Remarks at Samuel W. Tucker elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 25, 2002

March 20, 2002

Thank you, Laura, for that warm introduction. I appreciate what a fine job she's doing as the First Lady. She's a pretty calm voice in a time--in turbulent limes for our country, and I'm lucky to he married to her.

I want to thank all the Tucker Tigers for letting me come by to say hello. Gosh, it's good to see you all. I want to thank the fact that you understand that you can make a big difference in somebody's life, that you can help a boy and girl who needs help, and you've done a darn good job. I understand you raised $2,500. That's a lot of money to raise, but you did it by reading books.

So you accomplished two things: One, you helped somebody in Afghanistan who needs your help; and secondly, you practiced reading, which is one of the most important things you can do. I hope you read more than you watch TV. That's really important. How many of you are going to go to college? Can you raise your hands if you're thinking about going to college? Boy, that's great. Guess what? That means you've set an important goal. That's what that means; you've set a good, important goal. It also means you'd better learn how to read. So by reading all those books, it's really a good step toward meeting your goal.

So thanks for letting us come. I also want to thank your teachers. Thank you all for being teachers. Teaching is a noble profession, an incredibly important job. So make sure you listen to your teachers. They care about you a lot, and they want you to meet your goal, and they want you to learn how to read. And Laura and I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking on this important, vital profession.

I want to thank the principal as well, and thank the superintendent of schools. I want to thank you all. Gosh, it's such a pleasure to come. I'm accompanied by some people who I admire a lot. Our Secretary of Education, Rod Paige has come with us today. Rod, thank you for being here. Our Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, good to see you again, Elaine.

You probably know this already, I don't need to tell you this, but each State has got two United States Senators. And you're in the State of Virginia, and you've got two Senators that represent your State at the Capitol. And you've got two really fine United States Senators, both of whom have come today to say hello to us, and both of them have come today to show their support for this important project. And here they are: Senator John Warner, Senator George Allen. Thank you all for coming.

And from Miami, Florida, there's a Congresswoman here, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is here, as well. Ileana, thank you for coming.

I want to thank Harold Decker and all those who work for the Red Cross for participating in this important project. I want to thank all of you who helped on the uniform project, as well. You know, I oftentimes talk about the need to be a responsible society. In order to have a responsible society, there's such a thing as corporate responsibility. So it warmed our hearts to know that many of you in corporate America heard the call to help, and thank you so much for coming. I appreciate your efforts.

Today as well, we're joined by a special young lady from Texas. That's where Laura and I are from. She flew up here for a reason, and it's because I wanted to single her out as someone who has done a little extra--not a little extra, a lot extra--for the fund to help Afghan boys and girls. Her name is Olivia Bennett. Olivia, would you please stand up over here? Olivia is from Southlake, Texas, and she's got a unique talent. At the age of 12 years old, she is a really good artist. And you know what Olivia did? She painted a lot of pictures and sold them and thus far has raised $33,000 for the fund to help Afghan children. But you know what? She's only a third of the way toward her goal. She told me she is going to raise $100,000. And that is so wonderful. Thank you, Olivia, very much for being here.

I want to thank Haroun Amin for being here, as well, the Afghan Charge d'Affaires. Thank you so much for coming sir. And Madam President, fine job. There will be a Madam President one of these days, and if you keep talking the way you talk, you may be her--[laughter]--very good job.

I know you all know that we're fighting a war. We're fighting against people who really don't like freedom, people who want to hurt us. And I want to assure you that we'll do everything we can to make sure they don't. We'll do everything we can. But we're fighting for more than just a war; we're fighting to help people, too. We want the world not only to be peaceful; we want the world to be a better place. We want boys and girls to grow up in a world that is free and where they can go to school.

And we're making some good progress. I want to tell you all that we've helped people get food. And a lot of times on TV, all you see is about the bombs, but we've prevented mass starvation because we've moved a lot of food into the region. We're helping build roads. We're helping build schools. We're helping make sure boys and girls or others have got health care and health clinics. And we're also doing a lot to help children get a good education.