WILMINGTON, N.C. — Formal volunteering levels are at all-time lows, according to AmeriCorps, but the need for volunteers remains.

Nonprofit organizations across North Carolina are feeling that impact, including the New Hanover County Senior Resource Center, which is looking for more long-term volunteers.

What You Need To Know

  • AmeriCorps says the number of people volunteering is decreasing

  • The New Hanover County Senior Resource Center is looking for long-term volunteers

  • A volunteer at the center loves providing meals to those in need

Senior Resource Center volunteer Jo Lee MacLeod delivers nutritious meals to seniors through the center's Home Delivered Meals Program. She and her boyfriend, Bob Odom, started volunteering together as a way to spend some of their free time after retirement. 

“We decided we wanted to give back, we both are retired and seemed like the best way to be,” MacLeod said. “So we looked up the senior services online and reached out to them and said we would like to volunteer, and we would like to give one day a week.”

AmeriCorps data says the number of formal volunteers in the workforce has reached its lowest point in 30 years. That’s why MacLeod, who volunteers five days a week, said it’s important to find a cause that makes her feel good too. For MacLeod, it’s personal. She said it’s more than just dropping off food, it’s also a chance to make a difference in someone’s day.

“There’s just the small things, I think it’s going in with a smile,” MacLeod said. “Some of them call me honey and whatever, so it’s almost kind of filling a motherly spot for me.”

It’s that aspect that MacLeod said makes volunteering so rewarding and keeps her coming back every week.

“I think it’s just the one-on-one and providing them with a hot meal every day,” MacLeod said. “It just gives me that much joy, it gives me more joy probably than it does for them.”

The Senior Resource Center is looking for 25 more volunteers to deliver meals to seniors. Volunteers should be willing to commit to a two-hour route at least one day a week, Monday through Friday, for at least six months. You can find more information here. 

To find a place in need of volunteers near you, click here.