 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and the Vice-President. Please be seated. I want to tell you we really have tight security here. As a matter of fact, the Vice-President and I found out we couldn't get out of the door in the Oval Office. We made our way around. Well, thank you all and welcome to the Rose Garden. And I want to thank the advanced team for arranging such pleasant weather for today. Usually in this season of the year, the summer events in the Rose Garden are a little like a steam bath. As one newcomer to Washington's summer is once remarked, it's not the heat, it's the humility. He obviously hadn't been here long because humility is not in great supply in this town. And I want to extend special thanks to John Phelan, who is very actively taken on the chairmanship of my Board of Advisors for Private Sector Initiatives. It's always good to know that the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange is bullish on our program. I also want to thank Eddie Fritz, who as Vice-Chairman of the Board is mobilizing the communications industry to recognize model private sector initiatives around the country and help give credit where credit is due. And I also want to thank Bill Taylor, the Chairman of the C-Flag program, who has provided strong leadership and together with other sponsoring organizations has made this day possible. Thinking earlier about this C-Flag ceremony and the spirit of kindness and caring it represents, I couldn't help but remember an old story when you get to be my age. Most stories you remember are old. It's about that traveling salesman who was having kind of a rough day of it, and he went into a diner finally, weirdly, in order to cup a coffee and a couple of eggs. The waitress brought the order and said, will there be anything else? And he said, well, how about a few kind words? She said, don't eat the eggs. Truth is, when we first came to office talking about private sector initiatives, there were a lot of skeptics out there. In those days, people had been conditioned to, certainly beginning to be conditioned, to always look to government first. But the funny thing was, the more they depended on government, the more disappointed they invariably became. To steal a phrase from the private sector, they were using it more but enjoying it less. What had been forgotten in all those times was that with personal charity there are two winners. The person who gives as well as the person who receives, and very often it's the giver who receives the most precious gift. Personal private charity humanizes a society. It makes us more aware of each other, of our hopes and needs, and of our sorrows and our joys. And it makes us all more compassionate. I think we found that the cold, clinical, impersonal giving of government handouts can just never replace private volunteerism. Sometimes it's even counterproductive. It reminds me of another story, one of my favorites, about that fella who was riding a motorcycle on a cold day and the wind hitting the buttons on the front of his leather jacket were chilling him and he finally pulled over and turned the jacket around and put it on backward and that protected him from the wind, but it also restricted his arm movement somewhat and he hit a patch of ice, skidded into a tree. When the ambulance got there and it tensed its elbow with their way through the crowd that had gathered and they said, what happened? And one of the people that was there first said, well, we don't know. When we got here, he seemed to be all right, but by the time we had his head turned around straight, he was dead. That story comes to mind when I think sometimes of government's efforts. Well, I said earlier there were skeptics, but they're being blown out of the water by the rising tide of charitable giving. In 1985, all of you, the private citizens of this country, the corporations and the foundations, gave a record of nearly $80 billion to philanthropic causes and that was an increase of $6.5 billion roughly more than from 1984. Between 1980 and 1985, charitable giving in this country has risen over 60%. Private corporations have been an important part of this renaissance in private giving, as the thousands of sea flags waving over office buildings from New York to San Francisco attest. It's particularly significant that corporations and associations in this country are on the move in new and innovative ways, channeling resources and creative genius into improving our communities. Corporate giving of in-kind and non-cash donations such as property, personnel, products and low-interest loans have as much as tripled without replacing cash contributions. You are using your organizational expertise and knowledge on the marketplace to focus on new opportunities to promote community partnerships. These private sector initiatives are win-win situations and demonstrate that no task is too difficult or challenged too great when matched against American ingenuity and resourcefulness. All of you here today are shining examples of the can-do spirit. For example, there's