Oklahoma City Ranks 7th for Volunteer Efforts

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City has been named one of the Top 10 cities in the nation for volunteer efforts by a national community-service group.

The Volunteering in America Web site run by the Corporation for National and Community Service lists Oklahoma City as No. 7 among the Top 10. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area was listed at No. 1.

According to the CNCS site, Oklahoma City's metropolitan statistical area averaged 335,300 volunteers during 2006 and 2008, with 32.5 percent of the area's residents volunteering for community service work. That work involved an average of 53.2 hours per resident, the Web site said.

"I think we're a very compassionate group of people. I think we have a lot of history of need to give because of the May 3 tornado and the Oklahoma City bombing," said United Way Central Oklahoma Vice President, Blair Schoeb.

The volunteer work provided the equivalent of $1.1 billion worth of services, according to the Web site.

Learn how you can get involved and volunteer you time in Oklahoma City.