Tonight at 8PM, NBC will air All Together Now: A Celebration of Service, the first time since President Obama’s inauguration that all four surviving presidents will gather. Clinton, Carter, Bush & Bush will assemble at the Kennedy Center for the event sponsored by the Points of Light Institute to honor President Bush, Sr. for his contributions to engendering a country that embraces volunteering and service. Since all four have been champions of community involvement for all Americans, it is a nice move to bring all together to show that making a difference in the world means political parties make no difference. Performances this evening will also feature Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Cee Lo Green, Reba McEntire, Sam Moore, Brad Paisley, Kid Rock, Darius Rucker, and Carrie Underwood to champion the service movement (and up the cool factor for different generations).
25 million more Americans are volunteering today than were in 1989—and we’ve only just begun. Dip into the well for a little boost of inspiration.
Last night’s news broadcasts started showing more of the devastation suffered in Nashville and other regions of Tennessee, with a tour inside the flooded and hard-hit Grand Ole Opry. The country music community is responding and banding together for a charity concert, Nashville Rising, on June 22. Initiated by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, the rest of the nation will have to do without country music that day, because practically every performer will be in Music City. In addition to McGraw and Hill, also pitching in that night to bring a little relief will be Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn, Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, Amy Grant, Miranda Lambert, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Martina McBride, Leeann Rimes, Michael W. Smith, Taylor Swift, and Carrie Underwood. If you think that is all who will show up, you don’t know benefit concerts very well—tons more will undoubtedly be added. There isn’t an American musician who doesn’t respect the hallowed ground that is Nashville.
If you can’t wait that long, on May 16, a benefit concert for flood relief, Music City Keep on Playin‘ features Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins, Kellie Pickler, Martina McBride, Keb Mo, Will Hoge, CeCe Winans, and more.
The show must go on. If you can’t be there to spend your tourism dollars in the region and support the hardest-hit communities in person, consider a donation. There are natural and unnatural disasters happening in this world every day, and supporting recovery is everybody’s mission.
I missed the Thanksgiving broadcast of the CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute when some of our world’s most tremendous changers were honored for the grassroots efforts they have made creating new ways to make a difference (it’ll be re-broadcast on Christmas Day). From the Girl Child Network Worldwidethat mobilizes young women around the world to push past artificial limitations placed on them by cultures and truly achieve their potential…to the self-explanatory Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids…to Wine to Water trying to bring safe drinking water to all the world’s people…these folks who came up with these ideas, these heroes, are the very definition of inspiring.
There’s a heartening array here of “fountains” from which to draw your motivation to reach out. It would be pretty difficult to work your way through the links on the CNN Heroes web page to each of the 2009 Heroes’ project websites and NOT find something to light your fire. What would launch you out of bed tomorrow morning? Devotion to kids? Medical and health enhancement? Solving environmental issues? Supporting a young person who has come up with solutions? Reaching out locally within immediate communities? It is all here. Spend some time, a few minutes when you have them, and search for the synchronicity you absolutely knowis there, waiting for you.
Lyrics to Carrie Underwood’s “Change” after the jump.
Are you musical? Want to hang out and do the same work as artists like Seal, Carrie Underwood, John Mayer, Rob Thomas, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Jason Mraz, Kelly Rowland, Maroon 5, Daughtry, the Bacon Brothers, Brad Paisley, Avril Lavigne, and more? Musicians on Call is a charitable organization that brings the healing power of music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. The one-on-one contact between musician and patient is intimate and does wonders for mood and energy. While some of the leaders of the music industry lend their time and talent, you don’t have to sell out stadium arenas to be a part of this. Volunteer musicians are needed in New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Miami. Non-musicians can also help as guides who accompany musicians at performances and act as a liaison between the musician and hospital staff. MOC is also expanding the programs to Veteran’s hospitals nationwide, so you can jump in by signing up here.
Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Jason Mraz, Kelly Rowland, Maroon 5, Daughtry, the Bacon Brothers, Brad Paisley, Avril Lavigne, and more? 
Change by Doing 