At a museum/historic site where I worked previously, we had an excellent volunteer program and did several things at our annual volunteer appreciation event. We gave out personalized certificates to each volunteer complete with the number of hours they had contributed in that year. Those who contributed the greatest number of hours that year (the top ten or so) got very nice gifts. Sometimes these were huge gift baskets full of goodies, or gift certificates to local restaurants, even theater tickets to see a play or show. The volunteers came to expect these kinds of rewards and even competed with each other through the year to make sure they were putting in enough hours to receive a special gift! Anyway, we also had food and refreshments, and a thank you speech from the director, of course. Then our volunteer coordinator always had games that everyone could participate in, with themes that tied into the historic site. Even if a few people thought this was silly, most people seemed to really enjoy it. Of course, there were prizes for the winners. The last year I was there, we came across an idea for little baggies of trinkets, each of which had a meaning that related to how much the museum appreciated the contributions of volunteers. There was a piece of paper inside each bag that explained the meaning of each item. For example, each bag had a lifesaver (volunteers are real "lifesavers" and the museum couldn't survive without them), and a penny (a penny for your thoughts - the museum values the comments and feedback of its volunteers). There were several other items, too, but of course now I can't remember them. We seemed to always receive a lot of compliments afterward from those who attended, telling us how much they enjoyed the event. Cristin J. Waterbury In a message dated 4/7/05 2:32:46 PM, [log in to unmask] writes: Would anyone on the list have any good ideas re: volunteer appreciation. We are planning an event to showcase a new facility (volunteers will have the first preview), a thank you speech and refreshments. I want a little "more meat" to the event ands cannot think of what can be added. Any ideas out there - would appreciate any feedback! Thank you Marilynn Havelka Ruthven Park National Histgoric Site ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).