A Life Course Approach to Understanding Volunteering Practices Among Ethnic-Racial Minority Immigrants on the US-Mexico Border

Interplay of human lives and historical time

The interplay of human lives and historical time stresses the interrelatedness between historical context and personal lives (Elder, 1994). While many Americans engage in some level of community volunteerism, some segments of the society shy away from this engagement. Elder (1994) noted the importance of relevant historical time period and social context in understanding an individual’s life course as experiences shared at one time point in life can exert a distinctive impact on subsequent trajectories. Traditional volunteering research has consistently shown rates to be lower among the socially underprivileged, especially those who have historically carried the baggage of discrimination and stigma, such as racial minorities and immigrants (e.g., Forbes & Zampelli, 2014; Musick et al., 2000). Rate differences in volunteering can also be attributable to the lack of institutional/infrastructure support or understanding of the concept of volunteering, and prejudice and discriminatory practices in place that discourage volunteering (e.g., Southby et al., 2019; Tang et al., 2009; Wilson, 2012).

Human agency in making choices

One of the most important tenets proposed by the life course perspective is the postulation that individuals have power in exercising their decisions given the constraints and opportunities available, as explained by the concept of human agency (Elder, 1994). Much of the motivation research attributes the decisions to volunteer to personal choice, community obligation, connection to important cause, social circle widening, social disposition, altruism, and future investment (e.g., Dunn et al., 2016; Shye, 2010). Volunteering is more likely to occur if participants’ social and political values, beliefs, attitudes, attachments, and levels of comfort are consistent with those of the voluntary organizations (e.g., Behnia, 2007). Besides acting as a rational process to fulfill various needs, volunteering has also been regarded as an altruistic act, a motive guided by personal interests, or a form of social exchange that is linked to job opportunities, good psychological health, and satisfaction in helping others (e.g., Burns et al., 2006; Dunn et al., 2016; Holdsworth, 2010; Yeung et al., 2018). But disposition and opportunities alone are inadequate. In order to contribute, possession of certain human capital, such as educational attainment, and social capital, including civic network, norms of reciprocity, and institutional and stranger trust, may be necessary (Brand, 2009; Wu et al., 2018).

Timing of lives

Timing of lives is used to analyze role changes in different stages of adulthood (i.e., early, middle, and late adulthood), which may in turn affect the meaning of volunteerism. Early adulthood is a critical stage in the life course that offers opportunity for exploration and potential for growth (Arnett, 2000; Wood et al., 2018). An individual’s concept of volunteering may change when reaching the stages of middle and late adulthood, due to changes in social roles and status (Lancee & Radl, 2014). Increased autonomy in emerging adulthood, for example, will likely shape young adults’ volunteering behaviors as they may have more control in what to offer and the extent to which they want to offer rather than being dependent on their parents to make determinations on their volunteering involvement levels or methods. Lack of information/awareness about volunteering opportunities, and mistrust about organizations, language barriers, cultural differences in volunteering, and perceptual differences about volunteerism are common reasons that ethnic-racial minorities are hesitant to engage in such practices (e.g., Boyle & Sawyer, 2010; Chareka et al., 2010; Gele & Harsløf, 2012; Musick et al., 2000).

Linked lives

The concept of linked lives stresses social relationships with others (Elder, 1994). Family and career responsibilities may serve as push-and-pull factors of volunteerism. Family of origin plays an important role in transmission of values and norms of volunteering (e.g., civic orientation) over an adolescent’s early life course (van Goethem et al., 2014). Specifically, when parents volunteer, they may serve as role models for their children. Parental skills and resources may facilitate their children’s access to volunteering (Nesbit, 2013). The community context (e.g., neighborhood connectedness, neighborhood satisfaction, homeownership, availability of services) can offer a backdrop where volunteering activities take place (Dury et al., 2016). Further, while experience with college and flexibilities from singlehood without time constraints may increase volunteering propensities, adults who have just settled into new roles (e.g., launching their careers, getting married, or forming families) may require more time to adjust to their new roles in order to minimize role strain and conflict (e.g., Lancee & Radl, 2014).

