Volunteers speak on why they serve and why more people don’t

By THALIA BEATY
Associated Press

Every day, people in the U.S. donate their time, skills and energy to their communities by volunteering with nonprofit organizations. The Associated Press interviewed five volunteers who shared what motivated them to get involved and reflected on why they think more people don’t give their time. Recently released data from the U.S. Census and AmeriCorps showed that volunteer participation fell 7 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, part of a long trend in declining volunteerism.