WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. ? President Bush put out the call to everyday Americans Wednesday to enlist in his new USA Freedom Corps and pitch in 4,000 hours apiece to the fight against terrorism: “Stand up to evil with acts of goodness and kindness.”

The president, visiting a community already at work on a local defense strategy, said he’s gotten lots of questions since Sept. 11 about what regular people can do to help protect their country from further attack.

“Some don’t know where to start and I’ve got, obviously, a good idea,” Bush said, fleshing out the $560 million initiative he announced in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

From a coliseum stage here, the president gave out a Web address, www.USAFreedomCorps.gov, and a toll-free number, (877) USA-CORPS, for people who want to get started meeting his challenge. Bush has asked every American to give two years, or 4,000 hours, in service over his or her lifetime.

“It sounds like I’m making a pitch and I am. This is the right thing to do for America,” he said. The nation is locked in a fight between good and evil, Bush added.

Appearing to revel in the role of recruiter, he closed his appeal as a rock star might wrap a concert: “Fight on, America! I love ya!”

Bush named his domestic policy adviser, John Bridgeland, to direct the massive Freedom Corps project and promised it was no passing wartime fancy.

“When we say we’re going to get more people involved, I’ll be asking (Bridgeland) on a regular basis, how are we doing,” Bush said.

The Web site and toll-free number were up and running first thing on Wednesday, but turning presidential vision into actual armies of new volunteer patrols will take congressional approval. Bush said he was counting on political rival Sen. John McCain to help make the new volunteer program law and win the federal money to pay for it.

McCain, R-Ariz., campaigned against Bush in the 2000 primaries on, among other issues, the theme of national service.