President's Volunteer Service Award

The President's Volunteer Service Award program was established to honor volunteers that give hundreds of thousands of hours per year helping others. These volunteers can be individuals, families and organizations located throughout the United States.

Purpose

The purpose for the President's Volunteer Service Award is to honor to the hundreds of thousands of people that provide hundreds of thousands, if not millions of volunteer hours per year. As of August 2006, there had been more than 484,402 awards presented to volunteers across the United States.

Establishment

The President's Volunteer Service Award program was established to honor the volunteer works of individuals, families and organizations throughout the United States. There have been several variations of this program using different names, including the President's Volunteer Action Award from the 1980s.

The current program is called the President's Volunteer Service Award and was created by President George W. Bush in 2002. He made this program known during his State of the Union address. With the establishment of this award and by the help of the Points of Light Foundation, an effort was made to honor the millions of people in the United States that volunteer their time to help others.

Formation

The President's Volunteer Service Award is an initiative of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation in conjunction with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the USA Freedom Corps and is administered by the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network. [ [http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/ President's Volunteer Service Award Website] ]

These above organizations along with the 67 Leadership Organizaions and 14,000 Certifying Organizations, take the time to confirm and honor these individuals that give so much of the time to help others.

In January 2003, President George W. Bush created an [http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/tg/pvsainfo/dspExecutiveOrder.cfm Executive Order] that created the Presidents Council on Service and Civil Participation. The Council was established to recognize the important contributions Americans of all ages are making within their communities through service and civic engagement. [ [http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/tg/pvsainfo/dspMeetTheCouncil.cfm Meet the Council] ] .

Administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Council brings together leaders from the worlds of business, entertainment, sports, education, government, nonprofits, and the media. The current council (2006) is made up of the following individuals:

* Stephen Baldwin
* Jean Case, Chair
* Ray Chambers
* Jerry Colangelo
* Evern Cooper Epps
* Myrka Dellanos
* Hilary Duff
* Sara Evans
* Angela Baraquio Grey
* Darrell Green
* Patricia Heaton
* Kasey Kahne
* Art Linkletter
* Mary Jo Myers
* Michelle Nunn
* Kelly Perdew
* Cokie Roberts
* Michael W. Smith, Vice Chair
* Wendy Spencer
* Roxanne Spillet
* Hope Taft
* Janine Turner
* Charles "Chuck" Turlinski
* Danny Wuerffel
* Mark Yudof

After 9/11

With emotions running high after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush saw the need to renew the interest in helping our neighbors and called upon all Americans to help by volunteering their time. As part of this request, he created several new programs, including the Citizen Corps and to go along with these new programs, the President's Volunteer Serivce Award to be given to those the help to make a difference.

The awards

There are three levels & four categories of the award varying by age. The awards can be received by an individual, family or group for volunteers hours given during any 12-month period. One of the awards is presented to volunteers that reach 4,000 hours or more. This award is called the President's Call to Service Award as it is considered to represent a life time of volunteering.

Award recipients receive:

* An official President’s Volunteer Service Award pin.
* A personalized certificate of achievement.
* A note of congratulations from the President of the United States.
* A letter from the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

The four types of awards and their requirements are:

* Bronze Level
** Kids: 50 to 74 Hours
** Young Adults: 100 to 174 Hours
** Adults: 100 to 249 Hours
** Families and Groups: 200 to 499 Hours

* Silver Level
** Kids: 75 to 99 Hours
** Young Adults: 175 to 249 Hours
** Adults: 250 to 499 Hours
** Families and Groups: 500 to 999 hours

* Gold Level:
** Kids: 100 Hours or more
** Young Adults: 250 Hours or more
** Adults: 500 Hours or more
** Families and Groups: 1000 Hours or more

* Presidents Call to Service Award
** All Ages that have received 4,000 or more hours over volunteer service (over a lifetime)

Areas of interest

There are four main areas of interest for the awards programs, though anyone that volunteers can receive this award. The main areas are:

* Health
* Youth
* Parks
* Emergency

Tracking hours

Volunteers are requested to maintain a log of hours that are volunteered and when requesting a President's Volunteer Service Award are required to present this information for certification. Individuals may use a regular sheet of paper, download a form or sign up to track their hours.

The President's Volunteer Service Award website has a place for individuals and group to register and track the hours that have been volunteered. If you would like to sign up for this online log, [http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/tgact/ros/dspROSlogin.cfm click here] . This seems to be a great way for young people to collect volunteer hours that may be required for their schools and have the ability to track the hours provided to each project.

Certifying organizations

The program uses two groups of organizations to certify awards. There is the Leadership Organization which is usually a national organization. The LO then will have its smaller groups sign up under them and will administer all their activities for them. There are currently 67 LOs across the States.

Then there is a normal Certifying Organization which is any group that wishes to be able to process and award the President's Volunteer Service Award. They are usually only a local or state wide group and will handle all aspects of their part in the program. There are currently 14,000 Certifying Oranizaions in the States.

References

External links

* [http://www.presidentialserviceawards.org/index.cfm Official site]