104 STAT. 5244 PROCLAMATION 6118—APR. 23, 1990 nity leaders to consider the advantage of a comprehensive recycling program as a means of managing municipal solid waste. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth. GEORGE BUSH Editorial note: For the President's remarks of Apr. 20, 1990, on signing Proclamation 6117, see the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 26, p. 606). Proclamation 6118 of April 23, 1990 National Volunteer Week, 1990 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Henry David Thoreau once observed that "goodness is the only investment that never fails." His fellow Americans have long agreed. Today millions of our citizens are carrying on a time-honored tradition of voluntary service and giving—a tradition that is as old as the Nation itself. It was volunteers who won America's independence, and it was neighbors helping each other on the frontier who enabled our nascent Republic to develop into the great and mighty Nation whose strength and prosperity now extend from shore to shore. Indeed, volunteers have been a powerful force behind the development of our Nation's laws and institutions ever since our ancestors first cradled the light of liberty and self-government. Volunteers have shaped our educational system; they have established and maintained our libraries and museums; they have helped to provide for the public safety; and they have furnished indispensable support to our churches and other religious organizations. It is fitting that we pause to honor America's volunteers each spring, as we celebrate this season of hope and renewal. Through their continuous efforts to strengthen and enrich our communities, volunteers not only bring hope to others but also renew our faith in the ideals upon which this Nation was founded. By reaffirming the dignity and worth of the individual and the power of collective action, volunteers help the United States to experience a "new birth of freedom" each day. Time and again, these generous and hardworking individuals demonstrate that ours is, indeed, a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." This week we salute the millions of volunteers who help to ensure that their fellow Americans enjoy freedom from injustice and freedom from fear and want. They are a force of nearly half of our adult citizens who devote their time to uplifting those encumbered by substance abuse, homelessness, and illiteracy. They are older men and women who comfort chemically dependent "boarder babies" in our inner-city hospitals.
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