Jacksonville in the nation's top 5 metros for volunteering

[Tacachale]

Jacksonville nearly tops in volunteerism: 'The people are different'

Judy Smith remembered how the Jacksonville area reacted in 1987 when the Mayport-based USS Stark was hit by two missiles in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 sailors.

She and her husband were in the Navy here at the time and saw how the community came together to help those sailors’ families, raising money to fly them in and put them up in hotels, lining up on the road to greet them when they arrived and taking care of their every need.

That experience came to mind when Smith, who now runs HandsOn Jacksonville, which mobilizes volunteers, got the news that a new federal report ranked the five-county area in the top five in the nation for volunteering.

Smith was stunned.

“I’m blown away,” she said. “I knew we were ahead of our Florida compatriots, but I honestly didn’t realize where we stood in the U.S.”

Volunteering and Civic Life in America” ranked all 50 states and the nation’s 51 largest cities and metropolitan areas for their volunteering and engagement rates, based on surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Jacksonville was No. 5, after Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn. and Wis.; Rochester, N.Y.; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.; and Salt Lake City.

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By Beth Reese Cravey at Jacksonville.com

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-12-15/story/jacksonville-nearly-tops-volunteerism-people-are-different