Why People Volunteer- A Family's Perspective

Recently I have spent some time thinking more intentionally about why people volunteer. Why people give is a close second in this line of questioning. I have heard of the recently published book Who Really Cares, by Arthur C. Brooks. I plan to order this from Amazon as soon as I have time to browse for another book to get my order total into the “free shipping” realm. I imagine that why people volunteer will be addressed in this book, as it is probably linked to why people give.

However, I have been thinking about the question for some time, on and off—especially when Boards or organizations that I am part of are looking for volunteers. Recently I decided to do my own research and just ask people what they think about community service.

I figured since charity begins at home, research should begin at home too. So I asked my family. I’ll discuss my children’s answers in a later post but here is my husband’s answer.

Some people have a heart for it. Some people have extra time on their hands, like retired people. If you can get a group together, like a church youth group, it usually works, as its more fun for the people doing community service. People don’t have enough time. They barely have enough time to take care of their own families. Many people work late or work on Saturday’s to take care of job responsibilities or to make ends meet.

I was surprised at his answer for reasons I’ll discuss in the next post.