40 Fun Facts About Volunteering

Which US state earned the nickname the Volunteer State after its men flocked to fight in the War of 1812?

Tennessee is said to have earned the name when its men eagerly answered a single wartime call for some 3,500 volunteers.

Which Founding Father helped form the Union Fire Company, a volunteer fire brigade in Philadelphia, in 1736?

Benjamin Franklin modelled it on the fire societies of his native Boston, but his brigade fought fires for the whole town, not only for its own members.

The Red Cross emblem was created by reversing the colours of which country's national flag?

Switzerland's white cross on red was flipped to make the symbol, and the Red Crescent was later made the same way from the Ottoman flag.

Which leader's birthday, 18 July, is an international day when people give 67 minutes to helping others?

Nelson Mandela spent 67 years in the struggle for justice in South Africa, so the day asks for one minute of giving for each year.

Which charity's bell ringers collect Christmas donations in red kettles, a custom begun in San Francisco in 1891?

The Salvation Army's first kettle was a crab pot that Captain Joseph McFee set up at a ferry landing to pay for a free Christmas dinner for the poor.

Meals on Wheels began when volunteers brought hot dinners to people left unable to cook during which emergency?

The Blitz wrecked so many British kitchens that volunteers began delivering dinners by pram, cart and bicycle, which gave the service its name.

Which Hunger Games heroine volunteers as a tribute so that her younger sibling Primrose is spared the arena?

Katniss Everdeen takes Prim's place at the District 12 reaping, and Peeta Mellark later volunteers in the same way to spare his mentor Haymitch.

Which former US president and his wife Rosalynn give their names to Habitat for Humanity's annual home-building week?

Jimmy Carter joined his first build in 1984 on New York's Lower East Side, and the yearly builds have since put up homes in more than a dozen countries.

Which animals have volunteers counted each Christmas since 1900, in a census proposed to replace a holiday hunt?

Birds were the quarry of Christmas 'side hunts', so ornithologist Frank Chapman proposed counting them instead, and the Audubon Society still runs the tally.

Which Christmas gift drive have US Marine reservists run since 1947, when a major's wife sewed a doll to give away?

Toys for Tots began in Los Angeles after Diane Hendricks found no charity to take her handmade Raggedy Ann, and Walt Disney's animators drew its train logo.

Which US president created the Peace Corps by executive order in March 1961, weeks after taking office?

John F. Kennedy first floated the idea in a late-night campaign speech on the steps of the University of Michigan's student union.

Which Civil War nurse, known as the Angel of the Battlefield, founded the American Red Cross?

Clara Barton also ran an office after the war that answered tens of thousands of letters and helped trace more than 22,000 missing men.

Which Latin phrase describes professional work, most often a lawyer's, that is done without pay?

Pro bono is short for pro bono publico, 'for the public good', and it traditionally meant lawyers acting for people who could not afford legal help.

Which parable figure from Luke's Gospel gives his name to laws that shield bystanders who give emergency aid?

The Good Samaritan lends his name to laws meant to stop fear of a lawsuit deterring passers-by, though most do not cover professionals on the job.

Which hiking route from Georgia to Maine was built by private citizens and is still kept up largely by volunteers?

The Appalachian Trail was conceived by forester Benton MacKaye in 1921 and completed in 1937, and dozens of local hiking groups now maintain it.

Which US federal holiday became a national day of service through a 1994 act co-written by Congressman John Lewis?

MLK Day had been observed for only eight years when Lewis and Senator Harris Wofford wrote its service role into law.

Which actor plays a Yale graduate fleeing gambling debts on a Peace Corps flight in the 1985 comedy Volunteers?

Tom Hanks shared the screen with Rita Wilson, whom he had first met on the sitcom Bosom Buddies and went on to marry in 1988.

Which sports movement for people with intellectual disabilities held its first games at Chicago's Soldier Field in 1968?

Special Olympics grew out of a summer day camp that founder Eunice Shriver held at her own Maryland home, and it still relies on volunteer coaches.

The word volunteer, borrowed from French around 1600, first described a person offering himself for what?

Military service was the word's only meaning at first, and its use for anyone who freely takes on a task is recorded from the 1630s.

