Heifer International and American volunteering trends

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Volunteering Trends

Give a person a fish, that person can eat for a day. Teach a person to fish, and that person can feed him or herself for a lifetime. This is the philosophy behind the international organization Heifer International, according to its official website. Heifer International embraces the new worldwide ideological trends of global cooperation, sustainable agriculture, and community education in the hopes of creating a more prosperous and equitable world. Heifer International has helped poor people all over the world by providing them with livestock to better enable them to feed themselves. Volunteers from all over the world contribute time and money to the organization, and impart their knowledge. Heifer International attempts to both end hunger and care for the earth.

One of the most notable trends in American volunteering has been the increased numbers of very young and very old volunteers. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, a national report tracking volunteering over a 30-year period found that rates of volunteering amongst teens rebounded to a 30-year high in 2006, rising by more than 32% between 1974 and the present. Rates of volunteering have also increased 64% for Americans ages 65 years and over since 1974. Additionally, the proportion of Americans volunteering for an educational or youth group has increased 63% since 1989.