Volunteerism report latest to find Nevada at bottom

Nevada has once again landed at the bottom of the list, and, once again, not in a good way.

The Corporation for National and Community Service released a report last week that ranked the Silver State dead last in the nation for its rate of people who volunteer. It's the second year in a row that Nevada has come in 51st out of a pool of 51 in the report.

Drop-out volunteers are also a big problem in Nevada, said Robert Grimm, director of the service's research and policy development.

"It appears that many people in Nevada who volunteer do not keep volunteering," Grimm said.

"It's a problem around the nation, but especially in Nevada."

So, are many Nevadans too selfish or apathetic to give a small portion of their time to helping others or what?

"I certainly wouldn't say that," Grimm said.

Instead, he and local volunteer coordinators say, the state's rapid growth, comparatively low number of nonprofit organizations and a lack of emphasis on volunteering have combined to place volunteering low on many Nevadans' lists of priorities.

Fran Smith, executive director of the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada, said the thousands of people who move to the Las Vegas Valley each month have other things to do when they first arrive.

"When you're new to a place, you have some high-priority matters that need to be taken care of: finding a job, a place to live, setting up the kids in school," she said.

"You need to get settled a little before you can think about volunteering."

She said Nevada also doesn't have enough places where people easily can get information about volunteering.

"People have an interest, but they don't know where to go, who needs them."

Longtime volunteer Mercedes Barksdale said she thinks the answer might be simpler.

"There's too much going on here, like gambling," Barksdale, a volunteer case worker at the local American Red Cross, said.

"People are so busy here all the time. They don't give a lot back to the community."

Barksdale said she has been volunteering for many years. The 61-year-old moved to Southern Nevada a couple of years ago and has been a Red Cross volunteer for about six months. She is one of about 1,000 local Red Cross volunteers.

Barskdale said she was raised to volunteer.

"I grew up with a mother who was always helping someone," she said.

"We always had someone at our dinner table and were always giving clothes to other families."

Now Barksdale follows up with Red Cross clients who have experienced a fire or other disaster, making sure they have what they need.

Grimm said that if a community wants to inspire volunteerism such as Barksdale's, it needs to start when its residents are young.

"Just like we want people to know math, we want people who are engaged in their communities," he said.

"Growing service among youth is a valuable long-term strategy."

Other ways to encourage volunteerism include creating more comprehensive volunteer databases and getting more local leaders to emphasize community service.

"I think that Nevada has yet to embrace and make volunteerism the priority that it can be," said Shawn Lecker-Pomaville, executive director of the Nevada Commission for National and Community Service, which hosts the annual Governor's Points of Light awards.

"Our leadership can do a lot to promote volunteerism by speaking out about it and emphasizing it as an ethic for our citizens to develop."

Prospective volunteers need to realize that even a small amount of donated time can have an impact, said Shalimar Cabrera, AmeriCorps director for the U.S. Veterans Initiative.

"People say they don't have time for it (volunteering)," she said.

"They want to stay a long time, make a commitment. But volunteers can really make a difference, even if it's just an hour a week."

Despite the state's low ranking in the national volunteer report, Nevada has a cadre of dedicated, hard-working volunteers that continues to grow, Smith said.

"I see a real healthy, enthusiastic, growing volunteer community," she said.

At the same time, "there is not an agency or organization that would say they have as many volunteers as they need."

Grimm noted that about 320,000 Nevadans volunteered in 2006, translating to 42.4 million hours of service.

"Clearly, there are a good number of people in Nevada who are volunteering," Grimm said.

"But there's substantial opportunities to grow it (the number)."

Grimm cited the numerous benefits that come from volunteering.

"It's not just a nice thing to do," he said.

"It can solve key community problems, lead to a more engaged community. Substantial volunteering will even enhance your health."

For more information or to volunteer through the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada, visit www.volunteer centersn.org.