The "Inspire by Example" Volunteer Recognition Reception will be offered on Thursday, April 19th from 5-7pm.  This event will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick.  Agencies are urged to get in their list of volunteers they would like to honor at this event - space will fill up quickly.  The fee is $25 per person recognized.  The 12 Outstanding Volunteers will be announced and honored at this event as well.  Member agencies of VCRI can nominate a volunteer online.  Deadline for nominations is March 16, 2007.   

Agencies can also order Presidential Service Awards to be given out at this time as well.  These awards cost $2 per person and take 6-8 weeks to be received from Washington DC.  The President's Volunteer Service Award was created to recognize the tens of millions of Americans who have made a sustained commitment to volunteer service. The Award is given to individuals, families and groups that have demonstrated outstanding volunteer service and civic participation over the course of a 12-month period.

To earn a President's Volunteer Service Award, individuals, families and groups must keep a record of their activities and hours of volunteer service. They can track their hours in a journal at home, on-line through their personalized volunteer profile page on VCRI's website, or have the organizations that they volunteer with "certify" that they volunteered those hours. Each individual, family, or group then submits its record of service to the Volunteer Center of RI.

These awards include a pin, certificate signed by President Bush and are given to volunteers who achieve 100+ hours of volunteer service. There is also a "lifetime" service award for people who have given over 4,000 hours of service.

To order President’s Volunteer Service Awards or submit volunteer names and pay for the "Inspire by Example" Volunteer Recognition Event, please contact Lynne Harper at (401) 421-6547, 1-800-VOLUNTEER, or by email at lharper@vcri.org.