PTO Today

Hello,

I am a new volunteer coordinator this year and I would like to try something different at our school. I would like to have a "Volunteer of the Month" award for all of our volunteers. I was thinking of having a certificate of appreciation made and maybe some kind of "special" small gift to give to our volunteer. I am not really sure on how well this will work AND how we (PTA) would determine who would be the winner (so to speak). Does anyone do this at their school and if so, do you have any advice for me?

Also, we do recognize the "Volunteer Appreciation" week as well. I just wanted to do something "extra" for them.

My only worry is that you could make someone feel unappreciated by not picking them for a month-- We try and acknowledge each volunteer with a thank you of some sort after every event-- that way they aren't waiting to be thanked months afterward-- and maybe thinking we didn't appreciated them at all.

I agree with FoxMom. We show our appreciation after every event, and we treat our volunteers to two luncheons a year. That way, everyone feels appreciated.

ok, that makes sense. I certainly don't want to make anyone feel bad or left out. It was just a thought. I appreciate your comments and input. I will definitlely take them into consideration. Thank you.

PTAMama--
You could make a PTO (PTA) tree of thanks. Possibly in the main hallway of the school for all to see-- after an event-- add the volunteers names to the tree. WE are going to do this, this year.
I bought a tree form from the teachers store and bought shaped paper apples- laminated them so I can reuse them and put the tree in the main hallway-- when we do an event that is run by the PTO, those volunteers names will be placed on an apple or leaf and put up-- these will stay there all year for everyone to see. Good luck!

Great idea - I like the PTO(PTA) tree of thanks. We have been looking for an idea to thank our volunteers also.

We thought about doing the volunteer of the month also, instead we decided to have a gift certificate drawing (volunteers choice). We are putting anyone's name in that helped out during that month. We are doing it so that we can increase volunteers at our school, gives us an opportunity each month to thank all of our volunteers at the family night meetings and it allows us to put in a plug not to forget to purchase your gift certificates(we do the scrip program) if you weren't the big winner.

We do a "Sound Off" section in our newsletter where we recognize the efforts folks are making on behalf of all the children. It takes a bit of practice to get everyone's names collected and keep a running tally (I do it by the computer on a sticky and just keep a running list to add when I'm doing that part of the paper). It's nice for folks to see there names and every few months I throw out a thanks to the folks that do something every month (like the treasurer or the newpaper lay out person).
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We also have a Volunteer Tree and thank our volunteers in our monthly newsletter. It works out great!

We're doing a "Helping Hands" display in the main lobby of the school this year. We got hand-shaped cutouts from the teacher supply store and will be posting them where everyone can see them. We'll be including the student's name on the hand i.e.: John Doe's mother Jane Smith so that the kids can see their own names too.