Helping your community and volunteering time means your heart is in the right place. Now, you can have your Cake and eat it, too.

The 10,000 Hours Show encourages volunteerism by rewarding community service with a concert ticket. Sacramento-based band Cake will perform at this year’s concert and the only requirement for admission is 10 or more hours of volunteering.

This is the third year for the show, and the first to be held outside of the University of Iowa campus. Last year’s show featured the band Guster, and Ben Folds played in 2004.

“It is an experience. It’s unique in that it’s kind of a celebration of community service across the state, and it’s a chance for people to stand together and make a difference in their local communities,” says Katie Petersen, ISU ground team member and senior in plant health and protection.

The idea for the show originated in Iowa City in 2002.

According to the group’s Web site: “A pair of University of Iowa students, Jacek Pruski and Mike Brooks, created the concept over a sweet-and-sour chicken lunch. Both say they had the same idea at the same time: A live show, where the only access to tickets is through volunteer service.”

The 10,000 Hours Show is produced by The James Gang, a nonprofit grassroots community organization based in Iowa City and the Public Project, an U of I student group. The program is run entirely by volunteers under the age of 25.

“When you’re actually at the show, there’s kind of a buzz in the air, because everyone who’s there is there because they did something for someone else,” Petersen said. “It’s not about moving dollars and change, it’s about moving people in and around their communities and strengthening the ties between young people and people in their communities.”

Petersen and the other ISU ground team members are involved in coordinating the team and setting up promotional on-campus events, as well as working with the staff from the nonprofit organizations and recruiting people for the show.

The 10,000 Hours Show has seen a marked increase in participation during its three-year existence. In 2004, they had 13,572 volunteer hours from 876 registered volunteers and more than 50 participating organizations. In 2005, they had 20,009 volunteer hours, 1,684 registered volunteers and more than 140 participating organizations, according to the organization’s Web site.

There are about 30 participating organizations in Story County, including Habitat for Humanity and Youth and Shelter Services, and more than 400 volunteers, said Jason Baragary, ISU ground team member and sophomore in English.

“The concert’s nice, but it’s really more than just the concert. They are going to be doing this anyway, we just like to give them a little reward and say that we appreciate it,” Baragary said.

Colleges participating this year include Iowa State, Iowa, Drake University, St. Ambrose University, Coe College, Mercy College, Central College and Simpson College, Petersen said. The program has also expanded to Iowa high schools, of which about 40 are involved.

“We tried to emphasize the fact the concert wasn’t so much a reward, but it’s a celebration of the work that you’ve done. Being there with other people who have done as much work as you’ve done – if not more – in their community and celebrating that togetherness,” said Rachel Mullen, ground team member and senior in English.

Mullen is involved in recruiting on campus, which involves going to residence halls and classrooms to tell people about the opportunity. She said they found out Sunday that Cake would be performing and no one except the people booking knew ahead of time who would be playing.

“When we didn’t know who the band was – we tried to emphasize the community service aspect, although a lot of people wanted to know,” Mullen said.

Mullen said about 2,500 people had signed up before they knew who the performer would be.

“We had to make sure they realized that it really was about what you’re doing for the community, and how you’re getting involved in a nonprofit organization and how you’re making connections that you might not have had before,” Mullen said.

Petersen said thanking participants is only half the reason for Cake’s participation.

“Yeah, there’s a pretty sweet band,” Petersen said. “But the approach here is two-pronged. We’re first rewarding volunteers by having this celebration, but we’re also recruiting more people to volunteer at the same time.”

Petersen finds getting a good act can be used to recruit volunteers, but nine months out of the year that’s not the point at all.

Baragary said the easiest way to sign up is through the Web site, www.10000hours.org, which features a complete list of organizations involved and contact information.

“I think that people do want to get involved in the community but they really don’t know how to. People don’t know what to do, or who to contact,” Mullen said. “We serve as a mediator between the organizations and the people who do want to get involved.”