Adult volunteers share their time and talents in Girl Scouting to help girls build courage, confidence, and character. We value all of our volunteers and recognize the contribution they make in developing girl leaders. Everyone appreciates a special thank you for her/his volunteer efforts.  We recognize that there are individuals who provide service to Girl Scouting that is “above and beyond” the expectations of their volunteer position.  GSUSA and River Valleys’ awards are intended for volunteers such as these that provide exemplary service that goes “above and beyond.” Not all recognitions need to be a formal award through River Valleys.  Consider honoring your first-year leaders and/or service unit team members with a card, certificate, flowers or special gift. 

This past spring, nearly 300 volunteers were honored at River Valleys’ First Annual Volunteer Recognition Event. If you know of a volunteer, who should be honored for her or his service, during the 2007-2008 membership year, please consider nominating them for an award.

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Award Facts | Tips for Nominators | Council Level Awards | Service Unit Level Awards | Who Pays for What

 

 

 

Award Facts:

• All award nominees must be registered Girl Scout members with the exception of the Heart in Hand award.
• All award nominees must have attended training for their position (if offered) in order to be approved for the award.   Example: if nominating someone for their work as a troop leader they must be current on their leader training.  If you are unsure whether or not someone has training, you can check with your local service center.
• Awards are not accumulative with the exception of the Thanks Badge II.
• Nominations should focus on the previous year of service, 2007-2008 with the exception of the Thanks Badge I & II, which should include their accumulated years of service.  Service done in the current year, 2008-2009, is not applicable.
• Award nominations are reviewed by the Adult Awards and Recognition Committee which is made up of experienced volunteers from across the council jurisdiction.  The committee determines if a nominee meets the award criteria.
• If a nomination is not approved due to lack of award criteria details, the nominator is given the opportunity to provide more documentation.    
• There are GSUSA and River Valleys awards:  GSUSA awards were created by our national organization, Girl Scouts of the USA and River Valleys awards have been developed by our council.        
• Please do not tell the nominee about the award until you have been informed that the committee has approved it.
• Once approved, council level award recipients will receive an invitation to the Volunteer Recognition Event, which will be sent out at the end of March or the beginning of April.
• Volunteers may nominate a staff person that they feel has gone above and beyond their position description.  If approved, the award will be distributed to the staff member at a service center all staff meeting or another appropriate event determined by the nominator.

 

Tips for nominators:

• Print out the specific award criteria when completing the nomination form to ensure you provide the needed information for the committee to determine if the candidate meets the award qualifications.
• It is the responsibility of the nominator to ensure that the correct number of endorsement letters are received by the council and that endorsers understand the purpose of their letter.
• Nominations and endorsement letters should contain relevant facts and specific action and behavior that demonstrate how the candidate went “above and beyond” the expectations of her/his position description.  For example, "Sue ensured that the service unit event was girl led by establishing a planning team made up of 10 girls from various troops that met on five occasions."  She acted as an advisor and assisted the girls by offering suggestions on how they could organize their ideas.  She helped guide the discussion, when needed, by asking open-ended questions which helped the girls consider all angles of their ideas and evaluate what would and would not work.   As opposed to:  Sue is an outstanding event planner committed to girl planning.  Her dedication to Girl Scouting is apparent.  She is a well-liked and well-respected Girl Scout volunteer.
• The word inclusive is seen regularly in the award criteria.  Inclusive means “not leaving anyone out” and may refer to age, socio-economic levels, special needs, race, religion, cultural, gender, and sexual orientation.   Some examples of inclusive behavior include welcoming new girl members to an existing troop regardless of its size, incorporating learning experiences in diversity for girls and/or volunteers, considering the varying economic backgrounds of girls when planning field trips and/or events that will involve a fee, doing culturally specific recruitment, doing intergenerational activities with girls and senior adults, providing girls opportunities to explore and learn about other cultures.  
• Council level and service unit level awards should be submitted separately: however multiple awards for the same level may be submitted together.
• Designate one team member as a contact for service unit level awards to receive and distribute awards.
• Staples and paper clips are not necessary when assembling nominations forms and endorsement letters.

 

 

 

Council Level Awards: 
These awards are presented at River Valleys’ annual Volunteer Recognition Event held on Saturday, April 4, 2009.  Volunteers who are approved for one of the below awards and their nominators are invited to this event.

 

The nomination deadline for all Council Level Awards is January 15, 2009. 

 

Click here to view descriptions of all of the council level awards  

• Appreciation Pin
• Honor Pin
• Thanks Badge I
• Thanks Badge II
• Commitment to Inclusiveness
• Extraordinary Events
• Service Unit Award for Excellence Level II
• Years of Service 20 + years
• Membership Numerals 25+ years

 

 

 

Service Unit Awards:

These awards are given out at the local level such as at a year end service unit recognition event which is coordinated by the service unit team.

 

The nomination deadline for all Service Unit Awards is March 15, 2009. 

 

Click here to view descriptions of all of the service unit level awards

• Outstanding Leader Award
• Outstanding Volunteer Award
• S.T.A.R. Award
• Progressive Volunteer Award
• Heart in Hand Award
• Service Unit Award for Excellence Level I
• Years of Service under 20 years
• Membership Numerals under 25 years

 

 

 

River Valleys Awards and Pins: Who pays for what?

What River Valleys will pay for:

• All GSUSA pins: Appreciation, Honor, Thanks I & II (council level), Outstanding Leader, Outstanding Volunteer, Progressive Volunteer, S.T.A.R. Volunteer (service unit level)
• All River Valley’s created awards: Commitment to Inclusiveness, Extraordinary Events and Service Unit Award for Excellence Level II (council level) and Heart in Hand and Service Unit Award for Excellence Level I (service unit level)
• Years of service 20+ years and membership numeral guards for 25+ years and above
• Contemporary membership pins, and trainer pins

What River Valleys does not pay for:

• Service team pins
• Years of service pins less than 20 years, and  numeral guards less than 25 years
• The Leadership Development pin and leaves

For more information about adult recognition awards, e-mail awards@girlscoutsrv.org.