First Lady Michelle Engler spoke recently at Wayne State University. She said that the future of civic renewal at the millennium depends on partnerships between the federal government, local government, businesses and volunteers.

Engler was the keynote speaker for the Nov. 4 seminar, "At the Millennium: The Future of Volunteerism," at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center.

She listed top needs to achieve civic renewal as: renewing the ethic of service, particularly in the youth; building a strong community of public/private partners; using the media to promote community partnerships and value of volunteerism; and reinventing charity by eliminating the hierarchy of donations, such as making a gift to a soup kitchen as prestigious as a gift to the opera.

She recommended elevating the prestige of service, having everyone recognize their individual responsibility for service and that partners work together to serve the community.

A panel discussion by people working in the area of volunteerism, moderated by Carmen Harlan, WDIV-TV4 news anchor, followed.

Panelists agreed that volunteerism should be a part of life covering all ages and incomes and beginning in the home. A thrust toward including youth and recapturing the "naturally occurring resource of seniors" is needed, they said. They strongly reinforced the idea of companies allowing employees the time and opportunity for volunteerism.

Panelists include William J. Beckman, president and CEO of New Detroit, Inc. and chairman of Schools of the 21st Century Corporation; Ruth Tobar, executive director of City Year Detroit; Robert B. Tietze, director of the Experience Corps program at Temple University; Candice Burnette, student at Renaissance High School and active volunteer; Nellie B. LeGarde, manager of education programs at DaimlerChrysler Corporation; and Diane Bostic Robinson, president of the Junior League of Detroit, Inc.

The lecture is the final presentation in the five-year Helen S. DeRoy/Josephine Weiner Volunteerism Lecture Series funded by the DeRoy Testamentary Foundation. The WSU colleges of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs and Lifelong Learning administer the program.