Demographic characteristics of the participants

Approximately 62.5% of the participants were female. An average age of the participants was 39.4 years old ¹ (range: 18–65 years). About 82.5% of the participants were of Hispanic descent (e.g., Mexican), 10% were Asian, and 7.5% were of other ethnic-racial classifications. While 37.5% of the participants were married, 40% of the total sample had at least one child. Further, almost three forth of them (70%) were employed at the time of the data collection. In terms of their educational attainment, six in every 10 of them (60%) had at least a bachelor’s degree. Close to half of them (47.5%) were foreign-born. Additionally, a majority of them had at least one foreign-born parent (85%) and were able to speak another foreign language (80%). All participants have resided in the U.S. for a minimum of 4 years at the time of the interview and claimed to be acculturated in the U.S. culture.

Significant Life Events

Witnessing impactful life events had altered the way that participants perceived life in general. Some spoke of these events as turning points that inspired them to help others less fortunate. Sofia (43-year-old, first generation Mexican immigrant), a mother of three who considered volunteering a “duty” and remained as an active volunteer throughout her adult life, discussed how witnessing children in a Mexican orphanage in her childhood served as a personal life event that motivated her to help: “It was very scary. . . .You would never think people on the border could live that way. . . .I can’t see somebody suffering or hungry without. . .wanting to help them.” At the age of 19, Sara (second generation Mexican immigrant), who was one semester away from graduation, had volunteered at a number of local non-profit organizations such as the Humane Society, a hunger relief organization, and the child support office to explore her passions. She described an important life moment when her mother signed her up to volunteer at a homeless shelter on a Thanksgiving Day in her early adolescence:

When you’re 13, you think that you have nothing and that you need the latest this and latest that. . . .My mom saw that pending [laughs], so she took me to the homeless shelter and it really. . .stopped me in my tracks and [made me] realize that “I’m a 13-year-old child and I have. . .everything I wanted and these people are grown adults and they have very little.”

Sergio (43-year-old, second generation Mexican immigrant), who started volunteering in his early adulthood and had a compassion for refugees and immigrants from Mexico and Central America, shared his experience of helping unaccompanied minors that had shaped his volunteering persistence:

I had this one young kid. . .a teenager coming up [sic] from Central America. . . .He was alone. . . .The only thing he had on him was a phone number that he had written in his shoe. . . .I was interviewing him. . . .He had to. . .bend down, take off his shoe. . .like “This is all I have.”. . .He doesn’t have anything. . . .How could I not help him? And some of them were very grateful and. . .they would tell you. . .“One day, I’m gonna [sic] come back and I’m gonna [sic] help out.”. . .I appreciate it.

Some participants detailed how witnessing social injustice drove them to volunteering such as in the case of 65-year-old Elisa (second generation Mexican immigrant) who was a lector at her church and had been a campaign volunteer for political candidates she believed in:

I grew up. . .on a farm. . .and I remember the airplanes coming down on the crops and spraying this poison. . . .These were men and women. God only [sic] knows what kind of diseases they’re going to get as a result of this. . . .When you get older, you learn these things. And that’s really what. . .taught me. . . .I really should try to make things better for people that could not fight for themselves.

Having embraced the practice of volunteering as “a way of life,” 59-year-old Alicia (second generation immigrant of mixed heritage), who led the Board of Directors at a farm worker agency, also recounted the injustice she witnessed:

One of my personal experiences was the first time working in the fields. . . .We would get paid in cash. I was just a teenager. . . .But I knew that I would get paid $50 at the end of. . .that day, or. . .at the end of the week. . . .When I was with a group of. . .older people,. . .I saw that they got paid less than I did. . . .And I said, “No, there had to be a mistake.” So I went up there, and I said, “I got paid this much. Why did you only get paid this much?”. . .Well. . .they started talking among themselves. . . .They had purposely been shorted money because they were not documented. . . .When you had a whole group of people that [were] telling the farm man, “Wait a minute. You cheated us!” And he had to pay them what he paid me and the other teenagers that were documented, . . .I was never allowed to work in that field anymore. . . .It didn’t matter to me, because I had a home to go to. I didn’t have children to feed, and that was the first time that I realized how people. . .were treated differently.

