A recent study conducted by the Corporation of National and Community Service found that 41% of Alaskans volunteer in their local communities. This places Alaska fifth, nationally, for rates of volunteering in the United States.
The state of Utah ranked first in the study, with 51% of its residents volunteering. Most of those reported dedicating their service hours to their church.
There are many ways to volunteer in the community. Serving on non-profit boards, logging hours at the Food Bank, picking up trash, and working on fundraisers, are just a few of the ways to contribute.
The Upper Susitna Valley sports its share of dedicated people. KTNA spoke with local community members about why they choose to volunteer.
“People are doing things for this community all the time. Sometime they’re official, like being on the KTNA Board. Sometime they’re unofficial, just like the random acts of kindness that people in this community do. So there’s tons of ways to be an active part of this community, and volunteering in organizations is a way that I choose.”
“It’s just really important to be to get to know your community members, your fellow community members, and your neighbors in a different way, and especially too, in a small community, I think it’s important to volunteer because somebody has to do this stuff and if no one is stepping up to do it, it’s not going to get done.”
Those were the voices of two local volunteers, Cary Birdsall and Cassie Westnedge. They both happen to include the KTNA Board of Directors in their volunteering efforts.
The Upper Susitna Valley lost one of its most forceful volunteers to Covid-19 this past week. Herman Thompson won the Bert Hall Award in 2016 for all his efforts in the community. Here’s Herman speaking with Katie Writer for KTNA in 2016.
“All my life I’ve been doing service in one form or another, all my adult life. I spent 31 years, 3 months and 16 days in the United States Air Force, and during that period, never had a large amount of time to get involved in the local communities usually. And after I retired, in 1986, I’ve been doing volunteer work for various and sundry organizations since then. Since we came up here 20 years ago, it’s basically a way to give back to the community and make up for not having been able to do that kind of thing for 31 plus years. It hasn’t always been easy but it’s been fruitful.
The Bert Hall Award is presented each year by the Mat-Su Health Foundation to an individual who has shown commitment to improving the health and wellness of people in the Mat-Su Borough. The award was created in 2013 in honor of Mat-Su resident Bert Hall.
So while, fifth place out of 50 states seems like a big accomplishment, Upper Su residents and Alaskans seem to reliably come through for the causes that they care about.
Click here for the 2016 interview with Herman Thompson about his Bert Hall award.
Click here for the 2018 interview about Herman Thompson’s work with the Upper Susitna Seniors.
