Dearest Friends in Christ!
We have been a part of an awesome activity involving service. It is called The Presidential Volunteer Service Award. This award was established by President Bush in 2003 to challenge people of the United States to get involved in making a difference in their communities and in the world.
The reason we choose to participate in this award is two fold. First, we want to challenge our youth at St. Michael’s Church to extend services to all our brothers and sisters in our local community as well as our families in Christ throughout the world. Second, we want our youth to inspire and yes, challenge everyone else in our church community and our Canon City community to serve others.
What a great idea President Bush has!!! The following are a few questions and answers that will help you to understand more about this project.
How does the Presidential Volunteer Service Award work?
Here’s how the award works. Each student can only receive the award once per 12 month period and the service must be provided within that 12 months. We will be detailing some service projects in the near future; but for now, it will include activities such as tutoring, assisting the elderly, assisting in the maintenance of parks and water - you get the picture. We will be available to assist in those activities that can be certified for receipt of the award. Also, the service hours provided for certification can not be services that a youth was paid for completing. The actual award is a certificate signed by President Bush.
How many hours are needed?
To receive the Presidential Volunteer Service Award - Bronze, you must complete 50 to 74 hours of certifiable services (ages 14 and younger) or 100 to 174 hours of certifiable services (ages 15 to 25); the Silver is awarded for 75 to 99 hours of certifiable services (ages 14 and younger) or 175 to 249 hours of certifiable services (ages 15 to 25); and the Gold, for 100 hours or more of certifiable services (ages 14 and younger) or 250 hours or more of certifiable services (ages, 15 to 25).
When will the service year begin?
We will begin the service year on May 1, 2007. This means that all the services that you provided this summer, that were unpaid, can be submitted for certification. We will continue to add to the service hours through April 30, 2008.
What kind of service can be certified?
The main criteria for qualification of a service, the youth must not be paid for the service and it can not be service that is family maintenance, for example, mowing the yard, taking out the garbage, watching younger siblings. These are considered tasks that everyone in the family does to benefit the family as a whole. If you mow, take out trash, or babysit for someone outside of your family, and are not paid for this service, these services can be included in the service award. We always have service opportunities at St. Michael’s. There are other service opportunities in the community such as at school or Boys or Girt Scouts. To have service hours considered, the youth must have an adult sign that they completed the hours.
How do we keep track of our service hours?
The way we will begin to keep track of the service hours can be accomplished in one of two ways. First, if you are totally organized and you want to submit your service hours once per year, you may do so; however, we will need to have all the services, signed by an adult for verification, by April 30, 2008 - OR, you may submit your hours, upon completion, to us and we will keep a log of your hours on your behalf.
What if I don’t reach my goal and receive the award?
We will all win when we volunteer our services. We are challenging all of our youth together to complete 1500 hours of service hours for the 2007 - 2008 year. Last year we logged more than 1300 hours of service as a Church!!! This means that every hour that service is completed will be applied toward our goal of 1500 hours.
Now What?
We would encourage each of you to begin by logging your summer service hours. If there are any services that you have provided and you did not receive payment you may submit them. We will make the decision if it applies or not. We will also have that list of services available to you in the very near future.
Where can I get more information?
You may access the following web site for more information, as well as, volunteer ideas at (CLICK). As always, you may also contact us at 719.275.3854 or at bchurch@bresnan.net.
God Bless you and your families!
Harvey and Becky Church
Youth Activity Coordinators
