By Jessica Fryman
Sagebrush, U. Nevada-Reno

(UWire)--Each week, University of Nevada-Reno student Richard Hansen escapes his daily routine of work and school to move pieces across a game board at Sierra Vista Elementary School. For the Ph.D. student, it's just an hour per week, but for his fourth grade "little brother" it's more.

Deep in the game of Clue, 10-year-old Alexis Romero has the chance to feel like an only child rather than one of six in his family.

When he plays with Hansen during his lunch hour at his elementary school, the games have all the pieces, unlike those at his home, Alexis said

Volunteer hours at the Food Bank of Northern Nevada have doubled in the past year

The one-on-one time helps the children improve their academic and social skills, said Pat Fling, president of Big Brothers Big Sisters, an organization that typically helps children from low-income families. More importantly, it gives the "littles" a sense of future and a desire to reach goals, she said.

Now, as unemployment rates increase, making life more difficult for people across the nation, many want to join Hansen in making a difference, officials for volunteer organizations said.

"From an economic perspective, there are two things to explain that: more time and when people hear the news that people are hurting because they are unemployed, those who are working are more inclined to help," Mark Pingle, an economics professor at UNR, said.

Nationally, unemployment rates have climbed from 5.1 percent in March 2008 to 8.5 percent last month (March 2009), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With the increase in community service, volunteer-based organizations said college students like Hansen are making up more of their volunteer populations than ever before.

"College students are usually idealistic and want to make a difference in the world," Fling said.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization signed up 64 University of Nevada, Reno students as potential volunteers just last week, she said.

Almost 20 percent of current volunteers in Reno are college students.

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Hansen, 28, has been a big brother for the organization since 2004 and said he hopes to continue helping where needed.

"I've had such a great experience," Hansen said. "I would say that it's a great opportunity to not only make a difference in the community, but also in a child's life."

Other community members have flocked to organizations that provide the most basic necessity of life, food, volunteer coordinator for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada Bill Kolton said.

He said the demand to feed people in the community is up 35 percent in the last year and others have recognized that need.

Volunteer hours at the Food Bank of Northern Nevada have doubled in the past year, Kolton said.

"People want to do what they can to help out," he said. "I don't know anybody who doesn't know someone who has been directly affected by (the economy)."

He said many people who used to donate money to the food bank now give their time because they can't afford monetary donations anymore - a circumstance that probably explains in part how volunteer hours increased from 6,000 per year to 12,000 per year during a two-year period. This year, the food bank is on track to record 18,000 volunteer hours, he said.

Doubling rates have also been recorded at Projects Abroad, an international volunteer organization that's had a 50 percent increase in volunteers in the last year, spokesman Tom Pastorias said.

"Over the past year, (volunteer numbers) kind of slowly grew," he said. "In December, it was like all of a sudden it exploded. And the same was true in January."

He said a lot of volunteers have lost their jobs and want to do something worthwhile in their search for a new one.