Grandpa was a Shriner, and Mom helped with band boosters and field trips. However, Generation Y, X, Z -- whatever it's called -- is doing its own thing when it comes to volunteering.
Students are picking and choosing activities to fit around their hectic class and work schedules, not to mention any signs of a social life.
Welcome to the new volunteerism.
Students' buffet-style approach to community service has prompted the old guard of volunteerism to change its ways. Professors are helping organizations find volunteers by making civic engagement a class requirement, while organizations are allowing online registration and more flexibility in how, when and where students volunteer.
LEARN THROUGH SERVICE
About 60 percent of Student Voluntary Services' crew volunteers because of class requirements, and most volunteers are education majors. The 100-level course for freshmen, "Education in a Democratic Society," requires 50 out-of-class service hours, Dixie Denton, instructor of elementary education, said.
The semester usually begins with groans from students because they don't know how they can find the time for the 50 hours, she said. However, by the end, the students who decide to continue in education will also stick with volunteering.
"We wanted our students to experience working with boys and girls in a variety of settings," she said. "We also want our students to make a difference in the community. They spend their time helping, and they become a part of the solution."
As director of Project 540, a national project to motivate students to volunteer, Rick Battistoni promotes the benefits of required volunteering, often called service learning. Community service helps students, especially freshmen, become familiar with the community and opens the door for students who were not active in high school, he said.
In the past three years, Denton said, she has noticed an increase in students who volunteered in high school. More than 44 percent of high schoolers participate in some form of community service compared to 33 percent in college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
MY CHOICE
Battistoni attributes the drop in college-age volunteerism to students' new independence. Instead of being told what to do, college students have opportunities to make those decisions, he said.
Students are more selective in their activities because they do not want to become confined to one organization, Daniel Stalling, director of Ball State's Leadership and Service Learning programs, said. Instead, many students will volunteer for several local organizations during their time at college.
"However, we are finding students are very engaged in specific issues that they are concerned about," Stallings said. "They can be intensely committed to a cause for a short-term duration and may continue with that issue or move to some other issue which they are also deeply committed to and devote their energies very intensively."
The one-track focus on specific organizations or activities reflects the way college students get their start as volunteers, but it does not tell the whole story. Trisha Brasher, Hoosier Heartland Red Cross volunteer coordinator, said students may start volunteering as a class assignment or to beef up their resume, however, they walk away with a new sense of place in their community that moves them on to their next activity or organization.
"When they volunteer," Brasher said, "it does give them a sense of accomplishment and pride to do something. I think it's a great asset to the students and part of their education is to reach outside of themselves and be part of something bigger. Eventually, they do come back to us."
MOVING FORWARD
To attract students, local organizations find they have to build activities around students' schedules more today than in the past, Brasher said. She works with student volunteers weekly and helps arrange their activities.
Stalling and Brasher agreed that organizations must adapt to the changes students are creating in volunteerism, if they plan to survive in the coming years. Organizations have to become more brazen in asking for help, Brasher said.
"You're still getting the quality of volunteers through the classrooms," she said. "But sometimes they want to take on more. A lot of people hold back and don't ask [volunteers for more service] because they know how busy they are, but great volunteers will give, asked or not."
To make the sign-up process easier and less time-consuming, Student Voluntary Services put the application on its Web site about five years ago, he said. The local Red Cross chapter started its Web site a few months ago and plans to make an interactive sign-up process, Brasher said.
Despite the necessary changes, volunteer organizations will not fade into American history because communities will continue to have needs that must be solved through direct contact, Stalling said.
"The face of volunteerism will continue to reflect the changing demographics of our society," he said. "With our growing baby boomer generation entering retirement and being more active with their leisure time, our younger generations will be increasingly called upon to play a role of serving our parents and grandparents."
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