President’s Volunteer Service Award

The President’s Volunteer Award was established in 2003 to recognize the  community volunteers and encourage more people to serve. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes United States citizens and lawfully admitted permanent residents of the United States who have achieved the required number of hours of service over a 12-month time period ,  or cumulative hours over the course of a lifetime.

Service to our community and others is an important aspect of Scouting as evidenced by its inclusion in the Scout Oath wherein a scout pledges “to help other people at all times”. To encourage scouts and scouts family members to service the community, BSA Troop 55 became “Certifying Organization” in July 2014 to establish the “The President’s Volunteer Award” program at BSA Troop 55.   Troop 55 will also establish accounts for different patrols;  individual scout’s community service hours will be aggregated into his patrol.  At Court of Honor, we will award “President’s Volunteer Service Award”  not only to scouts who achieve it, but also we will award individual patrol who meet the award criteria. We encourage a “friendly” competition among different patrols in term of serving our communities. To create an account to keep track of your community service hours, please go to this URL  https://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/register-vo, once you create your web account, please contact Mr. Ye (yejeff [at] hotmail [dot] com) for “Record of Service Key” to help link your account to Troop 55 as your certifying organization, as well the group key for your patrol.

For Troop 55, the calendar year is from March 1st to Feb 28th(or 29th) of the next year (i.g. March 1st 2015 – Feb 29th 2016). Scout must accumulate enough qualified hours within this 12 month period to apply for the award. In addition, at least 30 hrs for calendar year must generated from Troop 55 led community service projects or Troop 55 supported community service events.

Some examples of Troop 55 led community service project examples (not limited to):

• Adopt-A-Highway
• Scouting-for-Food
• National July 4th open ceremony color guard
• First Time Camper program at Wolf Trap National Park
• St. Francis Church Country Fair
• Celebrate Great Falls Halloween Spooktacular Haunted House
• Help cub scout packs with Pinewood derby, Campfire and CubScout Olympics
• Eagle service projects for Troop 55 scouts

Some examples of Troop 55 supported community service project examples (not limited to):

• Herndon Festival
• Wreath Across America
• Great Falls 9-11 Memorial Service
• Great Falls Memorial day service
• Great Fall National Park Sunrise Service
• Science Nights and STEM activities by iSchool for Furure
• Virginia Indian Festival by Riverbend park

For youth members, the following guidance is provided to assist in getting started and successfully log the community service hours:

1. You can volunteer the service as any scout rank.
2. The project must be for the benefit of others outside of troop 55 and may not be for your immediate family, but Scouts are certainly encouraged to participate in activities such as the Pinewood Derby and other Cub Scout programs.
3.  If you plan to participate in Troop 55’s Adopt-a-Highway or an Eagle project for a Troop 55 Scout, prior approval is not required.
4. You should prepare a timesheet to keep track of your service hours and provide it for review and audit.
5. If your service hours were for a project other than those specified in 2 above, you must present a signed note from a parent or the leader of the organization benefited by your service.

Here are some examples of appropriate service projects for youth scouts (11 – 18 years old):

1. Adopt-a-Highway
2. “Scout for Food” service hours
3. Troop 55 Eagle Scout projects
4. Help with another scout’s Eagle project
5. Service projects during Camporee and Summer Camp
6. Help cub scout packs with Pinewood Derby event, Pack Olympics etc.
7. Council level or district level events such as   “Day to Serve”  and other community and international events, such as helping out Cherry Blossom Festival for Washington DC.
8. Support community schools with events
9. Provide honor guard duties for community
10. Assist in community-wide “clean-up, paint-up or fix-up” days.
11. Maintenance and clean-up of (1) community parks and recreation facilities, (2) cemeteries, (3) historic sites, and (4) monuments.
12. Shoveling snow from sidewalks or homes of senior citizens.
13. Clothing drives.
14. Nonpartisan get-out-the-vote drives.
15. Becoming an Emergency Service Unit or participation in lost-person or backcountry searches.
16. Visiting nursing homes, assisting senior citizens with chores or aiding shut-ins.
17. Collecting toys.
18. Participation in conservation work.
19. Volunteer work at public libraries, shelters for the homeless or soup kitchens.
20. Volunteer service for our sponsoring organization St. Francis Church or your church, synagogue or mosque. This should be other than your normal duties as church member.

Please contact the Scoutmaster before proceeding with a project for St. Francis. For more information about troop 55 community service, check here.

For adult members, committee members and parent volunteers, all service hours are qualified for the “President’s Volunteer Service Award” program requirement.

Program Structure ( click here to learn more about the award):

The qualified person will receive  Congratulatory Letter from US President,  Personalized Certificate, and Award Medal. Any individual, family, or group can receive Presidential recognition for volunteer hours earned over a 12-month period or over the course of a lifetime at home or abroad. The following are the eligibility requirements for each age group:

• Teens: Age 11-15
• Young Adults: Individual Age 16-25
• Adults: Individual Age 26 +