Recognition and celebration of family volunteers is very important. It can provide visibility for your program and helps strengthen positive group identity among the families participating. It also can keep families motivated and help recruit and retain future volunteers. Here are some tips for celebrating your volunteers’ accomplishments:

• Recognition should be an honest, personal ongoing message rather than a one-time, end-of-service event. Small, inexpensive ideas include buying the volunteer a water when necessary, sending holiday or birthday cards, or simply smiling and saying “thank you.”
• Tailor your recognition to the individual families involved, making sure to take into account family and cultural differences.
• Vary how you recognize participants for families that have contributed for a long time. Some ideas may include a thoughtful thank you card, a certificate of appreciation, or a donated gift certificate.

Celebrations and recognition are important to the closure of a service project. There are many ways to recognize the contributions of a family volunteer while helping to achieve your mission at the same time. Here are some ideas:

• Create events exclusively devoted to recognizing and commending volunteers.
• Throw a party and distribute certificates or flowers to volunteers.
• Make buttons or T-shirts to thank volunteers.
• To highlight the accomplishments of your volunteers, invite local journalists to develop feature stories that salute them.