During the holiday season there are a lot of volunteers doing a lot of things.
Food drives and toy drives, preparing and providing meals to the poor, visiting homeless shelters and nursing homes and helping out at holiday plays and performances at schools and churches.
But there is some unsettling news this week that says the number of volunteers across America is dropping.
According to Axios and a Washington Post report, about 61 million people, or roughly 23 percent of Americans volunteered in 2021, the year of the most recent results from U.S. Census data. That’s the lowest percentage since this tracking of the number of volunteers began in the early 2000’s.
And while the report says part of it was due to the drop in volunteers because of the pandemic, the decline in volunteers began before COVID came along.
One of the reasons being given is that with the people most likely to give their time are married couples and parents with young children, there has been a trend now for a while of more younger Americans delaying getting married and having kids.
Unfortunately, this report says the fall in volunteers comes at a time when more charities and non-profit have more of a need because of the cost of living and more people in need.
So maybe as we are celebrating the season of giving this year, one of the best gifts to consider may be giving some of your time to others.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images