We’re giving a lot of ourselves, according to a new national report on volunteerism. Vicki Hover-Williamson oversees federally-funded volunteer programs throughout the state of Iowa, and she says the report’s based on what people tell census-takers.
Women volunteer sligtly more often than men, married people more often than do singles, and the age range of those who do the most volunteer work is 35 to 44. Iowa’s among the top handful of states leading the nation in the amount of volunteer work. We’re fourth in the nation with 38-point-six percent of people engaged in volunteer projects in the year 2005.
The data also were sorted by other criteria. They look at the volunteers sorted by race and ethnicity, by age, gender, marital status, and what causes they give their time to. The volunteer tasks we do most include collecting, preparing and serving food, working at general labor, and giving transportation to others, an important contribution since this is such a rural state.
A lot of Iowans also work for free at raising funds for their favorite not-for-profit or volunteer activity. These were organized activities, and the report doesn’t include other acts like taking a neighbor to the doctor or things we do outside officially-recognized volunteer organizations. The report is on-line at “National service-dot-gov.”
Related web sites:
Volunteer report
