THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Mel, thank you very
much. I appreciate your leadership, I appreciate your vision
and I appreciate your heart. Father Adams referred to Mel -- Mel's
rescue from Cuba. He came over in a program called Pedro
Pan, Peter Pan. And it's when his mother and dad decided
that life in Cuba would be rough on young people, and they had great
faith in America and great faith in a program that encouraged them to
put their little boy on an airplane, and he flew to America.
When we swore in Mel, I'll never forget meeting his adoptive
parents that provided a loving home. Mel's a perfect choice
to understand what a loving home means. He saw one in a
foreign land that enabled him to go from scared little boy to now
Secretary of HUD. It's a marvelous story about
America. It also helps me to be able to assure people that
the Secretary who runs HUD has got a heart of gold, and a deep
compassion about all Americans; those newly arrived as well as those
who have been here for a long period of time.
I'm honored that Mel has agreed to serve our government and I'm
absolutely confident in America. And the needs of America
will be more easily met as a result of his leadership.
Oftentimes, when I speak around the nation, I talk about the great
strength of the nation lies in the hearts and souls of our
citizens. I was using military terms at times even before
the war began. I talked about Armies of
Compassion. I truly believe that's one of the wonderful
strengths of America, that we've got armies of compassion all across
our country. And Father Adams is a general in the army of
compassion. (Applause.)
He won't admit it. He'll say he's a lowly foot
soldier. (Laughter.) But I saw the way he got people
snapping to when it came time to introduce people in the
kitchen. (Laughter.) I see everybody with green
aprons on. I suspect the general ordered that to be the
case. But anyway -- (laughter) -- but I want to thank Father
Adams and everybody else who works here for really bringing out the
best in our country by helping people in need.
The other thing that I'm most impressed about the vision of Father
Adams, besides being a social entrepreneur, somebody willing to think
as aggressively as possible to help people in need, is that this is a
program that attracts people from all faiths.
That's important for the world to see -- that our country is a
country of a variety of faiths, that we respect other faiths and that
we're bound by some common principles: Love a neighbor just
like you would like to be loved yourself. That's common to
faith.
Last night, we had an Iftaar Dinner at the White
House. That's a part of breaking the fast of
Ramadan. I wanted to assure people that there are common
values, even though we may have different ways to worship
god. This program shows those common values. A
neighbor in need needs to be helped. We need to constantly figure out
ways to reach out and help somebody who may not be as fortunate as we
are.
And as we come into the holiday season, the Thanksgiving season,
the traditional holiday seasons of our country, we must always remember
there are people who hurt in our society. And we will always
remember, with blessings come the responsibility to help those in
need. And so that's why I've come to So Others Might Eat --
to highlight the successful programs that do make a difference in
people's lives, and to thank people for their concern and care for our
fellow Americans who are in need.
There's no question that our country has been deeply
wounded. We were attacked. After all, we're never
used to being attacked. Never did we dream -- I certainly
never dreamt that I'd be the President where there is a war on our home
front.
But the evildoers never really -- they must have not known who they
were attacking. (Laughter.) They must have
thought we were soft and hateful. In fact, the attacks have
united our country, have rallied a nation, and out of evil will come
good. And part of my purpose as the President is to remind
people of the good that can come out of these attacks.
No question that the outpouring of support for -- in the direct
aftermath of the September 11th attack was
astounding. People gave. They gave blood, they
gave money, they gave time to help. And that's great. And I
want to thank those Americans who have helped.
But in order to make sure the home front is secure, in order to
make sure that we don't allow the terrorists to achieve any objective,
Americans must give generously to programs like
SOME. Community-based programs that help make their
neighborhoods a better place for all.
I have been disturbed by reports that charitable giving has dropped
off. I hope Americans will not substitute the gifts they've
given in the aftermath of September 11th for neighborhood groups such
as SOME, or mentoring programs, or programs that understand that when
you change a person's heart, you can change their life for the better,
that faith is such an integral part of our society, and faith is such
an integral part of helping people help themselves.
And that, as we think about ways to recognize the true blessings we
have in America, that we must never forget the food banks, and the
hungry, and the poor. And that the most effective programs
are those that have sprung from the hearts and souls of social
entrepreneurs, such as Father Adams.
