The selfish case for selflessness

Why volunteering is good for you

by

It takes Ivy Corfis just a few minutes to walk from her downtown condo to the Capitol Lakes health center on West Main Street, where she volunteers every Monday morning. There she helps the volunteer coordinator and residents unpack fresh flowers to lay on the tables in the dining hall. 

“It’s bright, it’s pretty,” says Corfis, who talks with the residents of the skilled nursing facility and sometimes reads to them. Sports is a mutual favorite for conversation. 

Capitol Lakes is one of four volunteer gigs that Corfis has picked up since retiring in 2021 from UW-Madison, where she was a professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. She had looked forward to retiring, with plans to do some writing in her speciality area, medieval literature. But she also wanted to branch out and get more involved in the community. She didn’t need a large house and yard anymore once her beloved dogs and cat passed away, so she moved downtown and looked around for places to volunteer within walking distance. 

Her other volunteer work includes helping welcome visitors to the James Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center, ushering performances at Overture, and tending to two public downtown gardens with the Blair Street Gardens group. 

She appreciates these opportunities to improve someone’s day — whether it is to make a theater-goer feel welcomed at a performance or to beautify the city landscape for residents and visitors. It pays personal dividends as well. 

“The days when I volunteer — even if it’s two hours standing on my feet — you feel better because somehow now I’ve helped someone. You feel like you have made a difference.” 

It is somewhat of a cliché that volunteers get as much out of the experience as the organizations and people being helped, but it turns out there is actual science behind this idea. Studies show volunteering is good for people’s physical and mental health.

A review of research, published in 2007 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of Research and Policy Development, concluded that studies over the preceding two decades “established a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer.” The report also found that older volunteers are most likely to receive the greater benefits from volunteering.

More recent research has confirmed these results. In one study, “Volunteering and Subsequent Health and Well-Being in Older Adults: An Outcome-Wide Longitudinal Approach,” researchers used data from nearly 13,000 participants in a diverse, nationally representative sample of U.S. adults 50 and older, to evaluate if changes in volunteering were associated with 34 indicators of health and well-being. During the four-year follow-up period, participants who volunteered more than 100 hours a year were found to have a reduced risk of mortality and physical limitations, higher physical activity, and better psychosocial outcomes, such as higher optimism and lower depression.

The practice of volunteering is receiving new attention as social isolation and loneliness among Americans has, according to the U.S. surgeon general, reached “epidemic” proportions. Even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, about half of all U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness. 

In his 2023 report, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy noted that loneliness is more than a bad feeling. “It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.”

Murthy added that the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection “can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity and engagement are diminished.” 

The results of the Nov. 5 election have added another layer of disconnection — and anxiety — for those concerned about President-elect Donald Trump’s promises regarding immigration, transgender rights, education, and the social welfare safety net. 

At a recent Rotary Club of Madison luncheon, keynote speaker Renee Moe, president and CEO of United Way of Dane County, identified volunteering as a potential “antidote” to social disconnection. Benefits that flow from giving freely of one’s time to a cause or organization, she added, are many: It helps people find purpose and community, make new friends, learn new skills, experience new things, build self-esteem, and feel happier. 

“It’s an integral part of community,” said Moe, who also noted Dane County’s higher indicators of need, including a poverty rate of 11%. “Especially right now, when people are feeling very disconnected and not like they’re belonging, volunteerism can be a tool to help not only amplify nonprofit missions and how people build their skills in these ways, but also to get more done and help people feel even healthier.” 

By the numbers

Every two years AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, partners with the U.S. Census Bureau to measure volunteering and civic engagement across the United States. 

Volunteering predictably dipped during COVID when people were limiting how much they gathered with others. But the new report, based on 2023 data and released Nov. 19, shows a return to community service. 

More than 75.7 million people, or about 28% of Americans, volunteer with an organization. This is up from the roughly 23% of Americans that volunteered in 2021, but not yet not back to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when 30% of residents volunteered. 

Still the growth between 2022 and 2023 is encouraging, according to AmeriCorps CEO Michael Smith, who said in a recent webinar that it was the largest expansion of formal volunteering ever recorded. Those volunteers provided almost five billion hours of service and created $167.2 billion in economic value, Smith reported. 

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of our schools, of our shelters, our hospitals and hotlines, of food banks and civic nonprofits, [and] tribal and faith-based organizations across this county,” he said. “Some people think volunteering and community service is just a nice thing to do, but this data underscores just how powerful service can be — improving the livelihoods of our fellow citizens while boosting the economy.”

