Way to go. I'm glad you found a way to do it. There are two ideas in this thread that bother me. One is the suggestion that you (the hard working core group) take yet more time to put together an elaborate event to pat other folks on the back (again).
The other thread is the one that gives such power to the negative anonymous comments. People who won't sign their names should understand that, at best, their comments can only be used to support other's comments. If a few people will say it and a bunch of anon's concur, you should look at it. Otherwise, bah.
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by laurib:
...The dinner I was talking about was intended to be a thank you to the people and their families who put in so many hours that we won't keep track of it in the log book, just everyone elses. We wanted to thank the kids of these parents ...
We are going to go ahead with it, but we are going to announce it as the last meeting of the year. We always supply snacks, so this time we will just be spending a little more than usual.<hr></blockquote>
The majority of our volunteer work is done by our Executive Board. We have some, about 40,(out of 530 students) who volunteered a little time, some more then others, over the year by working book fairs, holiday fair etc. We kept a list of volunteer names. We did budget money for an appreciation party, but after second thought, I didn't want it to seem like a clique. Instead I decided to purchase volunteer tote bags for all who volunteered, if they put in an hour or several hours, they will be thanked with the gift and a personal thank you card. I'm hoping this will make them feel appreciated every time they use it and keep volunteering. After each event we do give a personal thank you with the names of our volunteers in our news letter. I think it's important to recongize those who give their time. Something that has never been done in our school before. My Executive Board is told constantly by myself & our principal how much we appreciate their work. Hopefully recongizing the other parents will bring in more volunteers next year.
We do recoginze everyone. I have made SEVERAL certificates of appreciation for volunteers who are not in our program. The reason I set hours for "the program" was because we would have people to come and not really do anything for only a few minutes all year then expect to get a pat on the back. Also out of 35 people to sign up on our program less than 20 ever step foot in the building or are willing to help with any of our activities in any way. We are a small school in a small coummunity. I feel like our volunteers are very appreciated (at least by the PTO) and no one has ever complained to me. I really stressed that you didn't have to be a part of the program to volunteer.
We realize working parents would like to contribute more, we have made efforts to recognize them by encouraging words and suggestions (mostly things I picked up from PTO Today). This year I even did a little something different for our Character Counts volunteers, most of whom are working parents.
As a matter of fact the majority of the people invited to our appreciation dinner were not part of our volunteer program (and didn't always put in 6 hours per month). Only six people showed up out of about 40 that were invited. So I really don't think any one had hurt feelings.
I would also give out my phone #, e-mail and cell # for all the parents who had questions, suggestions, or comments.
Carmon
P.S. Is there anyway you can put a spell check on here?
I think t is perfectly appropriate to have a dinner for your board. We did it and we had only a very few who objected. We put it in our budget voted on it at the beginning of the year, and when it came for us to have our dinner it was well knon that if anyone felt left out,or objected they were welcome to serve on the board the following year. The board works hard, why not reward them as well. It is something to look forward to and relax at the end of the year. I also acknowledged everyone that did any type of volunteering with a small token and a personalized note card. One year I purchased note cards that included flower seeds inside. The card read " A garden of Thanks"
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by laurib:
We are going to go ahead with it, but we are going to announce it as the last meeting of the year. We always supply snacks, so this time we will just be spending a little more than usual.<hr></blockquote>
Everyone is going to be invited and notified of the end of the year meeting, we just know that no one other than those of us we originally thought to honor will show up, as usual.
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by laurib: Would it be appropiate to have the PTO pay for an appreciation dinner for the 10 or so key workers in the PTO. We have 6 board members and 4 or 5 parents who all give and give and give of themselves. We are all at burnout and I think that it would be nice for us to have a night off. We are thinking of a family pizza and soda dinner down at the lake. We figure the cost to be about $100 - $150, and the funding would come from the general fund not allocated funds. Am I way off base with my thinking. We have never done anything to say thank you other than to say it, to the key people involved before and I have been a board member for 4 years now.<hr></blockquote>
A better way to thank all the people who have worked so hard throughout the year may be to have a end of year party where all volunteers are invited but the board members and committee chairs are honored with a small token, such as flowers or a gift certificate.
