Lend a helping hand
Communities weakened as fewer Americans take time to volunteer
Late-winter blahs got you down? Are you feeling as if some important element is missing in your life? There is something you can do to help yourself: Volunteer to help others. Sadly, there’s evidence that volunteering is becoming a thing of the past, something people did in those good ol’ days before the pandemic, before American society became so splintered. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Across the United States, the volunteering rate is lower than it has been since the Census Bureau started keeping track in the early 2000s. A report released in January by the bureau and Americorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, showed that the number of volunteers in the nation dropped about 7 percentage points between September 2020 and September 2021. In 2021, the percentage of Americans who formally volunteered with an organization was just over 23%.
It’s obvious that COVID was a factor in the decline. But COVID is far from the whole story.
Organized volunteering has been declining steadily for more than a dozen years. The drop has disrupted the work of many nonprofits that depend on volunteer workers so they can spend their resources helping those who need it rather than on paid staff.
As fewer people volunteer, those who do are called upon to do more. It doesn’t help that the decline in volunteers coincides in many cases with an increase in the number of people seeking help. The pandemic and its economic effects — including high food prices and rents — have left more individuals and families struggling.
Informal volunteering — pitching in to help others or to get something done in the neighborhood, for example — is alive and well, with an estimated 51% of Americans participating now and then.
That’s great, and vitally important. But formal volunteering with an organization can get help to people who don’t live where neighbors will help them. They can address problems on a larger scale. They can help bring about change.
These organizations are diverse — food pantries, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, animal shelters, firefighting, tutoring and mentoring, helping senior citizens remain in their homes, maintaining parks and trails … the list goes on.
The Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland has been studying the factors that influence whether people volunteer. Its reports offer some insight into the drop in volunteering.
For one thing, many volunteers have been older people, maybe retired, who have time to give. The pandemic made many of them consider volunteering too risky.
College graduates have been more likely to volunteer, but many now are so burdened with student loan debt that they take on extra work instead. Married couples and people with children have volunteered extensively, but now young people are waiting longer to marry, to have children and to support community causes.
One problem could be that would-be volunteers fear they won’t be welcome at an unfamiliar organization. Those who try may be pleasantly surprised.
Volunteers are vitally important in the work they get done and the difference their kindness can make in people’s lives.
Here’s something to keep in mind: The benefits can work both ways. People who volunteer with an organization often make connections that help them get more involved in their community. They often find a new sense of purpose and the satisfaction of knowing they are making things better.
How can you start volunteering? Think about your interests, talents and how much time you can give. Many volunteer opportunities can be found through schools, churches, social-service and local government agencies. Try the websites and social media pages of those and various nonprofit organizations. Then give it a try.
In Hampton Roads, Volunteer Hampton Roads (volunteerhr.org) works to connect businesses and community organizations with people interested in a wide range of volunteer opportunities.
There’s a lot you can do to help others, and help yourself in the process. Just take that first step.