Linked Lives

Some participants had a vested interest in the population that they were personally related to. For example, 36-year-old Adrian (1.5 generation Mexican immigrant), who was a volunteer translator for a farm worker agency he felt indebted to due to the assistance the agency had provided to his mother as a newly arrived immigrant, described his rationale for selecting the agency as a place to volunteer: “My mom was a farm worker, so I felt that it was my duty to give back to the center.” Similarly, Sofia who came to the U.S. at the age of 15, shared her urge to help poor immigrants facing the situation that once resembled the experience of her family of origin: “My mom started working. . .when she was 10 in [a] factory. . . .So now when I see. . .poor immigrants. . .that come here, I’m thinking, ‘Oh! That was. . .my mom’s experience!’ So it makes me want to help.” Migrated to the U.S. in her late twenties, 59-year-old Irene (first generation East Asian immigrant) who had volunteered to establish, coordinate, and lead a local Chinese language program for children and adults on the US-Mexico border in the last two decades, discussed how raising two American born children as an immigrant led her to help other children acquire mastery of Chinese language and culture:

I wanted to teach my own child. . . .I started with two or three other families. Their children [were]. . .similar age as my kids. . . .I wanted to make sure we don’t [sic] waste time when we [were] together. . . .So. . .I started to structure the curriculum. . .to make sure each time. . .we get [sic] together,. . .kids learn [sic] something.

She noted the key to her motivation:

Personally, I feel. . .the root is very important. . . .I always believe that everyone should remember where they come from, what their own cultures were. . . .The traditional value is the root for growth. . . .I feel the Chinese School is the best way for me to maintain that and spread that to others to make the community aware of other cultures.

While most participants did not believe that volunteering for an agency that serves their ethnic/racial group was crucial, some believed that helping their own ethnic/racial group is critical given their cognizance of the needs that their ethnic/racial group faces. Alicia empathized with the struggles that her ethnic group experienced:

I am educated, so I can question things. But many people are not. Many people came from Mexico,. . .Guatemala, or other places in South and Central America, and their customs and the way that they have learned about things are so different than how I’ve learned about things. . . .I have a voice I’m not afraid to use. . . .I can’t even imagine what they’ve gone through.

As echoed by Sofia, “It does tug at your heart strings when you see. . .people that you can identify with.”

Participants’ decisions to volunteer were also brought about by their family socialization and upbringing. In particular, many of them claimed that they were raised by a kind and giving family member or surrounded by a living environment where generosity was a common practice (even if their family didn’t volunteer or belong to any voluntary organizations). Participants who were parents, in turn, instilled the same values in their children, making volunteering an integral part of their family life. Sofia described how her family shaped her active volunteering trajectory:

I didn’t grow up with anybody in my family volunteering. . .but they were very helpful with [sic] other people. . . .It was like “Oh! So and so needs help, we need to. . .,you know? So and so got kicked out of their apartment, they need to come stay with us.”. . .Or “So and so doesn’t have money, we’ll lend him a little bit of money.”. . .But it was never like “We volunteer at an agency.” Like I said, to me, that was very foreign.

Indeed, 38-year-old Samantha (1.5 generation Mexican immigrant), a mother of two who volunteered with her children in their scout troops and had served as a board member for a number of organizations regionally and nationally, also told the story of how her father inspired her:

He always made me feel like it was my responsibility to help others. . . .For instance,. . .we didn’t have a lot of money, but if we went on a trip for school, he always gave me extra money. He said, “If you see somebody else struggling, help them out.” . . .He just always made me think about others, instead of just myself.

