Join Hands Day is a holiday that’s observed on the first Saturday in May. It’s a day in which people are encouraged to come together and help tackle some problems together. However, it’s more than just a day in which people are encouraged to volunteer, it’s also a day in which young people and adults should come together to provide support to one another.

The History Of Join Hands Day

This holiday was created in 2000 by America’s Fraternal Benefit Societies and the Points Of Light Foundation. They came together to create this holiday to encourage young people and adults to come together and work as volunteers. For the first couple years of this holiday, organizations were asked to register their Join Hands Day projects through the official website.

During some years, some groups were given a cash award for the beneficiary of their project or for another cause. A physical award was also given, as well as recognition at the National Fraternal Congress Of America Conference.

Facts About Volunteering

Since the focus of Join Hands Day is volunteer work, we thought that we’d get together some interesting facts about volunteering. Below are some of the facts that we’ve come across and that we think will prove interesting to everyone.

• Approximately 96% of volunteers surveyed believe volunteering makes them happier.
• The age group in which most people are most likely to volunteer is between the ages of 34 and 54.
• Volunteers are twice as likely to donate to a charity than people who don’t volunteer.
• People who volunteer have over a 25% chance of getting better employment.
• Approximately 22% of all volunteers are under the age of 24.
• About 4% of college graduates over the age of 25 volunteers every year.
• Approximately 71% of volunteers work with just one organization.
• Most human resource executives agree that contributing to a nonprofit can improve an employee’s leadership ability.
• In the U.S, there are over 1.8 million active nonprofit organizations.
• Preparing and distributing food was the most reported volunteer activity in 2015.
• Volunteering can help people stay active in retirement.
• Volunteering can fill those empty spaces on a resume.
• Volunteering can improve a person’s social skills.
• Volunteering can help people make new friends.
• It’s been estimated that there are over 1-billion people volunteering in the world.
• The efforts of volunteers in the world are equal to about 110 million full-time workers.
• Only about a third of volunteers in the world work through organizations.
• The percentage of Americans who volunteer regularly is on the decline.

Observing Join Hands Day

Anyone who wants to participate in this holiday can do so by organizing an event near them that allows the younger generation and older generation people to volunteer together. Of course, people don’t have to organize an event in order to observe this holiday but can do so simply by volunteering for something on their own. People observing this holiday can also support the groups doing volunteer work or by promoting this holiday using the hashtag #JoinHandsDay.