I think it's nice to personally send thank you notes to volunteers. When it's a big event with many volunteers, I try to thank them personally when I see them or at the event. It's impossible to send thank you's to the larger groups. I like to use the phrases "Three Cheers for Volunteers" or "Give a cheer for volunteers".
We also do sign in sheets and I leave it up to the committee chair to keep track. I write notes to the chairs after their event has concluded. I created our own note cards on powerpoint and purposely handwrite them because I think that it gives it a much more personal touch. We then publish the names of the committee in the newspaper we send out. Another idea might be a board at the front of the school with all the names on it for folks to see coming and going. Anything to give people the pat on the back they deserve. Dianna
We too, have a Volunteer Log that we keep in our PTO drawer at school. This way there arent 20 sign in sheets at the end of the year to be found, so we can give certificates to everyone that volunteers. This year I am also giving each volunteer a leaf with thier family name on it every time they volunteer and it goes on our Volunteer Tree. The kids like looking for their name, and it motivates new volunteers [img]smile.gif[/img] I also hand out the lifesavers with the label that says..THANKS FOR YOUR HELP, YOU'RE A REAL LIFESAVER..they love that too!
As this is my first year as Pres, I think thank you notes are a wonderful idea and I'm going to put something together to give to my parents who volunteer at our family skate night tomorrow night. I think this personal touch says more than just thank you and it also boosts our ratings as in the past years there has not been much involvement by the parents. I'm going to work on this tonight. One of our local ice cream shoppes gave me some $1 off coupons for their store, I'll include this with the thank yous.
Ah yes, those who have to have the pervebial pat on the back. Yada yada.
Here is what I have done in the past. Just so I wouldn't miss anyone I would double check the sign in sheet. Instead of mentioning actual names on the webpage, newsletters, and bulletin board I would say "A special thank you to those who helped during X event." At Christmas and Volunteer week we had a budget for volunteer gifts. I would go around and ask every teacher if they had volunteers they felt needed to be recognized. Not all of our volunteers were PTO members or in the program. Usually there was one or two I had missed. At the begining of the year when I sent out vol program info I would mention this would help us keep track of volunteers.
As few volunteers as we have now, I think Thank you notes wouldn't hurt.
