 to you, the man who needs no introduction, the president of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you all very much. And I'm probably going to be plowing plowed ground by saying some of the things that you've already heard from Don Regan, but I wanted to come over today and do something that's not done too often in politics, and let's get right to the point. I just wanted to say how much all of you do for us and how hard all of you work, and I know you do it out of devotion to country and the goodness of your heart. So I also wanted you to know that all of us, Nancy and I, and now everyone and their senior staff, are deeply grateful, as I'm sure Don has told you, to each one of you. I also wanted you to know that those of us in the West Wing are also aware of that old White House saying that the decisions may be made where we are, but the real work gets done over here, and that's especially so in your case. You know, it's also been said that the distance between the old executive office building and the White House can seem a great one, even though it's only a few hundred feet. Well, however long it may seem to some, I want you to know that there's one fellow, and he's in that round office, to whom the distance is very short indeed. Believe me, he thinks of you often and feels very close to each one of you. I don't think I have to remind any of you here how much this administration believes in what you're doing. The volunteer ethic and the cause of private sector initiatives. It's been a note that we've been sounding since our first days in office. Voluntarism means, of course, neighbor helps neighbor, but it also means that government itself relies not only on the consent of the governed, but on the active involvement of the governed, the help of the private citizen. I'm sure maybe you've heard about that Frenchman who came over here to Tocqueville about 135 or 40 years ago to just find out what was the secret of this great progress this new frontier country had made. And then he went back and he wrote a book called Democracy in America for his fellow Frenchman. And in it, he pointed out, he said, you know, in America, he said, somebody will see something that needs doing, a problem, and he'll go across the street and talk to a neighbor. And the first thing you know, a committee's been formed. And the next thing you know, they're busy and work with the program to solve the problem. And you won't believe this, but bureaucracy never got involved at all. Well, he was talking about us, and he was talking about you. Each of you not only helping to further a political revolution with the work that you do, but you're also showing that the American government is still a place where the private citizen can make the kind of contribution that he or she made 200 years ago. With the work you do, you are truly keeping alive the cause of volunteerism, the same cause that led our forefathers to leave their farms and shops to fight for independence and then to create the greatest nation and government on earth. It was truly a government of amateurs. And the word amateur itself actually comes from the word love. And when you get down to it, I suppose that's why all of you are here. You love your country and what she stands for. You're anxious to make a contribution to America and to keep the dream of freedom alive in the world. So I just wanted to come over today and assure you that you are making that contribution and that you're doing it in a big way. I thank you and the senior staff thanks you and let me assure you, I think your countrymen and history, thank you. I have to tell you that with all of my belief in volunteerism, getting commissions together of private citizens in California when I was a governor to do some of the things that helped improve the government and then came to Washington with the same idea. And I always thought of it in terms of specific problems in which temporarily a group of citizens would get together and resolve it. I really was the most surprised fellow here when I heard about all of you. I just didn't know that there was anything like that going on. And so you didn't just make my day. You made my eight years. Thank you all very.