What kind of charity did John van Hengel pioneer in Phoenix in 1967 to pass on groceries that shops could not sell?

A food bank was his answer after a mother of ten showed him how much edible surplus grocers were throwing away behind their stores.

Which national service programme was created in 1993 by an act that Bill Clinton signed in his first year as president?

AmeriCorps absorbed VISTA, a programme launched in 1965 as a home-front counterpart to the Peace Corps.

Which service organisation, started by Chicago lawyer Paul Harris in 1905, has led a global campaign to wipe out polio?

Rotary International took its name from early meetings that rotated between members' offices, and it launched its PolioPlus drive in 1985.

Which service organisation took up sight-saving work after Helen Keller urged its 1925 convention to aid the blind?

Lions Clubs began in 1917 under businessman Melvin Jones, and eye care has been their best-known cause ever since Keller's speech in Ohio.

To a gardener, a tomato plant described as a volunteer is one that has done what?

Grown without being sown is the mark of a volunteer, which usually springs from seed carried in on the wind or hidden in compost.

Which religion's temples run langars, free kitchens staffed by volunteers where anyone may eat regardless of faith?

Sikhism treats the langar as an act of seva, or selfless service, and everyone sits on the floor together to eat the same vegetarian dishes.

Which organisation established International Volunteer Day in 1985, an observance marked every year on 5 December?

United Nations members voted the day into being, and the organisation's own volunteer programme leads the celebrations each year.

Which medical aid group, founded in 1971 by French medics and journalists, won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize?

Doctors Without Borders grew out of the Biafran famine, which convinced its founders that care should reach anyone, whatever their race, religion or politics.

Which free weekly 5-kilometre event, begun in south-west London in 2004, is staged entirely by volunteers?

Parkrun's first outing drew just 13 runners to Bushy Park, and founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt managed the morning himself.

In which Italian city did volunteers nicknamed the Mud Angels rescue art and rare books after a devastating 1966 flood?

Florence was swamped when the Arno overflowed, and helpers from Italy and abroad dug its damaged masterpieces out of the sludge.

What do online volunteers sort by shape in a citizen-science effort launched by Oxford astrophysicists in 2007?

Galaxies poured through the site so quickly that within a day of launch the public was logging almost 70,000 classifications an hour.

Which US president's inaugural address inspired the Points of Light foundation, set up in 1990 to promote volunteering?

George H. W. Bush also created the Daily Point of Light Award for ordinary Americans, and he went on signing every certificate until his death.

Which West African country hosted the very first Peace Corps volunteers, who arrived there in August 1961?

Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, received the newcomers warmly when they arrived at the end of that month.

Which co-founder of Chicago's Hull House settlement became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Jane Addams opened Hull House in 1889 to serve poor immigrant families, and she is remembered as the founder of American social work.

What two-word term does Habitat for Humanity use for the labour future homeowners put in alongside volunteers?

Sweat equity puts future owners on the building site beside the volunteers, with paid contractors brought in only for certain skilled jobs.

Which businessman organised villagers to tend the wounded after the 1859 Battle of Solferino, inspiring the Red Cross?

Henry Dunant's book about the battle launched the movement, yet he was ruined in business and lived in obscurity before sharing the first Nobel Peace Prize.

Which French author of Democracy in America noted how readily Americans join voluntary associations?

Alexis de Tocqueville had officially been sent to study American prisons, and used the errand as cover for a nine-month look at the whole society.

Which charity, founded in 1824 after shipwrecks off the Isle of Man, saves lives at sea with mostly unpaid crews?

The RNLI started out as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, and legacies and donations still pay most of its bills.

Which psychedelic rock band, with Grace Slick among its singers, released the album Volunteers in 1969?

Jefferson Airplane's title track was sparked by a charity truck with that word on its side, which woke singer Marty Balin one morning.

Volunteers in the WWOOF network, begun in England in 1971, trade labour for bed and board on what kind of property?

Organic farms were at first a weekend escape for city dwellers: the letters originally stood for Working Weekends On Organic Farms.

In which Nordic country is dugnad, voluntary work done together by neighbours, often rounded off with a shared meal?

Norway even has a word, dugnadsånd, for the spirit of pitching in, and a city dugnad often means spring-cleaning the grounds of a housing co-op.