Our school hosts a luncheon for all of our volunteers at the end of the school year. We also gave a small gift (pens with the schools name on them was last years) and did a drawing for a gift card and a few donated raffle items. I wouldn’t say it was anything big, but I don’t think there is ever anything wrong with letting people know you appreciate what they’ve done. They are volunteers, after all. Not paid staff.
A Volunteer Tea is held at our elementary school on a Thursday during February, usually right around Valentine's Day with a theme of "We Love Our Volunteers." Each of the teachers prepares something, from meatballs to cheese plates, with plenty of cookies and candies, of course! Punch and coffee are served. The Volunteer Coordinator (a staff member) recognizes the nominees for Volunteer of the Year and presents thank you notes and small gifts (such as a picture frame or plaque). All volunteers receive a gift such as a tee-shirt "I share my heart; I volunteer at..." or a mug or tote bag with the school's logo. Also, entertainment is provided by a group of students, either the Bell Ringers or the Chorus or one of the other grade levels. This year the kindergarteners were adorable! Also, individual teachers usually have gifts for their specific volunteers in their classrooms. These range from goody baskets to rose bushes to booklets made up of letters from the students.
A nice gift that isn't too showy or flowery or inappropriate might be those pins that they are always sending for PTO's to look at... You know the ones... TOGETHER WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE kind of stuff. I really like them and would do them for our volunteers (I have one that says Star Volunteer that I am going to give to our hardest working volunteer), but they want $2.95 a piece for them and my group won't spring for anything like that. I can't afford to purchase 80 of them out of my own pocket, so they will have to do without them. But if I were going to pick some small thing, that would be it.
We have a Volunteer Tea a couple of weeks before school lets out, we get invited through our staff and children's classrooms. Some of the older students serve us tea or lemonade, and they all act so proper, there are cookies and candies, and posters covering the walls from each class saying "Thank you" to all us volunteers. The principal then presents us with a certificate and sometimes a little pin or something. It is very nice and I look forward to it every year. It helps recognize the volunteers as a group and individually (and there a lot of us)and also helps us network with each other, and sometimes put names to faces and start new friendships. Ours is a large K-6 public school, and we are year round, so sometimes one track never meets up with the others or the kids/families involved. This really brings us together, even if it's just for an afternoon.
I also have never heard of PTO/PTA Appreciation Week. Our school principal/faculty handles the Volunteer Appreciation since we (PTO) feel it isn't fair to use PTO funds to reward PTO and our many volunteers (since these monies are from volunteers/parents). Our school hosts a Volunteer Appreciation Reception after our last PTO meeting in May. They serve light refreshments. The best and only "gifts" are the handwritten thank-you's the students write to the volunteers who have helped in their classrooms or with a specific program. It is a wonderful night and so appreciated by us volunteers! [img]smile.gif[/img]
HI! I am the President of our PTO. We wanted to do something to show our appreciation to all that vol. their time at the school. We thought of having a dinner at the school and giving each one a small gift. I took our idea to the principal and was told she had never heard of such a thing. She has suggested giving out plaques at the awards night. How many ptoers or room moms want to hang a plaque on their wall? We may just go with a card and a rose on awards night. I feel even though most people that vol. their time do not feel they need to be rewarded for it we still need to show that we do appreciate them. It helps to keep them coming back. Anyone else have any ideas? We thought about the candy bar poem but that just didn't seem to fit.
Christina
