Volunteers, You're Awesome Take a Bow
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We absolutely love volunteers! Not just because we are a nonprofit organization that focuses on volunteer listings and opportunities, but also because they are just plain awesome! Why?
Volunteers dedicate themselves to a cause or an issue in the community because they care and want to give back. They do not act for monetary rewards or even recognition. They volunteer their in many different ways from book drives to park clean up just to give back to their neighbors.
April is National Volunteer Month, so let's celebrate the hard work volunteers are doing around the world by recognizing their efforts!
- In 2012, 62.7 million people volunteered in America.
- Thanks to those 62.7 million volunteers, 8.1 billion hours of service were logged for the United States. Imagine what the nation would look like without those 8.1 billion hours!
- 26.5% of United States residents reported that they volunteered in some form over the past year in 2010. Those 26.5 percenters individually contributed 34.1 service hours in their communities.
- The Independent Sector reports that those 8.1 billion hours of service were worth $178 billion in 2010. Each volunteer is worth $21.67 per hour, but they do the work for their love of the community, rather than salary.
- 23.5% of volunteers are actively involved in food collection and distribution. How many residents would go hungry without these volunteers?
- 26.7% of volunteers for education. How would our children succeed in school without the help of education volunteers?
- 11.6 million Millennials volunteered 1.2 billion hours of community service to their community in the categories of fundraising, labor, mentoring, and food distribution. Do you still believe that young people cannot make a difference?
- 9.2 million older Americans (65 years and older) donated 1.7 billion hours of hours to their communities. Older adults are able to find new meaning to their lives after retirement thanks to volunteer work.
Are you still skeptical about the value of volunteer work? We hope not. We had the privilege to recognize the work being done in our community this past Wednesday, April 18th at our 16th Annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon at The Trails Banquet Facility. This week was National Volunteer Week and we want to thank all our wonderful volunteers not only this week but to let you know that we appreciate you for the unbelievable service work happening every day! THANK YOU!
Amy Wood, Volunteer Associate
United Way of Greater Lafayette
The statistics used in this report can be found in the 2010 Volunteering in America report conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
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Jerry Weedon - Habitat for Humanity 2012 Golden Gift of Time Award 
Sarah King - Project Sweet Peas Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health Community Impact Award 
Joanna Patterson - City of Lafayette Youth Volunteer Citizenship Award
Natasha Vintila - Southwestern Middle School - Tippecanoe Commissioners' Youth Community Service Award
