As a civil rights adviser to President John F. Kennedy, former Senator Harris Wofford (D-Penn.) helped co-found the Peace Corps with political activist Sargent Shriver, but he won’t take all the credit.

“The students picked up the ball and ran with it,” Wofford said. “If they hadn’t, there wouldn’t be a Peace Corps.”

Wofford, who will be attending the Thursday ServiceNation events, has a long history of work in public service. He was a friend and adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, helped write the AmeriCorps legislation with Senator Ted Kennedy, led the Corporation for National and Community Service, and took over as the president of Bryn Mawr College. It doesn’t hurt that his father graduated from Columbia Business School where he went on to become the assistant dean, although Wofford hastened to add that he himself went to the University of Chicago .

“I think for young people beginning in elementary and secondary school, and coming to a climax at university and college, it’s crucial that the mind-set be changed from thinking of youth as a problem,” Wofford said.

Wofford said he expected to see a “quantum leap” in volunteers for organizations like the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, which he chalked up to adventurous spirit and the desire to give back. He described himself as “heart and soul in the Obama campaign night and day”—he introduced Senator Barack Obama’s now-famous April speech on race in Philadelphia's Constitution Center—but said he expected both Obama and Sen. John McCain to meet on common ground when speaking on the importance of public service. As for the gap between politics and service, he says he doesn’t distinguish the two.

And after a lifetime of achievement in public service, there is one accomplishment he’s sure to mention—the day former Sen. Rick Santorum, who defeated him in a 1994 senatorial race for Pennsylvania, asked to work with him on the humanitarian One Campaign. That episode, he said, epitomizes the spirit of service.

“I think that spirit goes up and down according to lots of things including the economy and the culture of the times, but by-and-large I believe that every young generation is ready to be ... asked and to be challenged,” Wofford said. “I don’t think the basic spirit of youth changes much from decade to decade.”