Points of Light: Houston Calling

Janice Dell and Darcy Ljunggren, Volunteer Coordinators for the Mesa Public Library, are in Houston for the Points of Light's Conference on Volunteering and Service - the largest convening of volunteer, national service and civic leaders in the world.
The City of Mesa estimates that its dollar volume [if anyone can put a dollar-amount on citizen service] of volunteer hours is $8 Million.
Each year, thousands of people who really care about the future of volunteer service convene in one place - to learn from, share with and get inspired by one another - to work together to increase the number of volunteers in the world and the impact of the work they do.
The 2015 Conference on October 19-21, 2015, will examine how the next generation of change-makers are creating new pathways for direct action and unleashing power to make a difference in the world.
Did You Know?
Over 1 billion adults and youth in the world are unable to read.
Literacy levels in Arizona are at an all time low.
Being unable to read - illiteracy - is now classified as a functional disability.

One activity Janice and Darcy are excited about: Read Across the Globe, an initiative that brings the power of volunteers together to impact literacy in communities. One of its goals, for a quick impact and to bring attention to learning to read - is to set a new Guinness World Record for the most children read to by an adult in 24 hours.

Read Across the Globe is an initiative that brings the power of volunteers together to impact literacy in your community. One of our goals is to break a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ for the ‘most children reading with an adult in 24 hours’.
Working with volunteers, educators, and partners in every time zone,
we'll read to children around the globe to shine a light on literacy.
Help them set  a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ and pledge to host
a reading event or volunteer today!
Read more >> http://www.pointsoflight.org/signature-events/conference-volunteering-and-service
Read Across the Globe is part of a week of literacy-awareness events.
October 18, 2015: Scope-a-thon
October 19, 2015: Read Across the Globe (Grades K - 12)
October 22, 2015: Read for the Record (Preschool)
October 24, 2015: Make a Difference Day
http://www.pointsoflight.org/readacrosstheglobe

You can see a line-up of some of the more prominent speakers in the  image to the right.
If the phrase "A Thousand Points of Light"
rings a bell, it was used by former president George HW Bush in his inaugural address:
"We can find meaning and reward by serving some higher purpose than ourselves, a shining purpose, the illumination of a thousand points of light."
At the time of the World Trade Center attacks in New York Vitamin September 11, 2001, his son and President at that time George Bush was interrupted with news of that national emergency while reading to a classroom of students in Texas.

Brother Neil Bush was featured reading to a group in a tweet from the conference

Some of the Service Ambassadors include Political Satirist/Comedian John Oliver and actor Kevin Bacon