Did You Know:

• Massachusetts volunteers contributed more than 137.5 million documented service hours in 2011
• Benjamin Franklin started the first volunteer Firefighting Company in 1736
• The American Red Cross was established in 1881
• The first volunteer center was established in 1919 in Minneapolis, MN
• Soup kitchens were created in response to the Great Depression in the 1930’s
• President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961
• The AmeriCorps VISTA program was created in 1964 as part of the War on Poverty campaign
• President George H.W. Bush made community service a national policy in his Points of Light speech in 1989
• Boston Cares was founded in 1991 by 6 friends who wanted to make volunteering more accessible to the Boston Community
• President Barack Obama expanded the nation’s commitment to volunteering & national service by signing the Serve America Act in 2009

 

How many of these fun facts did you already know?

Do you have any more for us?

 

Sources: volunteeringamerica.gov, handsonnetwork.org