Minnesota nice -- it's official

Congratulations, Minneapolis-St. Paul!

For the second year in a row, my place of residence (how long do I have to live here before it's my hometown?) ranked No. 1 in the country for its rate of volunteerism--39.3 percent! In the annual report from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Minnesota won the No. 3 state spot, and the Midwest topped the region contest.

OK, enough bragging. Here are some other highlights:

• 6o.8 million people (26.2 percent of people over age 16) volunteered
  
• 8.1 billion hours of service
• Worth $158 billion
• 35.6 percent of volunteers gave more than 100 hours last year
• The highest volunteer rate goes to...working mothers!

Though the national volunteer rate fell slightly, to just over a quarter of Americans, it's still pretty impressive.

What do you do to give back?



Photo: Minneapolis, by Shiny Things