The rally served as a kick-off before the volunteers headed out to work on 42 different public service projects around the city.
"Don't me wrong, money is the lifeblood of movement often, but the money would just sit there if it weren't for the people who decided to get up and move," said Ed Gordon, journalist and guest speaker.
"Chicago has this amazing spirit of altruism. Here we have more than 3,000 people who've come out here on a Saturday morning to do projects to help people in our community," said Marta Rhyner of Chicago Cares.
The large group of volunteers included 700 Chicago public school students and 1,500 employees of Target corporation.
