VOLUNTEERISM

VOLUNTEERISM may be defined as contributing one's time or talents for charitable, educational, social, political, or other worthwhile purposes, usually in one's community, freely and without regard for compensation. Since the seventeenth century, Americans have shaped their nation by their voluntary efforts: providing services, organizing political action, caring for the poor, reaching out to the disadvantaged, providing education, ensuring equality and civil rights for all citizens, and working for change.

Too numerous to count, American voluntary efforts have served many purposes. For example, thousands of Americans have contributed their resources to achieve political ends, providing invaluable service in times of war. During the Revolution men formed committees of correspondence to keep the colonies in constant contact; joined MILITIAS, like the MINUTEMEN of Concord, to fight the British army; and organized the BOSTON TEA PARTY, a raid on ships in Boston Harbor, during which crates of

expensive tea were thrown overboard to protest taxes imposed by the crown. At the same time, women used their economic power to boycott luxury items and cloth imported from Britain, producing their own goods for their family's needs. During the Revolution and later wars, women visited hospitals and prisons, rolled bandages, organized food drives, nursed soldiers, and sometimes worked as spies. In the nineteenth century, African Americans and white Americans undertook the dangerous task of moving escaped slaves to freedom along the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. Children volunteered also, contributing their pennies and participating in drives to conserve food, clothing, and other resources. Americans continue to volunteer for political purposes by joining the military, working for political parties at elections, participating in voting drives, organizing block associations, protesting, marching, lobbying, and raising funds.

Volunteers have also provided relief to people in need. At first, citizens willingly organized to provide a service for their town or county. In the nineteenth century, public need began to overwhelm local resources. Women then seized the opportunity to become actively engaged in public life and policy. They organized, built, and maintained shelters for the homeless, soup lines, orphanages, homes for single mothers and abandoned children, and hospitals for the needy. Often established by religious and ethnic groups, these institutions assisted individuals and families, filling in the gaps that government did not have the authority or ability to cover. Similarly, from slavery through the beginning of the twenty-first century, African Americans have organized to provide relief, churches, burial, and religious instruction for their communities. Children have helped raise funds in their neighborhoods for schools, missions, and foreign aid organizations like UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). Volunteers continue to visit and nurse the sick, offer food to the hungry, clean up after disasters, build homes, give blood, raise money, and publicize the needs of others.

The volunteer force in the early 2000s was as large as it was diverse. Americans of every age, race, religion, and ethnic group contributed their time and abilities to local communities as well as to the nation. People worked independently and through organizations that coordinated volunteers to help provide healthcare, accessible public transportation, and decent schools and to support urban revitalization, public information, recycling, environmental protection, religious missions, and charities, among many other efforts.

VOLUNTEERISM

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