Do People Hate Doing Community Service?

I’ll be honest. I had trouble meeting my 40 hours of community service requirement in highschool. I cleaned out a softball shed. I gave out pumpkins to some kids, but I can not say I truly enjoyed it. When I was volunteering I wasn’t thinking about the kids whose days I made, I was thinking about how I’d much rather be home watching the newest episode of America’s Next Top Model. In my experience, volunteering hasn’t always been fun and fulfilling which I’m sure many people can relate to. Maybe it was the fact that I was required to do the hours or that high school me had other things on her mind, but I did not always enjoy volunteering.

According to the AmeriCorps, the government agency for national and community service, 23.2% of Americans said they participated in formal volunteering in September 2020-2021, meaning they got involved in organizations. This number has dropped since 2019, being the largest decrease AmeriCorps had seen since they started collecting data in 2002. While it is fair to say that the coronavirus disease could have had an impact on this percentage, the rate of volunteering had been steadily dropping since 2013, according to a survey from an article in Philanthropy News Digest.

While talking to IC American Red Cross Club President, Mel Perez, we talked about how many community service events included a fun aspect that would encourage people to come and participate. She knew that people would probably come to the Brainstorm + Cookie Decorating event for the cookies more than the brainstorming ways to fundraise money for people impacted by the Turkey and Syria earthquake. This is a common trend I see among community service events, that there is an element of incentivizing.

While I’m sure we can all understand the importance of helping those affected by natural disasters, we often find ourselves asking the question, but what is in it for me? I don’t think we are all selfish and heartless, but I do think it can be hard for us to think about the bigger picture when we are struggling with our own issues. Although I had been volunteering from a young age, I did not know until recently the many benefits that come from community service. Besides being another line on your resumé, community service has been shown to be good for both body and mind, according to HelpGuide.org. Maybe it’s time we stop thinking about graduation requirements and think about what makes us human.