Abe Silk has an article this morning over at the Huffington Post on Tom Perriello, a national security consultant, founder of faith-based organizations, and candidate for Virginia’s 5th Congressional seat.  

Perriello has instituted a community service initiative that requires campaign staffers and volunteers to donate ten percent of their time to the community. He calls this “volunteer tithing,” after the Christian practice of donating a tenth of one’s income to the church. According to Jessica Barba, Perriello’s Communications Director, “Tom doesn’t shy away from talking about his faith like some Democrats,” and the aegis for the volunteer tithing, “comes from his deeply held Catholic beliefs. Tom is serious about the culture of service, and is running a campaign as a reformer who is willing to put his money where his mouth is.”

By all accounts, he has. At press time, according to the campaign website, staffers and volunteers have donated 333 service hours around the district. Teams of around five volunteers have gone to Habitat for Humanity builds, soup kitchens, senior centers, and helped teach children literacy. The community response has been strong. “At first people didn’t really understand who we were or what we were doing,” said Barba, “but it didn’t take long for them to be genuinely appreciative. We now have people actually coming up and suggesting places for us to volunteer.”

So where does that put Perriello on the expansion of national service?

Should Perriello pull off the upset victory, his commitment to community service would certainly manifest itself in policy decisions and potential legislation. According to Barba, he strongly supports additional funding for service organizations such as Americorps and the Peace Corps, and he would do what he could to inculcate a culture of giving back among his constituents and the country at large. Here’s to hoping he succeeds and that many more politicians follow suit.

We’ll have a ServeNext Congressional Pledge to Expand National Service off to Perriello next week.  We look forward to hearing from him soon!