Audrey, I think this is a critically important issue. Our honoring has evolved over the past few years. * Several years ago we launched what is now a volunteer appreciation dinner. Besides just a dinner and many thanks, we review the accomplishments of the volunteers over the past year and plans for the future. The intent is to provide an overview of how the volunteer work fits into and is an integral part of the museum operation. * Last year we shifted the focus a bit. We considered volunteers as a type of staff. We computed the hours of what we called "irregular" staff that included students, interns, volunteers, and community service learning groups. We found that their total hours for the year (7600) nearly equaled that of our small full time staff (7900). Just in terms of sheer number of hours, these "irregular" staff were absolutely essential to the operation of our museum. * Flowing from that, this year we changed the name of the event to the Volunteer/Staff Appreciation Dinner. We feel that this reconfiguration recognizes volunteers more as stakeholders at the institution. We also launched an annual service award that will be given each year to a volunteer, regular staff member, or other advocate. This year the award went to the president of our friends group who has been active at the museum for many years. Where we seem to be evolving is in recognizing that volunteers are absolutely as critical to the day-to-day functioning of our museum as the regular staff. By celebrating with the regular staff and not at an event distinct from the regular staff, that recognition seems more effectively stated. Thanks for listening, Robert -- Robert P. Connolly, PhD Director, C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa 1987 Indian Village Drive, Memphis, Tennessee 38109 901-785-3160, ext. 15 Associate Professor, Anthropology The University of Memphis 38152 901-678-3331 http://www.memphis.edu/chucalissa/ http://rcnnolly.wordpress.com/ The mission of the C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa, a division of the University of Memphis, is to protect and interpret the Chucalissa archaeological site’s cultural and natural environments, and to provide the University Community and the public with exceptional educational, participatory, and research opportunities on the landscape’s past and present Native American and traditional cultures. From: <Gayou>, Audrey Marie <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Friday, September 7, 2012 1:41 PM To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Honoring Volunteers We have a wonderful group of volunteers that have been doing some amazing work for us lately. We want to honor them in some way, but are trying to think of things to do that don't just involve buying everyone lunch one day. What does everyone do for their volunteers to let them know how much they are appreciated? Audrey Gayou Collections Manager University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 ========================================================= 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).