SAN FRANCISCO - FIRST lady Michelle Obama kicked off a summer of community service on Monday by helping fix up a school playground, part of a national effort that saw administration officials travelling all over the country to promote the value of volunteering.

The initiative, known as United We Serve, was announced by President Barack Obama in a video message last week.

The president is urging people to help in the country's economic recovery by volunteering at schools and hospitals and pitching in on community needs ranging from tutoring to park cleanup.

Michelle Obama went to work by joining California first lady Maria Shriver and several hundred local volunteers at Bret Harte Elementary School in San Francisco, where the playground is being refurbished to include an edible garden with a farmers market stand where kids and seniors can sell vegetables to raise money for the school.

She also talked about the importance of children getting exercise, adding that at the White House they've instituted 'Camp Obama', which means the TV and computers are off until after dinner and right before bedtime - 'Bedtime is early'.

Later, the first lady was to speak at the 2009 National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington and other senior VA officials volunteered at hospitals, at homeless shelters and in other ways.

Tammy Duckworth, a VA assistant secretary who lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in an attack in Iraq in 2004, recalled a fellow veteran offering to wash her hair when she was injured and another volunteer pulling up a blanket for her when she was on a gurney in a hospital hall and unable to move her arms.

Other officials promoting the event included Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr, who was to play basketball and talk with young people at the Police Athletic League in Philadelphia.

In Denver, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, a former volunteer firefighter, met with firefighters and other emergency workers. -- AP