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

Purpose and establishment

The purpose for the President's Volunteer Service Award is to honor the hundreds of thousands of people across America that have volunteered hundreds, if not thousands of volunteer hours over their lifetime.

The 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.
In January 2003, President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

created an 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. The President's Volunteer Service Award is now an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Points of Light Institute.

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 Service Award to be given to those the help to make a difference.

The awards

There are three levels and 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 lifetime of volunteering.

Award recipients may receive the following (depending on what the Certified Organization orders):

• An official President’s Volunteer Service Award pin.
• A personalized certificate of achievement.
• A note of congratulations from the President of the United States.

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 individuals 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 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.

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.

Then there is a 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.