In addition to having family members who were role models, it was imperative to have family members who supported their volunteering engagement. Despite the fact that having a newborn had limited the volunteering capacity of 33-year-old Camila (1.5 generation Mexican immigrant), who perceived volunteering as an appealing option to collaborate and meet others, she attributed her ability to continue her volunteering to her husband who was her duet partner volunteering for their church’s weekly mass, “Now that we have a baby,. . .I count on him to take care of the baby if there’s a volunteer. . .opportunity.”

Just like parents attempted to instill the value of volunteering in their children, having school-age children also created volunteering opportunities for the parents. As detailed by Sofia who took proactive steps to help her children become integrated in their school and realize their obligation to help others: “When they are at school, you constantly get. . .notices ‘Can you please help with this?’ ‘Can you please help with that?’. . .It makes you want to have a better world for them.” Sofia’s sentiment was shared by 45-year-old Carmen (second generation Mexican immigrant), who chaired a local school board and learned the value and practice of volunteering from her own mother:

I think, as a mother, you want to create a better world for your children. You want to create strong schools for your kids. You want to create opportunities for your kids. . . .When they have fundraisers, I help with fundraisers. When they have book drives, I help with book drives. When they have. . .food drives, I help with food drives. . .because that’s what you do when you care for your child. You participate in his education and his life as much as possible.

Besides family ties, professional ties involving formal education and career development were strong links to volunteering. Embarking on an educational trajectory that involved fulfilling the requirements of high school or college graduation (e.g., taking college classes, completing internships, volunteering to acquire experience in order to get in the desired field of study, or to graduate with a special cord) had created many opportunities for the younger participants, in particular, if their major of study was relevant to social justice and/or a helping profession. As in the case of 18-year-old Gabriela (second generation Mexican immigrant), who was a college sophomore and a food pantry volunteer at her university. Gabriela shared her pathway to volunteering: “Most of the people who’ve inspired me to volunteer are educators. . . .I feel like. . .if it wasn’t for school, I would have never met them. And I would have never been inspired the way I am.” Finishing his sixth semester in college, 23-year-old Marco (1.5 generation Mexican immigrant) volunteered for the first time due to his admiration for other student leaders on campus. He recounted:

I was trying to make friends over here. . . .I involved myself very soon [sic] with the Student Government Association. . . .They are so involved in everything on campus and outside. . . .And you admire them, because they’re people with good GPAs. They’re people who have a lot of friends. . . .They have a huge social network [on] campus. . .and they are so humble with everything. . . .You have this group of people who are very famous. . . .They are superhuman individuals for willing [sic] to help anyone.

In addition to easing loneliness and broadening social networks, volunteering was used inadvertently as a channel to advance careers and create job opportunities. As related by 60-year-old Rosa (second generation Mexican immigrant), who recalled her career prospects changed after volunteering at a radio station in her younger years:

I volunteered at the radio station. . . .I was doing a job that I did not enjoy. . . .I was working as a secretary. . . .And I couldn’t break out of the secretarial pool. . . .But then I started volunteering at the radio station. . . .When I put that I had fundraising and marketing experience, my job opportunities improved.

Rosa, who was fundraising for her church at the time of the interview, added:

People were. . .more receptive to hiring me. . .because this is what happens. . . .When you worked as a secretary,. . .you get [sic] stereotyped. . . .At that time, we didn’t have computers. You get [sic] stereotyped that you’re [sic] an extension of the typewriter. And people don’t [sic] take you seriously. They think [sic] “Oh. . .this person has no ambition!”. . .But that’s [sic] not the case. A lot of times, it’s [sic] the only job you could find. . . .But volunteering allows you to be creative. And there are. . .other things that you don’t necessarily learn just being behind the typewriter.

