SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU)– According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, volunteerism rates declined in recent years, with nationwide volunteer numbers dropping 7% between 2019 and 2021.

Special Troopers Adaptive Riding School (S.T.A.R.S) has been in need of volunteers for several months and is struggling to find help.

“We have a constant cycle of high schoolers that graduated and so they’re off to college and then we just haven’t gotten the new batch in. Or people are just getting older that can’t walk in the sand anymore, so they’re kinda stepping out of their consistent place,” said S.T.A.R.S. Executive Director Brooke Mcbride.

Mcbride states that they have roughly 80 consistent volunteers. However, they’re still in need of more.

“In a night, a therapeutic riding we can need 30, 40, 50 volunteers a night. And so when we do that for 6 weeks in a row, that adds up to be quite a bit of volunteer spots that need to be filled in just one session,” said Mcbride.

Additionally, McBride indicated that they try to get by with the volunteers they have so they don’t have to cancel classes.

“If a class shows up and we don’t have enough volunteers, if that is the case and we can’t fill in and find subs for that night. Then we sometimes have to cut the class in half, sometimes we have to cancel class if that happens,” said Mcbride.

While S.T.A.R.S Is in need of volunteers, some Siouxland organizations have a plethora.

“Our volunteer shift our calendar it stays pretty full, yeah. People book like a month or two out,” said Lyn Kluender, Director of the Siouxland Soup Kitchen.

Roughly 6 to 7 volunteers work in the Siouxland soup kitchen, making food for the night’s dinner rush each day.

Lyn Kluender, the director of the Siouxland Soup Kitchen says without their volunteers they couldn’t feed Siouxlanders.

“It’s so difficult if you don’t have the volunteers and reliable volunteers to come and help you. Like one person can just not create a well-balanced meal like we do for you know 150 people everyday, you just can’t do it by yourself,” said Kluender.

If you would like to donate your time to a local non-profit, we’ll have a list to all in Sioux City. Click here.