rolling Meadows, will expand the numberof hours employees can volunteer on company time from 8,000 hours in1996 to 200,000 hours by 2000.Without the hype of the presidential summit, Everen hooked upwith the tutoring program two years ago "to strengthen the culture ofour own organization," said chairman and CEO James Boris. Thesecurities firm, through its foundation, made a commitment to expandthe school tutoring program nationwide before the summit wasorganized. It will add 10 cities in the 1997-1998 school year andanother 10 in 1998-1999."Candidly, there would have to be some germ of intent evenbefore the summit was called," Boris said. "The summit serves as acatalyst to companies."