the program initiated by the Clorox Company in Oakland, California. It's called Project Joy. That stands for job opportunities for youth, training young people in the art of getting and holding on to jobs. There's the program begun by Avon Products to enable disadvantaged children to give Christmas gifts to their families. Can you ever imagine government thinking of that one or doing it? The Kroger Company donated $0.10 of every purchase of a certain number of items, raising $100,000 in one week to help feed the poor. Polaroid Corporation in Boston trains 500 unemployed from the inner city every year for meaningful full-time jobs and follows up to make sure they stay employed. Now that's a pretty picture. The Pillsbury Company is carrying goodwill abroad with a self-help program to improve nutrition in rural Bolivia. I wish I could name you all the good work you're doing makes your country proud. We've shown that American business can and that American business cares. Now I'm going to hand this ceremony over to Bill Taylor. John here will be calling your names and helping us. I present the awards and in advance I'll say congratulations to you all. Keep up the good work and thank you and God bless you. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, the American Society of Association Executives is honored to administer the President's Citation Program for private sector initiatives. I'd like to add my personal thanks to the cosponsoring organizations for their excellent work and dedication to the program. We congratulate the 70 Citation winners for their outstanding efforts to reach out and lend a helping hand in their communities and now we are proud to present the Crystal Tetrahedron inscribed with the Presidential Seal to the 1986 Presidential Award Winners for private sector initiatives. Mr. President, leading off the list of award winners in alphabetical order is the Alabama Gas Corporation, Mr. Mike Warren, President Accepting, the American Association of Retired Persons, Mr. Robert Potter of the Michigan Tax Aid Program Accepting, the American Gas Association, George H. Lawrence, President Accepting, Avon Products Incorporated, Ms. Peggy Roberts, Consumer Affairs Manager Accepting, Beneficial Corporation, Mr. Finn M.W. Casperson, Chairman and CEO Accepting, Cable News Network, Ms. Judy Henry, CNN Atlanta Accepting, The Clorox Company, Mr. Charles R. Weaver, Chairman and CEO Accepting, The Columbus, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Salvador Diaz Verzan, Vice President Accepting, Duke Power Company, Ms. Sandra Wise, Education Services Coordinator Accepting, Giant Food Incorporated, Mr. Barry F. Shear, Director of Public Affairs Accepting, H.E.B. Food and Drug Stores, Mr. Charles W. Sapp, Senior Vice President Accepting, Interplast Incorporated, Dr. Donald Lobb, Founder Accepting, King Supers Incorporated, Mr. Jim Baldwin, President and CEO Accepting, The Kroger Company, Mr. William Kegler, President Accepting, Mervins, Mr. John F. Kilmartin, Chairman and CEO Accepting, The Million Dollar Roundtable, Mr. Frank Friedler Jr., President Accepting, The Munster Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Frank Rapin, President Accepting, The National Council on Aging, Mr. Jack Ossofsky, President Accepting, The Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Ms. Patricia A. Walker, Director of Communications Accepting, The Pillsbury Company, Ms. Carol Truesdale, Vice President of Community Relations Accepting, Pizza Hut Incorporated, Mr. Arthur C. Gunther, President and CEO Accepting, The Polaroid Corporation, Mr. William J. McHune, Chairman Accepting, The Sree Port Medical Society, Dr. Donald R. Smith, President Accepting, Southwest Airlines, Ms. Judy Krista, Director of Promotions Accepting, 3M, Mr. Earl P. Bassett, Vice President of Government Affairs Accepting, Transamerica Corporation, Mr. William A. Simpson, President Accepting, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Dr. Sally Newman, Executive Director, Generations Together Accepting, WWKI Radio of Kokomo, Indiana, Dr. rather Mr. Donald R. Rice Accepting, Xerox Corporation, Mr. Robert Gudger, President Xerox Foundation Accepting, The YMCA of Greater Louisville, Mr. Earl A. Dorsey Jr., Chairman, Board of Managers Accepting. Mr. President, that completes our presentation of 1986 awards. Thanks to all of you and photo opportunities will be available on the south lawn immediately behind us. Again, congratulations to the winners. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Your wife last week, that volunteered luncheon. How'd she behave, right? She was my card. She gets to like that. She's off to New York again for an Urban League thing tonight. All right. She's wonderful. Thank you all very much. We'll be... Speaking of granting diplomatic recognition to the Afghan resistance. No, no, I know I can't say no questions, no answers. You can say no answers if you want. Any with violence yet? Go have a chat, Mr. President. What about a summit? Please get back in your room, Dorsey. Thank you, Mr. President.