As a volunteer for a local school district, Marco, who helped mentoring and tutoring children of immigrants like him, also recalled his experience:

I used to work at the [fast food restaurant], and that was one of the most horrible jobs I’ve ever worked at. . . .One of the things I realized as soon as I wanted to find a different job is [sic] that employers look at your volunteering experience, perhaps. . .not much at your grades. . . .I didn’t have enough experience in pretty much anything. . . .So my willingness to leave [the restaurant] was like. . .this inspiration to volunteer.

Some participants in their middle adulthood had previously or at the time of the data collection held a human service job (e.g., teachers, child welfare worker). Through affiliation with a professional association/committee and working with populations in need, these participants developed an understanding of other vulnerable populations and stayed informed of available volunteering opportunities. For others, volunteering overlapped with the participants’ job descriptions. Samantha described her job that involved offering technical assistance to non-profit organizations: “I work within higher education to change the structure so that there’s more support for community engagement.” She described how service learning differs from volunteering:

Service learning has to be connected to academic content, so that the students are learning something they would be learning in the classroom in the community. So it’s kind of like a different laboratory, but the community should be benefiting just as much as the students.

Human Capital and Agency

Personal resources and attributes also shaped the participants’ volunteering behaviors and capacity by offering them personal tools to help others and voices to raise awareness of contemporary social issues. As a college professor, 45-year-old Mia (first generation South Asian immigrant), who has a doctoral degree in English, shared how her formal education influenced her volunteering practice and ability to influence others:

I’m a postcolonial. . .scholar. . . .That makes me aware. . .of. . .social injustice. . .[and] systematic inequalities. . . .I pointed those out. I make my students aware of them.. . .My book was about war. . .and the effects of war and terrorism on people,. . .so it makes me more aware, not just about. . .local but global injustice.

Like Mia, 23-year-old Bruno (second generation Mexican immigrant), a college junior who hoped to pursue a degree in social work someday, shared his view, “Education. . .helps you. . .perceive the world. . .not like a blind eye [sic] anymore. . . .Being educated. . .helps you a lot. . .because you can actually see what’s going on. And you can actually reach out and help.” For some, volunteering helped validate what the participants already knew. Having specialized skills, in particular, empowered them to help others in need but lacking the resources, as recounted by 42-year-old Christopher (first generation Middle Eastern immigrant) who holds an advanced degree in civil engineering. Christopher spoke of his experience of helping a religious organization design a structural foundation and construction plan for low income housing in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America: “There was no monetary [sic]. That was just basically donating time and expertise to help that organization.” “I did the design of that foundation. If I did not have any degree in civil engineering, I was not able to design that.”

Besides formal education, participants’ foreign language proficiency also expanded their volunteering opportunities, especially in agencies where bilingual volunteers were needed. Volunteers who spoke another language besides English, for example, were able to volunteer in certain locations or with non-English speaking populations where a foreign language is spoken. Sara emphasized the benefits of her bilingualism in English and Spanish:

I felt that since I know both,. . .I could help both spectrums. . . .Because there’s [sic] a lot of women who struggle in [name of a city] that don’t speak English at all. . . .I felt that kind of. . .helped me. . .help people. . . .Also, when [these] women do speak English,. . .they have an accent. That’s also. . .a very big struggle here. . . .My mom always told me to seize the blessings. . . .She said that. . .I don’t have an accent. . . .That’s a blessing cause [sic]. . .people. . .discriminate against accents a lot.

Samantha detailed the advantages she reaped from speaking Spanish while volunteering, “[It] makes me more competent. . . .I feel like I’m more true and genuine when working with the communities that feel more comfortable in Spanish.” As one of the few people who was able to speak multiple foreign languages in his community, 39-year-old Eric (first generation North African immigrant) expressed his view:

I speak different languages. One of them is Arabic. . .which is. . .the official language. . .of the Koran. . . .I can provide the service of teaching kids,. . .how to speak it or how to read it. . . .It’s a very needed skill that you don’t find. . .many people here in [name of a city] speak. . .and are willing to volunteer. . . .It’s almost like. . .a high-demand skill. . .and kind of forces you to step in. . .and provide. . .that skill.

