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| Photo taken by Tom Smart, Deseret News |
Every year Salt Lake County Volunteer Services presents its
annual report to the Salt Lake County Council. With Utah being the number one state in the nation
for volunteering (nine years running), Salt Lake County relies heavily on
volunteers for everything from cleaning up invasive species along the Jordan
River to helping out with Meals on
Wheels.
Salt Lake County offers residents 70 different programs and
100 boards and commissions on which to serve. You can find more information about
how to serve on one of those boards here.
On just those programs, boards, and commissions, over 23,800 people volunteered
their time and talents. Those 23,800 people spent over 719,700 hours
volunteering! That’s the equivalent of about 346 full time county employees and
a savings of $16,625,539.
While these numbers are fantastic, the number of volunteers
is slightly declining in Salt Lake County, following a nation-wide trend. The
“baby-boomer” generation is moving from a position of assisting others to
needing assistance. Because baby-boomers were such a key source of volunteers,
we are in need of younger generations to step in and replace the aging
generation. Volunteering offers the to learn a new skill, add additional
meaning and purpose, perform a higher good, and expand personal horizons. To
make a difference in our community visit the Salt Lake County Volunteer
Services website at www.slco.org/volunteer.
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