Every day, millions of Americans volunteer, using their time, talents, and compassion to make a difference in the lives of others. Through volunteering, Americans are helping to foster a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility for generations to come. It is through these acts of kindness and decency that we are able to demonstrate the true character and compassion of our country.

Recognizing and honoring volunteers sets a standard for service to others. It encourages a sustained commitment to civic participation and inspires others to make volunteering a central part of their lives. The President's Volunteer Service Award is a Presidential recognition program for Americans of all ages, who contribute a significant amount of time to volunteer service. The program recognizes individuals, families, and groups that have achieved a certain standard — measured by the number of hours served in a 12-month period.

Given their ongoing service activity, many individuals, families, and groups may have already met the requirements to earn the President's Volunteer Service Award.

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.

What Do Recipients Receive?

Award recipients receive:

• An official President's Volunteer Service Award pin
• A personalized certificate of achievement
• A note of congratulations from the President of the United States
• A letter from the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation
• Recipients are eligible to receive the award once every 12 months.

Track your Volunteer Hours Online for FREE!

A Record of Service is a private journal of your volunteer time and experiences in response to President Bush's call to service. Through USA Freedom Corps, you can keep an online record of your activities serving your neighbor, your community, your country and the world. Return as often as you'd like to keep your record of service updated online. Creating a Record of Service is easy and fun!

When you've reached an award milestone, you can automatically download your Record of Service into an Excel spreadsheet, and submit it to Big Bend Cares for certification.

Create your free online Record of Service NOW!

Designate Big Bend Cares as Your Certifying Organization!

To designate Big Bend Cares as your President's Volunteer Service Award Certifying Organization, simply enter the Big Bend Cares Record of Service Key into the "certifying Organization" space in your USA Freedom Corps record of service profile:

Big Bend Cares's Record of Service Key is: JHM-18116