Just in case you were still in doubt about our collective move into The Social Age, I wanted to share a great cover story from Time Magazine written by Richard Stengal.

Just check out these stats:

“In 2006 more than 61 million Americans dedicated 8.1 billion hours to volunteerism. The nation’s volunteer rate has increased by more than 6 percentage points since 1989. Overall, 27% of Americans engage in civic life by volunteering. Dr. Franklin would be impressed. The service movement itself began to take off in the 1980s, and today there is a renaissance of dynamic altruistic organizations in the U.S., from Teach for America to City Year to Senior Corps, many of them under the umbrella of AmeriCorps. In a 2002 poll, 70% of Americans thought universal service was a good idea. And while it’s easy to sit back and say this to a pollster, the next President can harness the spirit of volunteerism that already exists and make it a permanent part of American culture.”

It’s a really great article about civilian service and is bound to motivate more folks to do more. I recommend it highly. You can read The Case for National Service on Time Magazine’s website.