Acculturation is the social-psychological, behavioral, and cultural process individuals experience as result of their exposure to other cultures in order to adapt to the demands of their new environment (Berry et al., 2006; Schwartz et al., 2010). Variation in acculturation levels could affect the participants’ volunteering propensities. In general, participants believed that American culture opens up more opportunities in volunteering while their familiarity with the American culture helped ease their navigation of the U.S. system. Sofia shared the benefits of being acculturated: “It makes it easier. . . .You can understand the nuances. . . .You can understand. . .even politics differently. . .when you understand the culture.” Raul (44-year-old, 1.5 generation Mexican immigrant), whose parents brought him to the U.S. when he was a toddler, believed that acculturation level influences volunteering practices among immigrants. He recapitulated:

So, first generation, or people that initially crossed over — my mom really didn’t have time or people. . .[of] my parents’ age, they really didn’t have time or really didn’t value that, because they. . .focused on really just surviving. . . .As generations grow or are raised within the State,. . .I think it helps us build that. . .level of commitment. . .[in] volunteering.

The participants’ gender was also perceived as a form of asset in shaping volunteering propensities, frequencies, and their extent of engagement. Specifically, while most believed that women volunteer more than men, men tend to be involved in activities that are labor-intensive and energy-draining (e.g., cleaning yards, moving heavy rocks, building and constructing things), which may not come by as often as routine activities that women typically involve in (e.g., caring, cleaning, cooking). Worked in the field of social work, Julia (59-year-old, second generation Mexican immigrant), who started volunteering since the age of 12 and had seen more females in the female-dominated social work profession, shared her perspective:

I think females are much more nurturing than males. . . .We want to take things and nurture them and make them better. And I think it’s easier for us to go out there. I think it’s easier for a man to pick up his wallet and write a check and hand some money over. . . .I think they’re more willing to do that than to spend actual time. . . .I learned that at Big Brothers Big Sisters,. . .we get a lot more women willing to be Big Sisters than we do men wanting to be Big Brothers.

Like many others, 27-year-old Dylan (1.5 generation Mexican immigrant) shared the gender gap and discrepancies he observed in volunteering. Dylan spelled out his perceived male challenges in his traditional Mexican origin community where men and women are socialized differently:

It’s difficult because you don’t see it (male volunteering) very often. . . .They’re more “proud” to be. . .involving in those things. So usually. . .you’re. . .surrounded by all women. . . .A lot of males feel “afraid” because. . .you feel like you’re [the] minority. . . .And that’s something that. . .will [influence] them to volunteer.

He added:

I believe women are more open. . . .And they’re more extroverted. . . .They have that flexibility to do anything in volunteerism. . . .They can cook. They can do stuff while males are usually. . .not — especially Mexicans. . . .They’re usually not that. . .familiarized with. . .those types of skills. . . .And it’s because in their culture, they’re usually not the ones that [involve in] those types of things.. . .Usually the women that take care of those things. So when they (men) volunteer, they don’t have that experience because they don’t, they never, they were raised differently.

Context of Volunteering

The context that the participants were embedded in also shaped their propensity by either hindering or facilitating their volunteering practice. Most participants believed that the missions of the organizations they volunteered at aligned with their values, faith, and/or religion. These values emphasized the virtues of helping others, integrity, humility, sharing, humanity, transparency, and hard work. Attitudes projected by the places where the participants volunteered at, for example, were particularly important for Sara. She illustrated how she decided if an agency was a good fit for her: “When I meet the coordinators, or the people in charge,. . .they seem. . .passionate about what they’re doing. . . .It’s not. . . just a corporate job to them. . . .That makes a huge difference when it comes to volunteering.” She depicted the value that she considered important for her: “They should be passionate about helping people. . . .You can hear their energy and they want to. . .give you the tools. . . .They want to help you help others.” Indeed, shared values allowed an organization to build an organizational culture that engages and connects with their volunteers. For example, 58-year-old Juan (second generation Mexican immigrant) who perceived volunteering as an opportunity to help and teach others, stressed the importance of accountability, value/belief compatibility, and the positive impact that organizations make on the community:

