Volunteerism

There are numerous private and public agencies, groups, and organizations that benefi t from volunteers in Spartanburg County. United Way of the Piedmont’s Volunteer Connections program coordinates individuals and groups with volunteer service opportunities in more than 200 human service organizations in Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union Counties. Table 5 shows the number of volunteer contacts, coordinated hours, and value of volunteer time since 2005.

Clearly, volunteerism in these three counties has consistently increased.

In addition to volunteer data reported by United Way of the Piedmont, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System reports that, over the three year period 2006-2008, volunteers donated 106,796 hours in service to the hospital (Table 6).

Subject matter experts agree that volunteerism is widespread in Spartanburg County but that there is no comprehensive way to identify or track the exact number of volunteers or volunteer hours provided to the community.