2016 Nelson Mandela International Day / 67 Minutes of Service Week

​For 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.

Unanimously adopted in 2009 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly as Nelson Mandela International Day, 18 July, Nelson Mandela’s birthday is an annual call to action to people everywhere to contribute to the global movement for good by effecting change within their community.

Today, the Mandela Day campaign is a global movement for good in Nelson Mandela’s name.

The City of Lancaster has teamed with South African Honorary Consul to the US, the Honorable Helen Giddings and the Nelson Mandela International Day Steering Team for North Texas (Steering Team) to lead a defined process and program for 8 days of volunteering by individuals and groups in an area of service of their choosing. A Closing Volunteers and Sponsors Recognition event is planned from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Saturday, July 16 in the Helen Giddings Amphitheater in Lancaster, Texas.

Goal: 1,000 hours of verifiable Volunteer Service (896 volunteers donating 67 minutes each) over the 8 day period from Friday, July 8 - Saturday, July 16, 2016.

The Contacts