Approximately 5,000 volunteers packed downtown Daley Plaza in the morning to kick off the Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon, and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton was one of them.
Clinton and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn were set to address the volunteers.
The event is called the largest single-day community service days in Chicago.
After the Daley Plaza rally, the volunteers were deployed to help serve those parts of the city in need of some sprucing up. The groups traveled by bus to playgrounds, senior centers and other project sites.
The major volunteer effort is what attracted Clinton.
"The Clinton Foundation, the Global Initiative, has been in Chicago the last couple of days, and we wanted to celebrate with a day of action here in Chicago. So, they actually reached out to us and said, 'Can we launch here?' and just happened to be the day after Clinton Global Initiative. So, they're joining us with 400 strong. It's really great," Bridget Altenburg, executive director of Chicago Cares.
This is the 20th year for the Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon.
