Chairman Opens Commitment to Service Week in New York

By Claudette Roulo

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2014 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff marked the start of Commitment to Service week -- a week of special emphasis on community service -- with a visit to New York City's Harvest food rescue organization Nov. 6.

Building on the NBA’s decade-old Hoops for Troops program, Commitment to Service pairs basketball players and service members in community service programs around the country.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said that the effort to give back to local communities should go on year-round.

“This week the focus is on this because of Veterans Day, but it can't be just about this week,” he said.

Military-NBA Partnership

“City Harvest ... is kind of the culmination of an idea that the [NBA] commissioner, Adam Silver, and I had ... to find a way to link the best athletes in the world with the best military in the world, and collectively think about what we could do to give back to the communities that embrace us so warmly,” Dempsey said.

“What we decided is, in addition to honoring the men and women of our military, that it was critically important that people see hands-on service -- together NBA [players] with members of the military -- so we could set an example for everyone else and do good at the same time,” Silver said. “I think it's been an incredible program.”

Participating in Community Service

At City Harvest, the chairman worked side-by-side with Silver, service members from all five branches of the armed forces, players from the Brooklyn Nets and other NBA employees as they bagged apples that would be distributed throughout New York.

“We take food that would otherwise go to waste in one part of the city and we deliver it to another part of the city, quite often on the same day,” said Jilly Stephens, executive director of City Harvest. The organization’s volunteers serve 1.4 million New Yorkers every year, she noted.

Service defines the military profession, Dempsey said.

“And it's not just about service when you're in combat ... it's actually a mindset,” he added. “It's about living your life with a servant's soul.”

Dempsey told the players and troops that he hopes they can help pass on the desire to give back in communities around the country.

“I hope you feel this experience as much as just think about it,” the chairman said. “If you feel the experience, it'll catch on. And then ... you guys have incredible [social media] networks, and if you can leverage those networks to get this idea and let it go viral.”

“I hope this thing, literally, this has a potential to go viral. ... Imagine if it did, if the idea of service went viral, what a different country we'd live in,” Dempsey said.