He said when he began his own service in Chicago he found, “a community that embraced me, a church to belong to, citizenship that was meaningful, the direction I had been seeking.  Through service I found that my own improbable story fit into a larger American story.”

More videos from the event available below the fold.Former Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford introduced the Democratic presidential candidate.  Wofford was the CEO of the Corporation For National and Community Service which oversees AmeriCorps.  As an adviser to President Kennedy, Wofford helped establish the Peace Corps.  Obama called for an increase in AmeriCorps and Peace Corps volunteers and expanded budgets for volunteering and service especially for young people. 

Wofford said he was “ignited” by Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech and said he had similar feelings about John and Robert Kennedy.  In this video, he explains more about his support of the senator.

Another endorsement came from David Osterberg, a former Cornell College professor and the founder and director of the Iowa Policy Project.  He said that Obama’s campaign has been successful at “closing” on voters, meaning they were getting people like him to sign a pledge to caucus for Obama. 

Nearly 1,000 listened to Obama’s speech on Wednesday, and he took several questions following his talk.