Every year during National Volunteer Week, we celebrate those who tirelessly give their time, talent, and treasure to help others.  

The U.S. Census Bureau collects data on both formal and informal volunteering in our communities. Their most recently published research in 2023, showed that in 2019 and 2020, people who formally volunteered with organizations provided more than 4.1 billion hours of service with an estimated economic value of $122.9 billion.   

Volunteering impacts more than economics. Volunteers help make our communities a better place. They help bridge socioeconomic divides by ensuring access to mentoring,  educational and career opportunities, as well as everyday necessities. Volunteer organizations partner with each other to accomplish more than they could alone. Meals-on-Wheels may partner with a faith-based group that provides simple home repairs, ensuring that their customers with rickety steps or who need an access ramp can have their needs met.   

Volunteers also play a key role in many post-acute care settings. Volunteer support helps people remain safely at home, brightens days for those in senior living facilities, and provides comfort and companionship to hospice patients and families.   

The Impact of Home Health Volunteers

If you are a home health provider, you rely on community services such as Meals on Wheels, errand services, and home repair volunteers. These services exist only to the extent there are volunteers to staff them. Because of these volunteers, your patients receive healthy meals that meet their unique dietary requirements. If they need a stair railing while they recover from a joint replacement, someone can make that happen, ensuring their safety. Community volunteers may also provide transportation and help with errands, which facilitates keeping doctor’s appointments and meeting the patient’s needs while they are homebound.   

Research on the benefits associated with the Meals on Wheels program, published in Health Affairs in 2018 and 2024, shows that seniors are more likely to remain in their homes, more likely to receive additional needed services, and more likely to have changing needs identified and responded to quickly when participating in the program. Medicare data also shows that Meals on Wheels support is also associated with decreased Medicare spending for acute health crises.   

Regardless of their source, volunteers can improve your home care business in numerous ways.  

The Impact of Senior Living Volunteers

If you are a senior living provider, volunteers are key to the success of your organization. Volunteers provide companionship and activities for residents and their families. Caroling during the holidays, engaging residents in filling eggs for the community egg hunt, weekly sing-along hours, exercise programs, gardening opportunities, and craft activities are all made possible by volunteers. One of my favorite yoga teachers also teaches chair yoga at the local senior living center.   

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, which serves patients and families in nursing facilities, also uses volunteers to support their work in advocating for those residing in long-term care settings. Volunteers collaborate with staff to provide information to individuals and community groups about residents’ rights and the complaint process and support individuals and families who have care concerns.  

Residents in the independent living senior living space also utilize community-based volunteers to help them remain independent in their homes, often extending the time until they need a higher level of care.   

The Impact of Hospice Volunteers

If you work in hospice care, volunteers are an integral part of your staff. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hospice regulations require that all Medicare-certified hospice organizations utilize volunteers to support the provision of care and assist in administrative activities. Volunteer services must account for 5% of the organization’s total patient care hours. Why does CMS mandate the use of volunteers? Here are the benefits volunteers bring to the hospice organization according to  

The Connecticut Hospice, the first hospice in the United States.  

1. Hospice volunteers provide supporting services as an extension of the hospice staff.  
2. Hospice volunteers offer specialized skills outside the scope of professional staff expertise.  
3. Volunteers can focus on specific needs such as support and presence. These volunteers allowed me to care for my other patients, knowing my patient was not alone.  
4. Volunteers offer the gift of time and company.   
5. Volunteers free up time for professional staff.   
6. Hospice volunteers offer a safe outlet for patients and family members to unburden themselves.   

For additional details on each of these benefits, read our article on building a world-class hospice volunteer program.  

Beyond Celebration: Invest in Your Volunteers

How does your organization celebrate the service your volunteers provide? Luncheons, small gifts, letters to the editor praising their work, are some of the ways organizations choose to honor these key members of your team.   

We would like to inspire you to honor your volunteers by educating them to be better skilled at meeting the needs of those they serve. Most of the clients you serve have chronic illnesses and they rely on your organization and the support of community volunteers to remain safely in their home. As chronic illnesses progress, your volunteers will notice changes and struggle with the impending loss of clients they have built relationships with. Knowing what to expect as clients progress in their disease process and how to help as the end of life nears makes your volunteers more confident in their roles and better able to navigate the challenges of working with clients who are nearing death.   

Celebrate Volunteer Week

Volunteer Week is an international celebration of the valuable services provided by volunteers. Think of all the ways you, your staff, and your volunteers impact the lives of those you care for and the community at large. We encourage you to honor that service through both acknowledgment and education. If your organization does not already participate in a community service project, find one that aligns with your mission and go make a difference. Your organization and your community will be better for it!   

I want to close with a quote from Margaret Mead, the noted cultural anthropologist. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” 

Hospice Volunteer Certification

Activated Insights has a certification program designed to meet Medicare requirements for hospice volunteers. This training was created with industry leader Patty Burgess, the founder of Teaching Transitions. These new hospice volunteer training modules are engaging, practical, and filled with tips that inspire confidence – with learning options for direct patient care volunteers and office administrative task-based volunteers in hospice settings. All learners who complete either of the two learning options will become Certified End of Life Specialists.  

Explore our end-of-life certification program and see how it can help both your staff and volunteers!  

My Volunteer Service Journey

As a family, our volunteering seemed to always center around food. Sometimes, it was cooking 100 pounds of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving and serving dinner to those living at a nearby shelter. When our oldest entered high school, he introduced us to a service opportunity with Food and Friends. This organization provides meals for clients and families living with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. The first Thanksgiving we volunteered; we baked pies so each client would have a pumpkin pie. Over the years, Food and Friends has grown, and now, selling pies to the community is one of their biggest fundraisers.   

We continue to volunteer at food distribution events and work to keep the local food pantry stocked. We also deliver Meals on Wheels once a week.   

Feeding people is our niche.   

Do you volunteer? If so, what areas interest you? Leave a comment below!