Volunteerism and Wellbeing among Older Adults

Volunteerism has long been one of America's traditions. Since Benjamin Franklin's founding of the first volunteer firefighter company in 1736 we have not looked back. Currently, promoting volunteering and civic service is a major policy agenda of President Obama's Administration. Defying the popular notion that hard economic times suppress civic participation, the number of Americans who volunteer grew last year at the fastest rate in six years. The report, released in 2010 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, says that 63.4 million adult Americans—nearly 27 percent of the population—volunteered to help charitable causes last year. That’s an increase from 2008 of roughly 1.6 million volunteers, the largest single-year jump since 2003. In total, 2009’s volunteers donated about 8.1 billion hours of service, valued at nearly $169-billion, says the report, which is based on annual and monthly surveys of roughly 100,000 Americans age 16 or older, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Older adults are the backbone of this tradition. Although sometimes taken for granted, without this volunteering most agency or cities cannot function at the level that they do today. To define the importance of volunteers, a unique study was undertaken in 1998. Dixon Arnett, who then headed the California Department of Aging, conducted an extensive survey to find out how many volunteers there were in all of its programs provided through some 720 separate entities.

The findings showed that throughout the state there were an incredible 67,620 volunteers. These volunteer contributed to a total of 757,120 hours. Multiplying that by California’s minimum wage at the time ($5.75/hour), the total value of those hours – per week – was $4,353,440 – an annual national value of $226,378,880 in 1998! At that time the total federal and state taxpayer-provided appropriations for these older adults programs was $159 million. With the volunteers, the federal and state governments realized a 142% return on its investment.

But the real value is far more in the giving of one’s self then in the receiving of care. A growing body of research is pointing to the social, emotional, and even physical health benefits of volunteering. A study published last year led by University of Pittsburgh researcher Fengyan Tang, found that the volunteers reported significant improvements in their mental health, along with a greater feeling of productivity, increased social activity and an overall sense that their life had improved. What’s more surprising is that the less affluent the volunteers the higher their reported benefits. In this way, all older adults are able to enhance their sense of purpose, satisfaction, and good health later in life at the same time that they give back to society. It also helps our economy. For volunteering in San Diego check out volunteer San Diego at http://www.volunteersandiego.org/ and you can also go to your local faith-based organization and other organizations including Oasis at http://www.oasisnet.org/.

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Mario Garrett, PhD, is a professor of gerontology at San Diego State University. He can be reached at mariusgarrett@yahoo.com