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Here's Some Good News: Volunteering Is On The Rise

Enough of the bad news for a moment.

Smack in the middle of the holiday season, here's something that underscores how generous many Americans are:

"64.3 million Americans (more than one in four adults) volunteered through a formal organization last year, an increase of 1.5 million from 2010," the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship report.

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The organizations also estimate that "two out of three Americans (65.1% or 143.7 million individuals) volunteered informally by doing favors for and helping out their neighbors, an increase of 9.5 percentage points from last year."

Of course, natural disasters -- such as Superstorm Sandy -- increase the need for volunteers. So there is something of a flip side to this story.

But as we said, there's more than enough bad news around. Let's focus on the positive for a moment.

Note: That's just a question, not a survey of public opinion.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit www.npr.org.