Back in January, a Starbucks in Arizona offered a free cup of coffee to anyone willing to sign a pledge sheet and join then soon-to-be President Obama's volunteer corps. I still have yet to find out how many people signed up, but if the raging caffeine addicts at my local Starbucks are any clue, people will go a long way for a cup of coffee.
Heading to Obama's hometown of Chicago, the White Sox - one of the windy city's Major League Baseball teams - got in on the act too. They've pledged to organize increased community service events involving players, organizational members and willing fans and citizens.
The NBA has also gotten in on the Obama volunteer bandwagon; they highlighted their usual NBA Cares program with commentary from Obama and NBA players alike during the most recent All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.
Now we've all heard the cries of political opponents and bloggers, describing Obama's volunteer program with adjectives ranging from Gestapo-like and socialistic, to rumors of children being "drafted" into a civilian national security force, aimed at being as powerful as the military.
Yet aside from settling ridiculous rumors, the actions of Starbucks, the White Sox and the NBA represent something much more important - the perpendicular intersection of two commonly believed parallel actions. In a time period of grandiose recession and stories of businesses cheating, stealing, swindling and collapsing, it's pleasant to see three corporate entities thinking about something larger than themselves - the community which supports them.
(Ok, so maybe Starbucks was just looking to increase customers by hooking even more people on caffeine. But it's nice to believe otherwise.)
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