The survey also noted an increase in more casual ways of helping other people. About half of all Americans reported consistently helping their neighbors in 2023, up slightly from previous years. “The data tells a hopeful story about our nation,” Smith said, showcasing that “the spirit of volunteering is on the rise in America.”

Women volunteered at a higher rate than men, as did parents with children. Generation X — those aged 43 to 58 — had the highest formal volunteering rate out of all generations.

The 2023 survey also, for the first time, included a question on virtual volunteering, finding that 18% of formal volunteers served completely or partially online. The demographic breakdown is interesting. Though older adults are often thought to be less facile online, the report found that “virtual and hybrid volunteers are slightly older, more likely to live with a disability, and have more education than in-person volunteers.” 

In Wisconsin that year, the survey found, nearly 1.5 million volunteers contributed more than 108,172,108 hours of service through organizations worth an estimated $3.4 billion. About a third volunteered through organizations while nearly two-thirds “informally helped others by exchanging favors with their neighbors.” That was enough to get Wisconsin on the top 10 list among U.S. states for informal helping. 

‘Joy and happiness’

More than a decade ago, Tacy DeRouin saw the child of a family friend get a wish granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was moved by the experience.

“I just witnessed the process from afar and saw the impact that Make-A-Wish has,” says DeRouin. 

A stay-at-home mom for a couple of toddlers at the time, DeRouin was also craving outside connection and “looking for a way to help others.” She began volunteering for Make-A-Wish Wisconsin in 2012, soon after her mom passed away from cancer at age 53. 

“Through Make-A-Wish, helping others in trauma, unexpectedly it helped me process my trauma,” she says. “Being of service helped me not get lost in my grief and despair that life wasn’t working out as I thought it would.”

“The kids I was meeting, their wonderful families, I wanted to bring joy and happiness to them,” adds DeRouin, who now works as the client coordinator at Scholz Nonprofit Law. “And hope came back to me in the process.” 

Make-A-Wish works with families whose children, aged two-and-a-half to 18, are experiencing a life-threatening illness. DeRouin is what’s known as a “volunteer wish granter.” She meets with families to identify an experience, trip or gift desired by the child. Staff at the nonprofit do the logistical work to make the wish happen, but wish granters can get creative while that process plays out. 

DeRouin says she once worked with a “sweet kiddo,” who, because of the pandemic, had to wait more than two years for his “wish” to happen. He “lived and breathed hockey,” so to keep him engaged in the process DeRouin connected with the men’s UW hockey team. “They made him and his family feel so special — he practiced with the team and came out with the team for the lineup before a real game. The generosity of so many is the only way to make the magic happen!”

Another local volunteer, Corinda Rainey-Moore, has been at it since high school, when she tutored other students in math. She was part of a program designed to help underserved youth and future first-generation students prepare for college and had received tutoring herself from program volunteers. She decided to return the favor, launching a lifetime of giving back. 

“Throughout high school people volunteered to help me,” says Rainey-Moore, who is the community engagement manager for UnityPoint Health-Meriter. “For me, that is really the reason why I help. But I also help in areas where I feel there are people who look like me that are underserved and who could benefit not just from the help, but from seeing folks who look like them who have been through the same things they are going through.” 

That mission is what drove Rainey-Moore a few years back to ask for a tour of the Vera Court Neighborhood Center, a diverse community center on Madison’s northside that she thought did not get as much attention as some other centers in the city. She says the members of the board of directors had “great hearts,” but were mostly older, retired white men. She asked how she could get on the board. “I’m not a young person but our kids need to see somebody who looks like them too,” says Rainey-Moore, who is Black. 

She now chairs the Vera Court board, which also oversees the Bridge-Lake Point-Waunona Neighborhood Center. “Once I got on the board I realized that Vera Court/Bridge-Lake Point was a valuable asset to our community and could be very helpful for students who look like me that needed the help [the centers] offered in terms of programming, mentoring, growing individuals and resources.” 

When Rainey-Moore noticed that Black youth were often not part of the conversation around youth suicide, she also reached out to Safe Communities and became a member of the nonprofit’s task force on suicide prevention. “I joined so I raise awareness about suicide in the Black community, but also so I could help Black folks know they didn’t have to suffer alone and that there was help out there for them.” She now chairs Safe Communities’ board of directors. 

