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MOORHEAD — Before the coronavirus hit, CCRI in Moorhead had 80 volunteers, Executive Director Shannon Bock said.
In the long run, COVID-19 didn’t slow down the nonprofit dedicated to helping those with disabilities. After implementing a formal volunteer program in 2021, CCRI has 429 volunteers, Bock said.
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“We definitely have seen an uptick in volunteers,” she said.
CCRI is an example of how volunteering has thrived post-pandemic. The AmeriCorps, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, reported that more than 1.8 million Minnesotans, or 40.3% of the state, formally volunteered in 2023, contributing $4 billion in economic value to the state.
Minnesota ranked third in the U.S. for the percentage of its state that formally volunteered last year, behind Utah at 46.6% and Vermont at 40.5%, according to AmeriCorps. With 185,034 volunteers, North Dakota placed 28th with 30.7%.
Minnesota was one of 14 states that rebounded to pre-pandemic numbers after the country saw a dip in volunteer rates in 2021. Minnesota’s rate in 2019 was 40.1% and 35.5% in 2021.
North Dakota hasn’t quite rebounded to its 2019 rate of 32.9%, according to AmeriCorps. It dropped to 26.9% in 2021.
North Dakotans should be proud of their numbers, AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith told The Forum, noting the state’s rate is above the national average of 28.3%. North Dakotans contributed nearly 12 million hours of service last year, Smith said.
“That’s an estimated worth of $400 million,” he said.
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Overall, AmeriCorps said volunteering rates in the U.S. are rebounding after the pandemic, which noted 30.3% of people volunteered in 2019. That fell to 23.2% in 2021, according to AmeriCorps, and climbed back up to 28.3% in 2023.
The largest gains from 2021 to 2023 came from millennials, people who identified as Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or Hispanic, people who haven’t graduated from high school and those with family incomes of less than $25,000, AmeriCorps said.
Informal volunteering, such as helping a neighbor, also was up across the U.S., AmeriCorps said.
“I am just so excited to see the largest growth in volunteering ever in this period where Americans are back,” Smith said. “They are serving. They are with their nonprofit organizations and making a difference.”
AmeriCorps and the Census present the data every two years.
The 7-point drop in 2021 was the first time since the group started collecting the data in 2002 that it saw a drop in rates, Smith said.
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The coronavirus shut down businesses, whether through mandates or by choice, when it hit the U.S. in 2020. That meant doors closed to volunteers, Smith noted.
That’s what happened to Sanford Health, said Chris Hames, the guest services manager for the health care provider in Fargo. In 2019, Sanford’s Fargo branch had between 400 and 450 volunteers who collectively worked 33,000 hours each year, Hames said.
Volunteers couldn’t work at Sanford in 2020 due to the pandemic, but they were brought back in 2021, Hames said.
“Slowly, we’ve been kind of building that back, although we have not … rebounded to pre-pandemic numbers,” he said.
Sanford had between 225 and 250 volunteers in 2024 who worked about 20,000 hours, he said.
He said he doesn’t blame the loss all on the pandemic, noting the national trend of still being down from 2019. Companies have become more flexible in offering part-time work to fill the gap that volunteers usually do, he said.
“Volunteerism has been on the decline for the past decade, and I think that the pandemic was a catalyst for a lot of that,” Hames said. “It certainly gave us a new baseline.”
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In recent years, Sanford looked at what it wanted to accomplish with volunteering, Hames said.
“Is it really to offset labor, or are there other goals that we as an organization want to focus on?” he asked.
Volunteering helps organizations fill in funding gaps, Smith said. It also can inspire volunteers to seek employment in the fields where they give their time, he said.
For Sanford, they transferred from posting big numbers to determining what services it needs to provide, and if those services can depend on volunteers, Hames said. Bringing in a volunteer can cost $300 for the health care provider, he said.
“Return on investment from a volunteer needs to be there, and sometimes relying on paid staff can be more efficient than that,” he said.
Sanford volunteers can comfort newborn infants, help visitors and patients navigate buildings and operate pantries, Hames said. Sanford also has a veteran ambassador program that pairs military veteran patients with military veteran volunteers, he added.
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Similarly, Sanford offers a peer support specialist volunteer program, he said.
“If you have a specific cancer diagnosis that you have battled and survived, we match you up with people that are going through that same diagnosis,” Hames said.
That could help a patient form an emotional connection that a health provider can’t give, he said.
Sanford wants to create opportunities that are meaningful both to patients and volunteers, he said.
“If you can think of a role, the sky’s the limit,” Hames said. “We need to create roles that have very meaningful touch and that offer benefits to both us and the volunteers.”
Sanford has a new focus on student volunteers, Hames said, that could be a pipeline for future employment.
“I think that is a measure of success that is at least equally as powerful as the numbers game,” he said. “If we can create relationships and bring these people into long-term careers with our organization, that’s a huge success.”
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CCRI has ramped up its formal volunteer program in the last 18 months, Bock said. Volunteers do a range of duties, from filing paperwork and manning the front desk to coaching sports events, creating activities and being prom escorts.
She acknowledged that volunteering saves money for CCRI, meaning funds can go toward other expenses.
Seeing the increase in volunteers brings Bock joy, she said. She not only gets to see the joy that volunteering brings to CCRI clients, but she also makes sure the community knows about the work volunteers and CCRI employees are doing.
“Unless you have a family member who has a disability, or you’re affiliated in some way, you just don’t know what to expect with it,” Bock said. “By people coming in to volunteer, that can open up the doors, open up the eyes of people who might have a misconception about what a disability is right.”
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