A Nation of Service - First Lady On Why Volunteering Is Not A Photo-Op

As Laura Bush's time in the White House nears an end, the first lady is already preparing for her post-Pennsylvania Avenue life. High on her list: community service. It's an activity she hopes other Americans will join her in, too, Bush tells NPR's Robert Siegel.

"We hope what will come is that people will realize all of the different ways they can serve," Bush said in an interview conducted in the Red Room of the White House.

Bush spoke to NPR after attending a Sept. 11 memorial service at the Pentagon. As the first lady noted in the interview, large numbers of Americans came together to help out after the Sept. 11 attacks. And volunteerism has been an important refrain for the Bush administration.

For more of this story, visit NPR's "Talk of the Nation"