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Lend a Hand This Holiday Season – Oregon Ranks Third in Nation for Volunteering

For over 25 years, Human Solutions has worked to help ensure that homeless and low-income families have the tools and resources they need to build pathways out of poverty.

Portland, OR. Did you know that 43% of Oregonians volunteered in 2018? Many volunteered at Human Solutions to help ensure that homeless and low-income families can build pathways out of poverty. Oregon ranks third in the nation, behind Utah and Minnesota for the percentage of the population that volunteers. In city rankings, Portland ranks fifth of all cities with 44% of citizens volunteering. (The full list of rankings is included in this story, near the end. In last place: Florida.)

We’d like to tip our hats to those who give of their time for others! Thank you!

We’ve got some idea for volunteering this holiday season if you’d like to join the crew, there are hundreds of opportunities. Hands-on Greater Portland is a great place to start. You can sort by date, interest, location, etc.

We have a list of over 150 local nonprofit partners with live links on our Partners Page. All your favorites are there! Like Meals on Wheels. Here’s a video about their program:

You can check out organizations that offer special holiday volunteer opportunities by interest, like the following:

Portland Animal Welfare
Portland Animal Welfare (PAW) hosts monthly clinics that offer free veterinary services to the homeless and impoverished. Medical, creative and logistical volunteers are always needed. Volunteers are always welcome at rescue shelter Animal Aid and the Oregon Humane Society.

Helping the Homeless
Bridgetown Inc. helps Portland’s homeless population. You can volunteer at its weekly Night Strike event that brings food, clothing, haircuts, and supplies to people under the Burnside Bridge. There are also opportunities to help at Portland Homeless Family Solutions shelters and with local service-providing organization Outside In.

Oregon Food Bank
Keeping the pantry stocked at the Oregon Food Bank is a big job that typically falls to volunteers. Sign up as an individual or as a group.

Friends of Trees
Keep Portland and the surrounding area green with Friends of Trees, which is always looking for volunteers to plant trees in local soil.

Meals on Wheels People
Volunteer to deliver hot meals to the homebound elderly for the holidays with Meals on Wheels People, which is looking for volunteers now. You can also use your car to give rides to the elderly or disabled with Ride Connection.

Helping a Home
A home can be a meaningful thing – it can also be pretty costly. You can help by volunteering at the ReBuilding Center, a Portland organization that reclaims and recycles rebuilding and remodeling materials, selling them at a low cost. For the home decor side of things, there’s Community Warehouse, which provides basic household furnishings to Portland’s more vulnerable populations.

Here’s a list of the national volunteer statistics from the Corporation for National and Community Service:

STATE RANKINGS BY VOLUNTEER RATE

Rank	States	Rate
1	Utah	51.0%
2	Minnesota	45.1%
3	Oregon	43.2%
4	Iowa	41.5%
5	Alaska	40.6%
6	Nebraska	40.2%
7	District of Columbia	39.8%
8	Montana	38.8%
9	Maine	38.7%
10	Idaho	37.9%
11	North Dakota	37.4%
12	Wisconsin	37.4%
13	Kansas	36.5%
14	Maryland	36.3%
15	South Dakota	36.3%
16	Vermont	36.0%
17	Washington	35.7%
18	New Hampshire	35.7%
19	North Carolina	35.1%
20	Indiana	34.9%
21	Pennsylvania	34.2%
22	Virginia	34.0%
23	Ohio	33.2%
24	Wyoming	32.7%
25	Massachusetts	32.6%
26	Colorado	32.4%
27	Oklahoma	32.0%
28	Missouri	31.9%
29	Delaware	31.8%
30	Connecticut	31.8%
31	Tennessee	31.3%
32	South Carolina	30.8%
33	Rhode Island	30.7%
34	Arizona	30.0%
35	Arkansas	30.0%
36	Michigan	29.4%
37	Texas	28.4%
38	Illinois	28.1%
39	Kentucky	28.1%
40	West Virginia	28.1%
41	Hawaii	28.0%
42	Alabama	27.4%
43	New Mexico	27.1%
44	Georgia	26.5%
45	New Jersey	26.1%
46	Louisiana	25.8%
47	California	25.4%
48	New York	25.3%
49	Nevada	24.4%
50	Mississippi	23.8%
51	Florida	22.8%

1	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area	46.3%
2	Rochester, NY Metro Area	45.6%
3	Salt Lake City, UT Metro Area	45.0%
4	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI Metro Area	44.6%
5	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metro Area	44.3%
6	Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metro Area	43.3%
7	Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area	38.1%
8	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area	38.1%
9	Raleigh, NC Metro Area	38.0%
10	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area	37.6%

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.