CHEYENNE - From Old Bill's Fun Run in Jackson Hole to Frontier Days in Cheyenne and AmeriCorps assignments across the state, people in Wyoming volunteer at a higher rate than the national average.

A report out Monday by the Corporation for National and Community Service said that roughly 35 percent of Wyoming residents volunteer each year, the 12th highest rate in the nation. The national average is 27 percent.

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit corporation oversees domestic volunteer programs including AmeriCorps, which enlists long-term volunteers for nonprofit programs, as well as Senior Corps, which enlists people over 55 for mentoring and other types of volunteering.

"Wyoming has always been a state where people care about their community and volunteer quite a bit," said Patrick Gallizzi, Wyoming program director for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

"It goes back to the whole idea of Wyomingites being independent and also wanting to help our neighbors. We care about our communities. We're small, so Wyoming's like a small neighborhood."

Wyoming residents dedicate 17 million hours of service a year, according to the corporation, which said the result is an economic benefit equivalent to about $332 million.

That works out to just under $20 an hour - an amount calculated by Independent Sector, a nationwide coalition of about 600 charities, foundations and other types of nonprofits.

The largest portion of people who volunteer in Wyoming, about 30 percent, volunteer through religious groups. The second-largest portion, 26 percent, volunteer for educational causes, such as tutoring. Volunteering for social services (14 percent), health (7 percent), civic causes (6 percent), and sports and the arts (6 percent) rounded out Wyoming's profile.

In Jackson, about 300 volunteers are needed every year for the Old Bill's Fun Run, which raises money for about 200 local nonprofits through the Jackson Hole Community Foundation.

President Katharine Conover said the foundation is always able to find enough volunteers.

"Some years have been a little more difficult than others, but we've always managed to get the turnouts we need," she said.

She said the run - with distances ranging from 2 to 10 kilometers - draws many of its volunteers from the nonprofits that benefit. The free breakfast helps, too.

"There's a lot of bon vivant. It's a community celebration," Conover said.

The run has been held every year since 1997. Each year, the event gets an anonymous fundraising boost of $500,000 from a couple known only as "Mr. and Mrs. Old Bill," Conover said.

One of Wyoming's biggest volunteer events is Cheyenne Frontier Days, which makes use of close to 2,500 volunteers who are put to work for everything from security to maintaining the rodeo grounds and managing public relations.

"The real key to volunteerism is somebody asks you. There are so many places today where people don't go out of their way to ask people to be volunteers," said Bob Reynolds, chairman of the event's Tickets Committee, which has about 300 volunteers.

"You may get three out of 10 who say, 'Sure, I'll go out and give it a try for a year,"' Reynolds said.

Reynolds has been volunteering for Frontier Days for 28 years. He said Frontier Days draws volunteers not just from Cheyenne, but all over the country.

Gallizzi said AmeriCorps doesn't pay much - enough for a modest apartment and food - and finding long-term volunteers can be difficult with prices for just about everything on the rise.

"It really is difficult for individuals to serve," he said. "But with that said, we do have many AmeriCorps members in Wyoming who are actively serving. They are committing to a full year of service."

Utah had the nation's highest rate of volunteering in the report, about 44 percent, followed by Nebraska, Minnesota, Alaska and Montana. Nevada has the lowest volunteering rate of any state, a little less than 18 percent.

Corporation for National and Community Service, http://www.nationalservice.org/]]->