We have a "Volunteers - Make it Happen" sign at the entrance to our building. Each month, the previous month's volunteers' names are posted on the sign to say thank you, and we also list their combined total volunteer time for the month.

We only this year began a full-scale volunteer effort, with our families committing to 10 hours of Family Involvement time per year. We've had a great response!

We began a "Volunteer of the Month" program this year. We created a form and look for nominations from parents, teachers, administrators, etc. The form is at the end of our newsletter each month and on our website so they can nominate on-line or in print. I also send the nomination form out to the teachers every other month as a reminder. The program has been very well received - we get some awesome comments (primarily from teachers) about why there are nominating particular volunteers. It is a reminder to all of us how much we are appreciated. Each month the co-chairs choose a Volunteer of the Month, it is a surprise that is announced at our PTO meeting. We make a flyer with the volunteer's name, who nominated them and the reason why. The flyer is posted on the bulletin board at both of our schools, it is posted on our website and sent out in email, and it is also included in our monthly newsletter.

Here's a collection of Volunteer Poems I've compiled over the years in PTA, and finallly put on a web page for others to eaily access too.

Please feel free to copy and paste any you like!

Volunteer - poems and short verses:

myschoolonline.com/page/0,1871,48153-169970-51-76193,00.html

Can you send me a copy of the poems you have? I could really use them! Thanks [img]smile.gif[/img]

One more thing. This years yearbook was dedicated to the volunteers. We are fortunate at our school to have such a dynamic staff and volunteers as well.

I wanted to say what our school has done for the volunteers as well. The principal put on the readerboard " We love our volunteers" in April. She has also put on the readerboard this spring " Thank you PTA". One of our creative teachers made the front bulletin board a "tribute to volunteers" in April. The staff also honored all school, community and PTA volunteers with an appreciation tea. Also our PTA awarded a "Golden Acorn Award" to a teacher and a volunteer. This is a National PTA award given for outstanding service to children and youth. As you can see our school/PTA tries to make everyone feel appreciated.