Sitting at the bar at Moe last night, in between sets, I noticed a bunch of bright yellow stickers scattered on the bar for The Washington Bus, so I stuck one in my purse to look up later. As it turns out, The Washington Bus is actually a bus, one filled with young volunteers that roam the state looking for good to do and stumps from which to spread their political message.

Put yourself on a bus full of young people and experience first-hand the revival of hope and energy in Washington politics. It’s not just any bus, of course. It’s the Washington Bus. And on any given Saturday it rolls into a town somewhere in our state, full of volunteers eager to work for positive change. The Bus provides a platform for young people to make their voices heard on issues that speak directly to our shared values: health, education, fairness, peace and prosperity.

Don’t let statistics about youth voting fool you into believing that younger Americans don’t care about their future or their world. Roughly 40 percent of today’s 15- to 25-year olds volunteer in their communities. With all that competes for their time, that’s a very hopeful number.

The Bus exists to inject some of what is found in other volunteer opportunities into politics: fun, friends, festivity and the sense that everyone matters.

And it makes a huge difference: when 60 Washington Bus volunteers drop in on a county council race that has never seen so much support, the energy is palpable. And that feeling builds on itself. People who start the day as volunteers end it as agents of change. We see it happening. It’s magic[WB].

So…it’s a little bit merry pranksters and a little bit 10th grade field trip, I guess. Their causes are, in roughly no order: health care, environment, economic justice, equal rights, election reform, education, and transportation. I’d like to be cynical about the whole thing, but that’s what you guys are for. Plus, as someone who exists for a few more months on the very end of that 18-25 youth voting pool who volunteers frequently, it’s heartening to know that there are people in my cohort who are still excited about change. (Those people probably didn’t have their first voting experience as an absentee Florida vote in the 2000 election, which was enough to suck the political drive out of anyone.)

It doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot on their calendar right now, but as the official volunteer kick-off event is tomorrow, I’m sure it’ll be filling up with things to do. If you have an encounter with the Washington Bus, let us know in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Volunteering in Seattle
2. Call for SIFF volunteers
3. The Homeless Count
4. From the mouth of John Kerry directly to your computer screen
5. Girls Rock at SIFF