And so, I hope America -- I encourage America -- that as we head
into Thanksgiving, to find a program that needs help. Or, if
you have been helping a program in the past, continue your
help. The generosity of this country will say to the world
that we're a nation that will not be affected by terror and
evil. That, in fact, we encourage good to overcome evil
through our actions and deeds; not just our bravado, not just our
waving of flag, but true actions and true compassionate acts of giving
in order to make sure this nation remains whole and strong and
complete. Government's got a responsibility as
well. There is a role for the federal government in making
sure that charitable organizations thrive and flourish.
Today, I am pleased to announce that the Department of Housing and
Urban Development is distributing more than $1 billion this year in
grants to community charities which serve the homeless. It
is the largest such grant in the history of the country. It
is a grant program that will help provide food and shelter, drug
treatment, job training, and other vital services.
It is a part of our government's desire to support the armies of
compassion. We don't want government to take the good
Father's place. We want the government to stand side-by-side
with the good people of SOME and programs like it all around the
country.
We must also promote more private sector giving, besides just words
of encouragement. And so I want to make sure that the tax
code is changed. And we've got time to do so with the
Congress. I've been working closely with Joe Lieberman and
Rick Santorum to say that you can deduct -- non-itemizers can deduct
charitable giving. Or that out of your IRA, you should be
allowed to gifts to charitable organizations. It is a wise
use of the tax code to encourage more charitable giving to programs
that are positively affecting people's lives. And I think we
can get a bill out of Congress to do just that.
I know that the House has responded. J.C. Watts and Tony
Hall, Republican and Democrat, work closely
together. Lieberman and Santorum are doing the same
thing. And so why doesn't Congress, in order to help fight
poverty and fight hopelessness do something smart with legislation and
bring it to my desk so I can sign it before
Christmas. (Laughter.) It makes a lot of
sense. (Applause.)
I think, as well, we ought to have a tax incentive for food
donation. I know that we ought to create what's called a Compassion
Capital Fund that will give community-based organizations needed
resources and training. I suspect that if we have kind of a
capital fund that will encourage people to duplicate that which works,
there will be a lot of people coming here to SOME to see why this
program is so successful. And I suspect the good Father will
be willing to share with others from different communities as to how to
make a program like this work.
And the federal government ought to be in the process of
encouraging the formation of community-based programs. And
to that end, we need to simplify the process by which community- based
organizations gain tax-exempt status.
The mindset of the federal government has been that only
government-sponsored programs should receive federal
money. That's not my attitude. My attitude is
government should be non-discriminatory about how we use taxpayers'
money. (Applause.)
We ought to ask the question: Does the program
work? And if faith is the integral part of a program being
successful, the government ought to say hallelujah. We ought
to say, we welcome the good work of faith in our society. We
ought not to fear it; we ought to welcome it and encourage it.
And so the faith-based initiative that has passed the House and,
hopefully, will pass the Senate, recognizes the great power of faith in
our society and says that government ought to encourage the social
entrepreneurship that we find here at SOME; and government ought to
encourage the armies of compassion to flourish all around our
neighborhoods; that government ought to welcome faith, and not shy away
from it.
And as well as in this piece of legislation, we recognize there are
some specific tasks that the social entrepreneurial system can deal
with, such as a son or daughter of a person in prison. I
can't think of anything more profound than to have a national mentoring
program, where somebody whose dad or mother is in prison will have
somebody put their arm around them and say, "I love you" -- somebody
loves you in our society. There's nothing more profound for
a child than to be surrounded by love and care and compassion.
So part of this initiative is to encourage the funding of a
national mentoring program aimed at some of the most vulnerable in our
society -- those whose mom or dad may be sitting in prison right now.
The fundamental question is, can America address these
problems? And, certainly, we can't address them with money
alone. But as I'm sure Father Adams will testify, money can
help. (Laughter.) It's part of how a program
succeeds. (Laughter.)
So, therefore, I ask Americans to dig a little deeper in their
pocket. In the aftermath of the tragedy that so deeply affected our
nation, I ask the American people to understand that in order to make
America whole, that programs such as SOME make an enormous difference
in people's lives; that we are a blessed nation, and as we go into
Thanksgiving we ought to thank God for our blessings, for our families,
for our fantastic country, for the greatest country on the face of the
earth. We ought to thank Him for the protection that we've
received since the attack; thank Him for our blessings, but at the same
time seek ways to help, seek ways to help our fellow human, seek ways
to save a heart, seek ways to save a soul.
I am so honored to be able to come to this program and highlight
the great successes that can take place in neighborhoods when loving
Americans come together with the singular purpose of helping a neighbor
in need.
May God bless SOME, may God bless America. (Applause.)