Utah's volunteer rate tops in U.S., study says

A new study based on three years of data has ranked Utah tops in the nation for its high rate of volunteering.

The Corporation for National and Community Service looked at figures from 2004 through 2006 to conclude that Utah has a volunteer rate of 45.9 percent for that time period.

Last year, for example, 790,000 volunteers dedicated 145.8 million "hours of service," according to the study. That gave Utah a volunteer rate of 43.5 percent for 2006 — well above the national rate of 26.7 percent.

The study, "Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life," was officially released Monday, listing Utah as one of only five states in which tutoring or teaching were the most popular volunteer activities.

The study also showed that Utah had the highest rate of young adult volunteers.

"Parents take their kids with them when they provide service," said Rick Crawford, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and state program director for the Utah office of the Corporation for National and Community Service. "It's just kind of the way we do it."

Crawford attributed part of the overall ranking to the fact that the LDS faithful grow up in a "culture of service" that encourages members to give back to the church and to parts of the community that may have no ties to the state's predominant religion.

In the categories showing where Utahns volunteered in 2006, "religious" had the highest percentage at 64.2 percent, followed by educational or youth service (15.9 percent), social or community service (6.8) and other (3.9.) The remaining 9.2 percent was divided among areas such as civic, political, hospital, sports and arts.

While tithing, or giving money to the LDS Church is expected, recorded and, if needed, talked about among members and their bishops, volunteering of time for the benefit of their church or outside of their faith isn't exactly mandated, according to Crawford.

However, "I think a lot of Mormons feel that this is what the Lord wants them to do," he said.

If an LDS Church member hasn't quite reached that understanding, Crawford added, they probably volunteer because it makes them "feel good" or, in rare cases so they can look good to others.

Crawford grew up in Illinois and didn't convert to the LDS faith until later in life.

"In Illinois I don't remember our neighborhood cleaning up a park," he said. "I think it may be part of our (Utah) culture."

Crawford said volunteering here tends to be more of a grass-roots effort. "Here it's more of a neighborhood thing," he said.

Crawford said he didn't want to give all the credit in the study to the LDS Church. Some areas of volunteering in Utah — unlike the largely LDS-run Boy Scouts, for example — don't necessarily have a direct faith-based connection, according to Crawford. He mentioned youth soccer, mentoring in schools, a high rate of senior citizen volunteers and Volunteers In Service to America (VISTA) as examples.

Although the study showed that Utah's volunteer rate is consistently higher than the national rate, it has dropped every year since 2003, when the state rate was 49.7 percent.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com