Nationally, April is recognized as National Volunteer Month with April 20-26 marked as National Volunteer Week. This provides a great opportunity for local health departments to say “thank you” to volunteers and to share the work of volunteers with the community.

For those housing a Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit, the MRC Program Office makes available for download volunteer appreciation certificates that can be customized for use with local volunteers.

National programs like the President’s Volunteer Service Award and Daily Point of Light Award are also open to MRC units. Points of Light makes a National Volunteer Week Toolkit available for download​​​​​​​.

Local health departments and MRC units use a variety of additional ways to recognize volunteers. See how the Bucks County MRC in Pennsylvania worked with local elected officials to recognize volunteers. See how the Southwest Virginia MRC uses painted rocks to express appreciation to its volunteers.

What low or no-cost methods are you using to recognize volunteers? Send your successes to NACCHO at [email protected] and we will share them in future newsletters.