Blythe;149116 wrote: I have volunteered at my children's school for 7 years now, 2 years of which I have been the PTA President. Sometimes I get a thank you or job well done and sometimes I don't. I can tell you that at this moment I feel very unappreciated and I will be cutting back drastically on my volunteering. I think it is very important to thank volunteers and make sure that they feel like they are appreciated and that their work is important. At our school I can see volunteerism is waning due to the lack of appreciation that the teachers give our volunteers. .

Blythe, I agree with you.

This school year I stepped up to be volunteer coordinator because there was NO ONE else. Now I know why. I had come from a great elementary school, and this middle school has a very different way of doing things. Parental input is not welcome. They only seem to want to do things the way they have always done things. (Maybe that's why there are so few parent volunteers and board positions go unfilled?)

The elementary school put on a beautiful breakfast just for the volunteers each year. The middle school's idea of volunteer appreciation is to give out certificates to volunteers at the school's academic awards assembly. The PTA has to purchase the cake and provide the volunteers to serve. Some volunteer appreciation, huh?

One of many reasons why I will not continue to be the volunteer chairperson for this PTA any longer...

Hmmm, well I must be weird..haha...I have been a PTO officer for years and have never expected any kind of "official" Thank You. That is not why I volunteer my time. I do it to help the kids and school and do not feel it is necessary to have people thanking me all the time. I feel thanked and appreciated just by seeing the smiling faces. I always try to thank volunteers personally, and even send thank you notes sometimes, but I do it because that is just my way, not because I feel obligated. From experience, some people will complain no matter what you do. You could give some $1000 bill and they wouldn't like it because they had to go the bank to get change..LOL I have learned that the best you can do just will not be good enough for some people. You could live at the school and people won't like it because they volunteer an hour or two the whole school year and they didn't get that BIG THANK YOU...LOL O, and by the way, if you do an appreciation dinner for these people, try to get donations from local businesses and spend as little as possible from the PTO/PTA funds....Good Luck !!!!!

Even though I do not volunteer in my children;s classroom for recognition, when I volunteer in the school hours on end, plan events, create bulletin, plan class parties, or whatever the countless volunteers do at our school, it is sure nice to get a thank you at lest occassionally. I have volunteered at my children's school for 7 years now, 2 years of which I have been the PTA President. Sometimes I get a thank you or job well done and sometimes I don't. I can tell you that at this moment I fele very unapprecaited and I will be cutting back drastically on my volunteering. I think it is very important to tahnk volunteers and make sure that they feel like they are appreciated and that their work is important. At our school I can see volunteerism is waning due to the lack of appreciation that the teachers give our volunteers. If you wouldlike to keep your volunteers, please give them a thank you. A written note is what I like best. It shows that they took the time to put pen and paper and thought together. I agree that a gift is not necessary, but thank yous are always necessary. You treat others the way you would like to be treated.

I think the vast majority of parents who volunteer do so becasue they want to and do not need something 'special' other than a Thank You during the event. You may have just gotten some bad eggs - do not assume all parents are the same. I would rather fundraising money be used on the kids and for events rather than buying a cheep Thank You gift. Having a few officers walk up to me during an event and thank me personally for my time means much more to me, the gift is in the giving (volunteering).

We send out thank you and a personalized thank you pen-- that says either Thank you-- you are appreciated- or Volunteers are like stars -- thank you for shinny so bright.

I always send one home-- this year I'm sending our a bag of chips with a personalized chip clip at says Thanks for sticking together.
It's the little things that count-- the pens were about 40 cents each -- not a lot when you think of all the hard work that went int each event.
We also have an appreciation breakfast at the end of the year for all the parents that volunteer throughout the year-- it's a nice tradition now.

Our Middle School PTO has also used handwritten thank you notes mailed to the volunteer's home. It's personal and I feel, conveys our sincere appreciation for their help. In addition, we have also emailed the teachers and members a general thank you listing the names of volunteers who have helped at our latest event.