Report: R.I. volunteerism increased in 2014

Rhode Island volunteers gave 21.1 million hours of service in 2014, according to data from Volunteering and Civic Life in America 2015, the nonprofit Serve Rhode Island reported.
In Rhode Island, an estimated 212,590 volunteers contributed 21.1 million hours of service in 2014, an 8.8 percent increase in the number of volunteers and 6.6 percent increase in volunteer hours over 2013 figures for Rhode Island, the report stated.
By comparison, the United States as a whole saw less than a 1 percent increase in the number of volunteers and 3.8 percent increase in volunteer hours.
Older adults fueled the increase in volunteerism in Rhode Island, with volunteer rates of adults 55 years of age and older increasing slightly against a growth in their overall population numbers from 2013 to 2014, resulting in an estimated 3,000 new volunteers. Serve Rhode Island, the state’s center for volunteerism and service, considers the results shared on Dec. 8 positive.
“This is a very encouraging report,” said Bernie Beaudreau, Serve Rhode Island’s executive director. “It means that our older adults and seniors, with their lifetimes of experience and wisdom, are increasingly in the game, contributing in many ways to the community’s well-being and their own health through the benefits of social engagement and generative, purposeful activity.”
Over the past three months, Serve Rhode Island has reached out to nonprofits, surveyed older adults and convened community conversations about ways to increase opportunities for senior volunteers, Beaudreau said.
A Senior Volunteerism Planning Project, sponsored by contributions from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Foundation and Delta Dental of Rhode Island, is currently in the program research and development phase after several months of data collection and analysis.
The R.I. Division of Elderly Affairs and the Senior Agenda Coalition of R.I. have collaborated with Serve Rhode Island to convene a planning committee to discuss study results and generate ideas for a plan of action.
The project was prompted by the realization that Rhode Island’s older adult volunteer rates have been historically lower than the rest of the country and neighboring New England states.
A Rhode Island Senior Volunteerism Plan for 2016-18, to be released in January, will recommend an action plan to increase the state’s volunteer levels overall, with older adults a priority focus, Beaudreau said.

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