Grant actually owned one slave himself as well: Grant himself owned a slave named William Jones, acquired from his father-in-law. At a time when he could have desperately used the money from the sale of Jones, Grant signed a document that gave him his freedom. Grant freed this slave in 1859.
Volunteers dedicated more than 100 hours, on average, to sports and recreation (120 hours), religion (117 hours) and social services (116 hours). But they gave only about half as many hours to education and research associations (66 hours) and to health-related organizations (58 hours) (Chart 3).
Another way to measure the impact of volunteers is to take a look at statistics like hours served and the economic value of volunteer time. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, 61.8 million individuals in the United States contributed 8 billion hours of volunteerism in 2008 alone. Volunteers help to keep our neighborhoods, streets, parks, rivers, green spaces, and water clean and safe for everyone. 2  Volunteers tutor, teach, mentor, coach, and support young people with everything from math homework to dealing with personal crises to football and soccer tourneys.