An estimated 212,590 volunteers contributed 21.1 million hours of service in Rhode Island in 2014, according to a national report, Volunteering and Civic Life in America 2015, released last week. That’s an 8.8 percent increase in the number of volunteers and 6.6 percent increase in volunteer hours over 2013.
The U.S. 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, according to the report. Volunteer rates of adults 55 years of age and older increased slightly against a growth in their overall population numbers from 2013 to 2014, leading to 3,000 new volunteers. •
