We are always interested in considering volunteerism articles for listing here. A History of Americans as Volunteers, rev.ed. The journey from barn raising to computer user groups spans three and a half centuries of American volunteering. These pages have catalogued the remarkable achievements of citizens, individually or in groups, whose voluntary decisions to participate made social progress possible. Volunteerism is both reactive and proactive.
Volunteers can take action before institutions and government are willing to offer services.
As such, volunteers are pioneers and experimenters, unlimited by the restrictions of tradition, public statutes, need to make a profit, or availability of initial funds. By creating or urging others to create programs, volunteering challenges the status quo. This is the inherent political side of volunteer work. This is why volunteers will continue to be found on both sides of an issue-and at all points along the political spectrum. Another irony is that as voluntary agencies mature, they lose the ability to react quickly and take risks-the very hallmarks of their founding volunteers.