She is also on the board of United Way of Dane County, serves on the group’s United Women group, and is a member of the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission. And she volunteers with The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Kappa Phi Omega chapter) and the Madison Reading Project. 

Rainey-Moore is passionate about supporting literacy efforts, given the negative impacts of not being able to read, including how it limits one’s future efforts at higher education and employment. 

“Reading changes your whole trajectory in life,” she says. “It also gives you the opportunity to read about places and things you can only imagine. And if you can imagine, you can do it.”

As she puts it: “I know the power of mentoring youth because someone mentored me.”

How to get involved

In her Rotary presentation, the United Way’s Moe advised those interested in finding volunteer work to first ask themselves a few questions: “What is your passion? What change do you want to make? What organization do you believe in? What mission inspires you? How much time and capacity do you have?” 

There are different types of volunteer opportunities, she explained. Skill-based volunteer work includes service on a nonprofit board or committee. “Episodic” jobs include such things as delivering Thanksgiving baskets or helping out at a marathon or park cleanup. 

Long-term options, like mentoring, require a deeper commitment. “We know showing up over time, building a relationship with a young person, matters,” Moe said. “But you have to keep showing up because when you don’t that’s a big disconnection.” 

United Way of Dane County has a number of portals on its website for matching volunteers with nonprofits in need. Isthmus has also produced a new guide to help connect people and organizations. 

The city of Madison lists volunteer opportunities on its website, with positions available at public libraries, Monona Terrace, Olbrich Botanical Gardens and more. The Dane County Land & Water Resources Department offers volunteer work opportunities in county parks and at the Lussier Family Heritage Center. Many local nonprofits also include how to volunteer on their websites. 

UW-Madison students can turn to the Morgridge Center for Public Service, which helps arrange and support students in semester-long volunteer opportunities in the Madison metro area. Lara Miller, the program manager for Badger Volunteers, says she works with about 60 local organizations that host student volunteers. 

Some students have a hard time seeing beyond the confines of campus, Miller says. Sometimes that can be due to actual transportation constraints. These volunteer jobs allow students to plug into the wider community that is supporting them, she adds. “That is good for the soul.”

Volunteer opportunities are divided among three tracks — public health, sustainability and education — with respective opportunities available at the River Food Pantry, Rooted-Badger Rock Urban Farm and the West High School Tutoring Center, among others. 

Community members also tutor at West and volunteer in other capacities throughout the Madison school district, including at food pantries and during summer school, says spokesperson Ian Folger. 

Students volunteer as well. For instance, more than 100 kids are involved with the Spartan Youth Service at Memorial High School. “All they do is volunteer,” says Folger, “and it’s completely student-led.” And the Lancer Student Support Foundation at La Follette High School is a philanthropic group that raises money for the school. 

Next-generation volunteers 

Throughout Dane County, according to the 2024 youth survey conducted by Dane County Department of Human Services, 60% of all students in grades 9 through 12 performed some volunteer work during the last 12 months. That is an improvement on 2021, when 53% reported volunteer activities, but still lower than pre-pandemic 2018 when 83% volunteered. 

The Dane County Humane Society runs a volunteer program for youth, and it’s popular — the slots fill up fast.

Most positions require a commitment of two to three hours a week for a minimum of six months. Depending on the program, it is often required that youth volunteer with a parent or guardian, though there are opportunities for going solo, usually for those 16 and older; kids 13 and up can work alone at the shelter’s two thrift stores. 

Lisa Bernard, development and communications supervisor, says the humane society is looking for youth to help out as “critter cuddlers,” working with hamsters, rabbits, parakeets and other small animals that are available for adoption. There are also some openings for classroom animal assistants, which involves caring for the animals that live at the shelter and are part of the shelter’s education programs. This includes feeding the animals and cleaning out cages, among other things. 

Because these jobs involve caring for animals, “we treat our volunteer program like a job,” says Bernard. There is training and a process for making sure shifts are covered if for some reason a volunteer can’t make it. 

While volunteering solo has its benefits, so does sharing that time with family members, says Bernard. “A lot of them have shared that volunteering together has allowed them to build a stronger relationship between the two.” 

And these volunteer jobs, as the shelter’s website suggests — “Welcome to the next generation of animal advocates!” — foster a love of animals and a sense of responsibility. 

Says Bernard: “You are nurturing and making the next generation excited about volunteering and helping  in their community.”