The United States lost more jobs than forecast in August and the unemployment rate climbed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent. However, nonprofit groups in the Valley say, in this economy, they need more hands and they're ready to pay.

The term nonprofit doesn't mean these organizations are volunteer run.

Christal Yowell, the Salvation Army in Harrisonburg, says, "We just need more hands, whether that's volunteers, or we have funding to create new positions, we need more hands to meet the need in our community."

Heather Denman, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, says, "Most nonprofits will need to have a reliable work force and although we all use volunteers and that's very important to us, there's got to be the icing on the cake."

Yowell says, "While it might not be the same pay scale in the private sector as it is in the nonprofit sector, there are paying jobs."

According to a study released Friday by the Johns Hopkins Center, nonprofit employees' wages totaled more than $8.2 billion in 2005. In the same year, nonprofit organizations employed more than 210,000 Virginians, that's about one in 17 workers.

Yowell says, "We have people that are paid to run the registers, to do the paperwork, our truck drivers are paid. So just an idea of the various opportunities there are at nonprofits. There are a lot in this community alone."

Denman says, "The work is meaningful. You go home at the end of the day feeling that you've made a contribution and to be passionate about the work you do, to love the work you do, to feel good about going to work everyday, you can't put a price tag on that."

Supporters of nonprofit organizations in Virginia hope this new study on the groups' economic impact will boost their sector and give them a larger voice in policy decisions.