We have a special volunteer appreciation ceremony once a year in the school. Every parent is asked to attend. The children are given a carnation to present to their parent/guardian, etc. as a 'thank you' for helping making their school special. Then the children escort their parents to a continental breakfast of coffee and danishes. We usually have a little something like a pen or stick-ees that say thank you for volunteering, etc.
As a former PTO Co-president, we had never done
anything for the volunteers and the first year of office we had a cake and an award certificate to all of our chairpersons at the PTO meeting in January. By the second year we had a dinner on the
monthly meeting night in January everyone brought
a covered dish and the PTO provided the meat and
dessert. We invited the teachers, as well as all
the PTO members and their families to attend. We
did also give out the award certificates again.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the night.
I'm glad you liked our way ! I like your suggestion about photos. We do thank you's in our monthly newsletters, including photos would be a good addition. Our school always gives us volunteers a luncheon in May. Keep those ideas coming ! Thanks for sharing !!
This suggestion isn't along the same lines as the Rewards you currently have (which are good ideas I'm gonna steal!), but we have found that recognition, rather than something tangible, goes a long way. We put little notices in the newsletter to thank specific volunteers when they do something special - like volunteer for more than 8 hours in a month. We also like to take pictures (digital cameras are wonderful for this) of our volunteers in action and post them on the school bulletin board. Our "kids" love to show off their parents' pictures on the school bulletin board. Also, at the end of the school year we have a pot luck salad luncheon as an overall volunteer thank you and get together.
Just looking for ideas for Volunteer Rewards. We currently use the parent sign in sheet in the office to track hours volunteered in classrooms.. for 20 hours the teacher receives a coupon for a soft cover book ($3-$6)(usually buys from Scholastic)to use for the class and for every 60 hours total vol. hours we donate a hardcover book to the library. I'm just looking for other options. Thanks for whatever you can share !
