Letter: Nevada could use more volunteers

Friday, April 27, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Last week the report "Volunteering in America: 2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life" was released by the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Nevada was at the bottom of the list.

As professionals in the field of national and community service, we're responsible for promoting and developing our volunteer programs: AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and VISTA, which were not measured in the report. These programs generate thousands more volunteers who serve throughout Nevada. Yet, while the report may not tell the whole story of service in the state, it still begs some questions. Does Nevada value the economic, civic and altruistic benefits of volunteering? Do we invest in public policies that support volunteering, an investment that is capable of returning much more than it costs?

The report states that 320,000 Nevada volunteers dedicated more than 42 million hours of service statewide. Economically, this represents nearly $800 million in free services. If these volunteer hours are lost, or continue their downward trend, who picks up the tab? Aside from benefiting the economy, volunteering has been found to increase civic engagement and connect citizens to their communities, values that any society should promote.

Nevada has many progressive business volunteer initiatives, and volunteers themselves, that deserve to be commended. We think we can look to them to help move Nevada up the volunteer ranks by building a comprehensive, sustainable, public -private partnership for service and volunteerism.

Shawn Lecker-Pomaville, Fallon

Craig Warner, Reno