Publisher:
Bonnie King
CONTACT:
Newsroom@Salem-news.com
Advertising:
Adsales@Salem-news.com
~Truth~
~Justice~
~Peace~
TJP
Nov-01-2009 23:53
TweetFollow @OregonNews
Oregonians 'Give Back' in Record Numbers (AUDIO)
Salem-News.comOne-third of Oregonians do some form of volunteer work.
 Volunteerism is up in Oregon, in spite of the economy. |
(PORTLAND, Ore. ONS) - The unemployment rate in Oregon may be high, but so is the rate of volunteerism. In the last year, about one million Oregonians contributed more than 120 million hours of their time for charitable and community service projects.
In this economy, you might assume people would pass up working for free, to look for paying jobs, but Bandana Shreftha, director of community engagement for AARP Oregon, says that hasn't been the case.
"You know, it's an interesting phenomenon. I think that, because times are so hard, people realize that their neighbors need help. There seems to be a greater desire to give back and to help each other."
According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, Oregon has climbed in the rankings by state for its number of volunteers, from 16th to 13th. One-third of Oregonians do some form of volunteer work; that's more than the national rate of 26 percent.
Shreftha says job seekers have discovered that volunteering is an excellent way to network as well as to stay busy, and most volunteer opportunities don't require a lot of special skills.
"You don't need a great deal of training and, most of the time, the organizations will provide you with the training and support you need. That's the great thing about volunteering -- you can choose to use skills that you may already have, or you may learn something -- and organizations are there to help you and support you."
AARP has a new Web site, www.CreateTheGood.org, where people can post or find volunteer opportunities by ZIP code. Shreftha says they're now recruiting volunteers for the "Tax-Aid" program, to help low-income and older adults file their income taxes in the spring.
Click the play button below to hear the audio report:
Special thanks to Oregon News Service:
Produced and reported by Chris Thomas
Articles for October 31, 2009 | Articles for November 1, 2009 | Articles for November 1, 2009
Quick Links
DINING
Willamette UniversityGoudy Commons Cafe
Dine on the Queen
Willamette Queen Sternwheeler
MUST SEE SALEM
Oregon Capitol ToursCapitol History Gateway
Willamette River Ride
Willamette Queen Sternwheeler
Historic Home Tours:
Deepwood Museum
The Bush House
Gaiety Hollow Garden
AUCTIONS - APPRAISALS
Auction Masters & AppraisalsCONSTRUCTION SERVICES
Roofing and ContractingSheridan, Ore.
ONLINE SHOPPING
Special Occasion DressesAdvertise with Salem-News
Contact:AdSales@Salem-News.com
Salem-News.com:
Terms of Service | Privacy Policy
All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.
Henry Ruark November 6, 2009 8:57 am (Pacific time)
Vic: Re role of government, reality is that there is literally no one nor any other agency who can and will --and should !-- act, in some situations such as the one(s) we now find ourselves floundering to survive. Founders created threefold functional pattern, proven to be pragmatic, practical, and very provident at times over past 250 years. We need to adapt as well as adopt their prescient, now well-proven invention of our style-and-kind of comprehensive community-based concern, and care where otherwise not possible, for each and every American. Re schools and ER-such, do you contend private-profit provisions could ever make for the kind of basics we now have given rep.gov't voice in first defining, then planning, and finally funding what must be somehow supplied ? My first tchr/yr. was in Real Depression, in Maine town where mill burned down. We had 50 families, 48 on food-dole, two owned groceries where the life-preserving was presented. We also had kids fainting in classroom from lack-of-enough, due to heaviest demands in US history. Add to that mine own life experience tightly shaped by GI Bill, further study and a "very checkered" working career, impacted at every step by realities demanded from our form of governance, since that surely controls communication as it truly exists in every aspect of our lives. Doth that shape my perceptions ? You betcha...!! Just as yours does your own values, thus beliefs,thus also your current insights...works sameway for allofus... Value your insights, but the comparison with Mexico remains irrelevant in light of many complex longterm unavoidable characteristics of economy, culture, society, et al.
Henry Ruark November 3, 2009 11:47 am (Pacific time)
Oregonian tendency to "give back" is perhaps best possible ongoing proof that true American "exceptionalism" doth still exist, in pragmatic practice as well as frequent if intermittent pundit proclamation.
Vic November 3, 2009 11:27 am (Pacific time)
stephen...I agree with your "distorted and perhaps perverted " views. To believe that people would not work for the good of the community if there was no alternative government program, reveals a distorted and perverted view of humanity. This article shows that people are not necessarily the lazy, self-serving apathetic types when a need arises. Witness the turnout of volunteers when a natural distaster hits... Government, with it's accompanying overinflated price tag, would have us believe that it must do everything for us...for OUR benefit. Maybe that is why we are in the financial position we are in today. Henry..are you saying that if not for government there would be no schools or ERs?? I beg to differ. In San Blas where we live, there is no food stamp program, but the community makes sure that food is available to everyone. My friends told me.."No one goes hungry in San Blas....as long as you dont mind fish"..The "poor" people help unload the fishing boats in exchange for a few of the smaller fish. People are basically good, I believe, there..and evidently here !
Henry Ruark November 3, 2009 10:29 am (Pacific time)
Stephen et al: Longtime history, from Old English/Dickens days until our current desperate plight for millions in "richest country in the world" --denies and dispels your distorted and perhaps perverted view of the realities in this, the 21st Century. Go visit any small, medium and particularly large city landscape, read its daily newspaper, listen to its tvnews --and visit the schools and ER facilities-- then tell us what you find. "See with own eyes' and overwhelming links to Internet reports might change your perceptions, but tone and this content make that highly quesionable due to attitude revealed.
stephen November 2, 2009 7:04 pm (Pacific time)
maybe the federal government and their social programs are not needed after all? God forbid, if people are helping people there would be no need for the government social programs, OR THEIR JOBS! Getting the picture here? Thanks for the article salem-news. and thanks to those who help others without an agenda. Keep up the great work, I am.
Shangri-La Corp. - Victor Villegas November 2, 2009 11:15 am (Pacific time)
To find local volunteer opportunities, check out the Mid-Willamette Valley Chapter of HandOn, a United Way program. You can find them on the web at handsonmwv.org
[Return to Top]©2025 Salem-News.com. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Salem-News.com.