Idaho ranked No.5 for volunteerism
Idaho ranks fifth in the nation for volunteerism, according to the latest report by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The “Volunteering and Civic Life in America” report showed Idaho had 34.1 percent of its population volunteer in last year, which placed the state in the top five.
The report showed that 382,222 Idahoans volunteered in 2015. Generation X — people ages 34 to 44 — had the highest volunteer rate of all age groups. In addition, the value of Idahoans volunteering last year totaled to $1.1 billion.
“When you look at the value of what we’re doing — $1.1 billion worth of volunteer work is a lot of money. I think that there’s something really great about that that says, ‘Idaho, yes we’re small. We don’t have the highest wages or whatever. But we do a lot of great things and worthy things in volunteering,” said Hope Morrow, the Regional Labor economist for the Idaho Department of Labor.
Morrow also said Idaho is a very family-oriented place. Everyone here loves their communities, so she is not surprised Idaho is ranked No. 5 in the nation.
The full report and customizable data sets on this report can be found at http://www.VolunteeringInAmerica.gov.
“Habitat for Humanity’s mission talk about bringing people together. We use volunteers in every aspect of what we do. We couldn’t serve as many families if we didn’t have volunteer labor. Over the years it’s increased. I think this past year we had 13,000 volunteer hours logged,” said Habitat for Humanity executive director Karen Lansing.
“Wow. Well, for the Snake River Animal Shelter, volunteers keep us running. Truly any nonprofit can’t do without volunteers. Volunteerism is really what helps us all thrive,” said Snake River Animal Shelter executive director Kristin Sanger.
The Snake River Animal Shelter is having a volunteer appreciation luncheon Thursday at the shelter on Lindsay Blvd. from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The event is for current volunteers and for anyone who may be interested in signing up as one. If you can’t attend the event, you can visit http://snakeriveranimalshelter.Org/index.Php/services/volunteering-program/ to sign up.
To volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, visit http://www.idahofallshabitat.org/volunteer.
To volunteer with EIRMC, visit http://eirmc.com/about/volunteers.dot.
To find other ways to volunteer in the area, visit http://ServeIdaho.gov or check out the Serve Idaho Facebook page.
