Published: June 29, 2009 08:14 am      

The new volunteerism for America

President Barack Obama has signed the greatest piece of volunteer-strengthening legislation in the history of the United States. It will triple the number of positions dedicated to the promotion of volunteerism. AmeriCorps, the main organization dedicated to volunteer work, will go from having only 75,000 participating organizations to 250,000. In 2008, it mobilized 2.2 million volunteers. It is hoped that more than seven million will join the cause this year.

Among other things, the volunteers will improve health care service and economic opportunities in low-income communities; aid those affected by the crisis; contribute to schools; and support efforts to save energy. The law includes a special program to open volunteer opportunities up to retirees and senior citizens. In spite of its acute budget problems, the government is offering to contribute $5.7 billion in the next five years.

Upon signing the law, Obama declared: “We need your service, right now, at this moment in history… I’m asking you to stand up and play your part.” The bill had bipartisan support. New York City launched its own initiative: “I need you to serve New York.” It creates a civic body for the city, and makes it possible to provide free legal and financial advice to those affected by home seizures, or those who need support to manage their debt.

The initiative also requires all schools to incorporate the ideas of service and volunteerism into their curricula by this September. It was discovered that some 17 percent of the people who don’t do volunteer work don’t do so because they don’t know where to go. The city created a phone service to inform the public of available volunteer opportunities.

The weight of volunteerism in a world in which 18 million people die each year as a result of avoidable causes linked to poverty is growing. Volunteers produce goods and services that make them the planet’s eighth largest economy in terms of gross product. In developed countries, they generate more than five percent of the annual GDP. In one of the leading countries, Israel, more than 10 percent. In Norway, seven out of every 10 people do volunteer work. In the United States, NGO workers and volunteers make up 11 percent of the active workforce, more than those working in the financial and automobile industry combined. A recent global campaign, “Stand up and speak out,” which demanded that global leaders fulfill their commitments regarding the millennium goals and urgently work to curb poverty and inequality, mobilized 43 million people in 127 countries.¨

Young people show an enormous amount of interest in volunteer work. An international study found that 73 percent of young Spaniards and 66 percent of young Canadians and Americans give much more importance to these issues than “making a lot of money.” In a recent survey of 13 to 25 year-olds in the United States, it was found that 61 percent were worried about the state of the world, and felt personally responsible for making a difference. Sixty-nine percent even said that a business’s commitment to a social or environmental cause is “important or very important” when deciding where to make purchases. According to the 2008 Youth in USA report, the institution most valued by young people was NGOs in general.

The drive to volunteer is at the core of the planet’s principal religions. The Bible has 3,000 references to “alleviating poverty.” In Judaism, the word used for solidarity is “Tzedaka,” which means “creating justice.” The idea is that helping is reestablishing the justice that is being violated by the existence of poverty. Tzedaka is considered as important as all of the other commandments combined. Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed that “how we treat every last one of our brothers is what is going to determine if we inherit the Kingdom of God or if we will go to eternal hell.” Buddhism and Eastern religions state that “he who gives a rose to another is left with the fragrance in his hand.” He is the one who stands to gain, and its true.