The loss of Ethel Kennedy on Thursday brought back personal memories and reminded me of what our nation can be.
My first interaction with Mrs. Kennedy came after President George W. Bush appointed me to lead the national and volunteer response after 9/11. She reached out, threw a party for me at her home and surrounded this Republican with support across the Democratic Party. The result was the largest bipartisan growth in national and volunteer service programs up to then and since.
More Americans had opportunities to serve their communities and country through the Peace Corps, Volunteers in Service to America, Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps, Senior Corps or through local nonprofits and faith-based institutions. Regardless of political affiliation, neighbor helped neighbor, reflecting what Bush called, in his State of the Union address in 2002, “the gathering momentum of millions of acts of service and decency and kindness.”
Kennedy wouldn’t stand for opposition to such a good initiative that helped Americans of all backgrounds and politics serve their neighbors and nation. How far afield that sentiment seems from our politics of division and fear today.
Kennedy, who suffered immeasurable tragedies with the loss of her husband to gun violence, and the death of two children before her own passing, spent more than two decades of her later years helping youths who grew up in neighborhoods riddled with gun violence and crime to find a lifeline through the Earth Conservation Corps. These young corps members found out that the bald eagle, the nation’s symbol, had not been seen in Washington, D.C., since 1947. They fledged eaglets from Wisconsin and released them along the Anacostia River. Today, multiple pairs soar above our nation’s capital because of their efforts. In the process, they saved not only the birds but themselves, recounted in a 60 Minutes segment, “Endangered Species.”
Working together in the Earth Conservation Corps, I saw Kennedy pulling tires and trash out of rivers, working on projects to restore wetlands and other habitat along the banks of the Anacostia, and working with her son to stop companies from discharging pollution into our nation’s waterways. It was quiet work for anyone, especially a Kennedy. Her passion for helping the vulnerable and her ability to view them as potential to be fulfilled rather than problems to be solved, was inspiring. It was hard, life-changing work over two decades.
Her passing Thursday was a great loss. At some point, I hope our country gets back to the spirit she embodied — viewing one another as Americans, engaging in hard work to address our public problems, and restoring a sense of hope and possibility that we can address any challenge.
John M. Bridgeland is co-chair of the Earth Conservation, where Ethel Kennedy served as a board member for more than 20 years. He was director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and national service czar after 9/11 under President George W. Bush.