We had a Humanities Contest at Middle School this year and have decided that the April Meeting will be a General Meeting (for elections), Awards Meeting for Humanities Contest and Volunteer Recognition. This year we are giving out $10 Gift Certificates to our 14 Team Leaders (notice the word, not chairperson), and a lapel pin that says "Volunteers Have a Heart of Gold" to our 70 volunteers who log in our Volunteer Log Book. During Volunteer Week I am going to have a candy basket near our Log Book that will have minature chocolate bars in it for our volunteers as they sign in for a hard days work. This has cost us $300 out of our budget. Our folks have put in more than $300 worth of work that would have cost our County so much more even at minimum wage. We are moving towards parents helping out our team teachers, in the classroom, the chorus teacher, the drama teacher, the art teacher, etc. Some folks feel so much better doing the hands-on stuff rather than the organizational stuff. We are hoping that we will recognize more volunteers next year. We are in our 2nd year of operation and we are taking babysteps. Our relationship is improving with the administration as they begin to see us putting out our hands to help. Some teachers have said that they are not used to having parents that they can ask for help at the Middle School level. If a parent wants to help we can always find somewhere for them. I have had calls from parents saying "I believe you are desperate for help, what can I do?" This gladens my heart when I hear this. Generally, we are not desperate, we are just trying to fill a void somewhere in the school.
We haven't had any sort of breakfast, lunch or dinner for our volunteers in a few years. The attendance got down to the point that it was the PTO and many 2 other parents. We always had a ton of food leftover. We give small tokens to parents who have volunteered at least three times during the year. That was maybe 10 parents. We have given out keyring/pens with the words "volunteer" on them, tin pails with the words "volunteers plant kindness" on them with dirt and seeds in a small bag inside, $5 blockbuster cards. Like I said before, the best was the poem that made me cry in a thank you card from my son's first grade class and all the kids signed it. I hope this helps you!! Good Luck!
This is my 3rd year on PTO. Last year the social committee(made of staff members) had breakfast finger foods(muffins, biscuits, danishes, etc). We were not given anything or really thanked verbally. My first year I was treas., 2nd yr. vice pres. and this year pres. There has been one other person to serve all 3 years and basically all 3 years she and I were the only ones to "do" anything. This year was even harder because she is a substitute teacher and has been in a classroom since school started in August. She does what she can but the brunt of it all has fallen on me. No compaints. I'd do it again. It's just hard. I would like to do something for her and a couple others (not officers) for what they have done. Any suggestions? I know I can't do it publicly because my other 2 officers haven't done squat. Thanks for any suggestions.
I am a volunteer at our elementary school, and at our "Volunteer Appreciation Tea", where snacks and desserts were all provided by the teachers, we were each given a "helping hand" pin, a very nice pen engraved with the school name & city, and the school choir serenaded us with songs geared towards "thanks". I'm sure your music teacher could coordinate this and select the songs, and the children would be most happy to perform.
At our April PTA meeting which falls on Volunteer Appreciation Week I am reading a special volunteer poem to the attending members. I am also handing out small bottles of bubble bath decorated with ribbon in our school colors. Our teachers are decorating the main bulletin board in a volunteer appreciation theme and are hosting a special volunteer appreciation event in May.(Too much testing in April). At our May PTA meeting we will have an end of the year- celebrate our success. Everyone will be asked to bring Mexican food to share.
Our school gives a volunteer breakfast and sends out invitations to school volunteers. This is put on separately just by the school. Our PTO also has its own separate "recognition potluck" at the May meeting (last meeting of the school year)just for PTO. At this meeting, we elect new officers and recognize each of our committee chairs for the work they did during the year by giving them a small token of our appreciation such as a pen or the like. Its not much, but we feel that we need to show appreciation too. Incidentally, its one of our best attended meetings!
