Gadi Hernandez-Corado, a student at UNLV, posing in a library at the university in Las Vegas recently. She volunteers at an elementary school.
Every day, Americans donate their time, skills and energy to their communities by volunteering with nonprofit organisations. The Associated Press interviewed five volunteers about what motivated them to get involved and why they think more people don’t give their time.
Recently released data from the US Census and AmeriCorps showed that volunteer participation fell 7 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, part of a long trend in declining volunteerism.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Las Vegas: Gadi Hernandez-Corado is a sophomore at the University of Nevada Las Vegas where she studies political science and earned a scholarship to a programme focused on community service.
The 20-year-old, whose parents immigrated from Guatemala, is the first in her family to attend college and she intends to continue on to law school. She says she is an introvert and credits volunteering with an organisation that offers extra support to students in schools for bringing her out of her shell.
I believe it’s a good use of my time. It doesn’t require any special skills. You just have to be there and present. Do whatever they ask you to do. And I appreciate the fact that no matter who you are, no matter what skillset you have, you can make a difference. You can participate. You can feel satisfaction from doing something.
There are people that maybe want to do something, but they don’t really know that there are organisations out there that offer them that opportunity, that experience. And it is that lack of knowledge that sometimes prevents people from going out there and participating in community service. And sometimes apart from that, it’s just fear.
Sarah Lopez volunteers with a women’s rights organisation called For Her in San Antonio. She was invited by the nonprofit to go through a leadership training programme, meant to develop volunteers among the organisation’s participants.
San Antonio: Two years ago, Sarah Lopez moved from California to San Antonio for a job and started attending events at For Her, a nonprofit focused on empowering women.
They eventually invited her to go through a leadership training programme, meant to develop volunteers among the organisation’s participants. Lopez, 27, is a Latina and said it was important for her to be a part of an organisation standing up for women’s rights, especially in Texas.
Moving here from out of state, I’ve tried a lot of things. I’ve tried joining Facebook groups, I’ve tried going on Bumble For Friends. I’ve tried meeting coworkers and things like that. And it is really hard to find people that have the same values as you. I think especially I want to be surrounded by people who who also care about women’s issues and who understand the trauma that a lot of women experience. So for me, it was more about finding a safe place.
Why do you think more people don’t volunteer in some way?
I think maybe with social media and being online, that’s where a lot of people connect nowadays and that’s also where people feel like they can make a difference. And that makes sense. I think before, people would volunteer and get involved as far as activism goes, but now there’s a lot that you can do from your phone to make you feel like you’re participating in the discourse.
Liz Smith, 67, helps organise and recruit volunteers at two food distribution locations in Sinclair, Wyoming, the United States.
Rawlins, Wyoming: Liz Smith, 67, helps organise and recruit volunteers to two food distributions in south central Wyoming, where she’s lived since 2016 when her oldest daughter – one of nine children she adopted – moved there.
The retired business owner and grandmother said she spends 10 hours a week organising the pantries that serve communities along the I-80 corridor. While she said she’s always volunteered through her church's teaching classes, for example, this is the first extended commitment she’s made as a volunteer to an outside organisation.
I feel great afterwards. I mean, we’re exhausted, but it feels good. And even though sometimes we stood outside when it was snowing on us and it was like 20°F (-6.6°C) outside and the wind was blowing, we still stood outside and passed out food. And we’ve been out there when it’s so blistering hot.
I feel I’ve learned a lot through this. I learned more about what people need, what they’re looking for. I learned how to organise volunteers in such a way that they want to keep coming back. I have people that drive an hour to come and help us, which I think that just speaks volumes of their character and their integrity.
Honestly, I think there are a lot of people who just can’t, maybe because of work requirements or family. Then, there are people that think, “I don’t need anything, so I don’t need to volunteer.” Plus, we have kind of a lazy society, not going to lie.
Bella McGowan (right) works at a community garden with local residents Rico De Rixey (centre) and his wife Geraldine Brand, in Los Angeles. McGowan, a master gardener and horticultural therapist, started volunteering four years ago after retiring from her job as a school psychologist.
Los Angeles: A psychologist and now master gardener, Bella McGowan volunteers with the nonprofit PATH at a residence for people without housing in Los Angeles and helps run their community garden. The 70-year-old grandmother spent decades working in the city’s schools and sought out volunteer opportunities when she retired. She also shared that, late last year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
When you get a diagnosis that’s pretty shocking and unexpected, having purpose and meaning in your life and volunteering and needing to show up for other people when you’ve created programmes and you’ve got a garden that needs watering and weeding and relationships where people rely on you really contributes to recovery. Volunteering and being in gardens has just been an incredible part of my recovery and a lifeline.
I think they definitely need an invitation. And in many instances, they need to be led by the hand. I think there’s a lot of fear – “Oh, I couldn’t possibly do that job,” or “That’s not for me,” or “I don’t want to work with those kinds of people.” And I think there are a lot of stigmas. And once you get past that and realise there’s no “us and them”, and there by the grace of God, any of us could be in any one of these situations that suddenly puts us on the street. Or natural disasters can level your house or fire. There’s so many situations where you could be the person on the news that’s lost everything. – AP