[It] has to be where they’re helping the community. . .where their emphasis is on services to others that need those services versus some charities that. . .most of their donations go. . .to their administrative costs. So that’s something I take into consideration. . . .Their efforts have to be demonstrable. . . .You have to be able to see the impact.

While many believed that volunteerism is an integral part of the U.S. civil society that supports American culture and democracy, the quality and pace of American life could encourage or interfere with the participants’ practice of volunteering. In many ways, volunteering, from the perspective of the participants, has become a widespread norm that supports the sustainability of community-based organizations and connects a close-knit community in the U.S. Marco laid out his observation:

They encourage people to volunteer, and they show it to you as something good, like “Hey, we’re gonna [sic] be cleaning the highway. But we’re gonna [sic] give you [a] shirt. We’re gonna [sic] give you doughnuts and coffee in the morning, so you guys can eat.” And that’s something that unites the community, makes friendships even stronger.

Participants such as 47-year-old Elena (second generation Mexican immigrant), who volunteered in a private Arabic school, regarded volunteering as a popular culture. She noted: “It’s become [sic] like a trend. . . .Even the richest. . .people want to participate. . .like the job corps and all these. . . .It’s become [sic] something that gives you status.” Gabriela compared volunteering culture in the States with the culture in her mother’ birth country, Mexico:

In the United States, they push more for volunteering. . .than you would see in Mexico. . . .Here in the United States, you always see. . .commercials. . .like “Oh, you should come and volunteer here, and you should come and help here”. . .like online ads. But in Mexico, there is not a lot about that.

In addition to the economic comfort and safety that were absent in some foreign countries, the availability of organizations that open doors for volunteers also made volunteering more convenient and accessible in the U.S. Christopher illustrated volunteering opportunities that were faced with skepticism in his birth country: “We don’t have a soup kitchen over there the way that we have it right here. We have places that you can go and donate the money and then they provide the food.” Some participants recounted the higher prevalence of informal volunteering compared with formal volunteering that is sometimes organized through religious entities rather than the governments or non-profit organizations in their or their parents’ birth country.

While Americans celebrate the value of generosity through the act of volunteering, some participants believed that a hectic American work life had made the practice difficult to sustain, as noted by Eric:

You see a lot of people volunteer and it’s. . .almost like it becomes. . .normal in this society. . . .A lot of people volunteer,. . .so why not you?. . .The only problem here [is] people don’t have time,. . .I think. . . . Americans don’t have time. . ..compared, for example, to back home (North Africa). . . .You’d be surprised, not a lot of people volunteer. . .because of economic conditions,. . .because of the culture itself. Here, the culture helps a lot of people volunteer.

Disagreeing that American life makes volunteering easier, 50-year-old Amalia (second generation Mexican immigrant), who ran her own non-profit dog rescue group, conveyed her thoughts:

Sometimes I feel that the American way of life is a rat race. It’s work, work, work, and money. . . .So that doesn’t make it easy. If you don’t have it in yourself or in your culture or in your family, then no. . . .And also, it’s a lot of misinformation. . . .I think that the more we inform people, and we promote, that’s going to make it a lot easier.

Daniela (22-year-old, second generation Mexican immigrant) echoed Amalia’s comments:

Unfortunately, our American lifestyle has been. . .so loaded with work and responsibilities, and ways to make ends meet that we forget that there’s [sic] other things besides work, and responsibilities and what you have to do in order to get through that day. . . .It’s like. . .this never-ending cycle of what you need to do before what can be beneficial to you and to the community.