Small, rural towns like many of those in the Pioneer Valley are often lauded for their sense of community. What makes that community feel so welcoming and vibrant is often a small group of hardworking volunteers — people who keep town governments running, plan local events, and make sure food pantries stay stocked with nutritious foods.

But amid national trends of declining volunteerism, these core groups of volunteers have been shouldering more and more responsibility, even as some face advancing age or burnout. Some towns struggle to round up enough candidates for competitive municipal elections, or enough volunteers to keep their organizations as lively as they once were.

The decline in volunteerism across the United States has been steadily apparent for more than a decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around 28.8% of Americans were involved in volunteer organizations in 2005, but this number had dropped to 24.9% by 2015. By 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of Americans volunteering hit an all-time low of 23.2%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Aside from the pandemic, there are myriad pressures shifting Americans’ relationships to volunteering, including busy schedules, economic constraints, an increase in virtual interactions, and a decline in participation in organized religion.

In Southampton, Joy Piper started volunteering in municipal politics in 2017, but over the years she’s found that much of local government is a core group of people wearing many different hats, with some local boards only able to keep their numbers high enough to have a quorum. The town has struggled for several years now to establish an affordable housing trust due to a lack of interest.

“I think that it’s indicative of the culture in general … people are more involved in themselves and their families than they are in the community,” said Piper. “I don’t think it’s just something we’re seeing in local government. I think it’s something we’re seeing in churches and I think it’s communitywide.”

This is something Piper understands personally as well, as a parent who has recently stepped away from some of her town volunteer posts to balance evening parenting responsibilities with her partner. Because the Southampton Housing Authority meets virtually once a month, she has maintained her spot in that group, but Piper hopes to return to more volunteer work soon.

“I don’t think people really understand what their local government does or how important it is to participate in that,” she said, but she acknowledged how difficult it can be to balance evening government meetings with child care and work.

Chris Fowles, Southampton Select Board chair and member of more than five other town committees and volunteer groups, said the biggest barrier to most people trying to get involved in the community is “making and finding the time.” But she also doesn’t believe that time constraints have to be “a total barrier.” Like Piper, Fowles noted that many volunteers take advantage of the fact that some boards meet virtually, and many meet only once or a couple of times a month.

“Part of it is just getting aware of what’s out there,” she said. And in her experience, getting involved in the community “just broadens your horizons in so many ways,” and there’s something for everyone.

However, Fowles noted that changes in volunteerism have been visible in Southampton over time — not only do people now have busier schedules and often more financial stress, leaving less room for volunteer work, but she said they also often don’t feel that they have “anything to offer,” which can lead to difficulties filling boards that require some technical expertise and even hosting competitive local elections.

Lack of diversity

Like Fowles in Southampton, Jennifer Milikowsky serves in a litany of town volunteer positions in Westhampton, including being on the Select Board, Planning Board, Master Plan Implementation Committee, and the Open Space And Recreation Committee. And much like Fowles, she wouldn’t have it any other way — her love for volunteering and her community have driven her to take on these responsibilities.

But she also recognizes that the lack of diverse voices in town government is part of a larger issue.

“We definitely do struggle in town at times to fill these volunteer committees,” said Milikowsky. “We want more diverse experience … I don’t think in a perfect scenario I would serve on so many boards.”

Milikowsky said she isn’t worried about the welfare of the town because of how dedicated its core group of volunteers is, “but it would be better for the burnout of those individuals to not have such a small group carry so much responsibility.”

She noted that sometimes, she has come across volunteers who would like to step down from their positions, but they worry that there will be nobody to replace them — so they stay, risking burnout. More interest in local volunteer positions could not only help alleviate burnout, but it would also give townspeople more choices in local elections.

And more people, Milikowsky noted, means more ideas for the town.

“I think it’s a really great example of the more you put into this community, the more it gives back,” she said.

Denise Banister wears a few different hats in the hilltowns — as administrative assistant in Cummington and a member of the Select Board in Williamsburg. She also serves on the Williamsburg Board Of Assessors and volunteers biweekly at Our Lady of the Hills in Williamsburg to help out with their takeout food aid program.

“What happens when nobody comes forward to volunteer? Some dummy like me does,” she joked, but said that older residents in these towns are “maxed out” because young volunteers are “fewer and fewer.”

Religious membership falling

Ties to organized religion have often been another common avenue through which people have gotten involved in community volunteer work. A nationwide decline in organized religious affiliation has widely been attributed as another factor contributing to lessened volunteering.

According to polling released by Gallup in March 2024, an average of 42% of U.S. adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week two decades ago, but that fell to 38% by 2014. In 2024, the percentage fell to 30%. This occurred in tandem with an increase in U.S. adults identifying with no religious affiliation — jumping from only 9% between 2000 and 2003 to 21% between 2021 and 2023.

Both trends were more prominent among young adults, with more 18- to 29-year-olds (35%) identifying no specific religious preference, and only 22% of young adults attending religious services regularly.

Maureen Dempsey has long been involved in the women’s fellowship at Westhampton Congregational United Church of Christ, doing community outreach activities like caroling around the holidays with baskets of fruits and cookies for elderly community members, aiding local refugees, and hosting refreshment tables at local funerals or weddings. Volunteer work has been important to her, because in a close-knit town like Westhampton, “things don’t function unless people get involved.”

“At church you get a core group of people who work really hard,” said Dempsey. “Do I see as much involvement as I did 40 years ago? No. But I think it’s a cultural thing.”

Simply put, Dempsey said, people are busier now. Between kids, work stresses and modern technology, “we have more things to keep us at home now.”

One common theme noticeable to lifelong churchgoers that has factored into having fewer volunteers and lower local church turnout is the smaller number of younger attendees.

Pat Miller has been involved in many areas of Westhampton Congregational activities over the years. But now, with the age of 80 “almost on her doorstep,” she’s stepped back into more of a “cheerleader” role. For her, one of the most noticeable changes in volunteerism at the church has been the shrinking number of children and adolescents in recent years — especially since the pandemic.

“Since COVID, honestly there’s been a lack of young people in the church,” she said, noting that this trend started well before 2020 but “not nearly to the extent” that she noticed during and in the aftermath of the pandemic.

One successful group that brings school-age children together at the church to do good deeds in the community is the Good Works Group, which Miller has been encouraged by. She said that each month, about 20 to 25 kids get together for activities such as making frozen dinners for those who can’t leave their homes, playing board games with elderly community members, making care packages for college students and more.

“That’s something I feel strongly we need more of,” said Miller.

At the First Congregational Church of Southampton, the Rev. Rosemary Dawson said that busy lives can make it hard for community members to make time for church, especially among Southampton’s youths.

“We haven’t really been able to make much connection with youth,” she said.

Dawson remarked that young people nowadays seem “overloaded,” and often don’t know how to access community support. She hopes to find ways to bridge the “generational gap” within the church, and “get them to see that they don’t have to do it alone.”

Right now, she said, the church draws an older crowd, primarily of those age 75 and up.

However, the ebb and flow of young people in and out of the institution of the church is something that has happened throughout history, Dawson noted — and it isn’t entirely a bad thing.

“I’m realizing there’s a new generation that needs to serve the new generation … they’re creating their own worship,” she said. In exploring other paths of spirituality, she added, they are finding their own ways to serve themselves and their communities, often reaching people in ways the “old generation” cannot.

“I think that everybody across the ages cares about community, but what that looks like, and how you express that, changes,” said Dawson.

Gazette staff reporter Samuel Gelinas contributed to this report. Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.