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Presidential Volunteer Service Award
President’s Voluntary Service Award
(Recognition of Volunteer Hours Through Service Awards)
About the Award:
The President's Volunteer Service Award is a civil award bestowed by the President of the United States. The award was established to honor volunteers and recognize their dedication where they give hundreds of hours each year helping others. This award is granted to individuals, families and organizations located throughout the United States.
Background
NRIVA has been recognized as an organization that is now eligible to issue President’s Voluntary Service Awards (PVSA).
These awards recognize the work that is done by volunteers as a small token of appreciation.
Youth are the future of NRIVA. Hence youth engagement and recognition is one of the primary organizational objectives through this PVSA program.
We hope this award is another mechanism where youth can engage in volunteer work and give back to the community while also providing opportunities to establish meaningful connection to NRIVA and its families.
PVSA guidelines
qUS Citizen or Permanent Residents only for PVSA.
qThose not eligible for PVSA will be recognized by NRIVA.
qCalendar year will be counted for the the calendar year. Awards will be finalized in the 1stquarter of following year.
qNRIVA membership is required (annual or life membership).
qSubmission of hours shall be completed via NRIVA members’ primary email address. Submit via NRIVA portal for both NRIVA and Non NRIVA Hours at https://www.nriva.org/pvsa_register
qNRIVA hours earned will require approval by committee chairs or chapter leads as appropriate.
qNRIVA recognizes that many families engage in volunteer activities outside of our organization too. To support NRIVA, as well as our member families circumstances, we will count hours earned outside of NRIVA as outlined below.
q For youth (less than 18 years of age),At least 25% of hours need to be earned from NRIVA activities (i.e. from supporting national committees, national events, local chapter events, local activities, NRIVA/local chapter sponsored events).
Non-NRIVA hours will require documentation from beneficiary organization outlining the name, dates and hours earned.
Award age groups and categories
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Which activities count
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Which activities do not count |
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Any service activities done through NRIVA including preparation, travel and actual service activity. |
Paid activities or where one may earn a course credit in high school or college. |
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Any time spent to present a webinar. Time spent on preparing, presenting, helping and research. |
If the webinar presenter is getting paid then the hours of the presenter. |
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Any time spent in the Spiritual committee: like preparing for pooja, volunteer for food and managing crowd. |
Performance’s like singing and dancing during a Spiritual event. Any religious activities are not counted. |
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Time spent towards informational sessions like preparing, conducting and helping in the sessions. |
Participation in Cultural activities in Convention. |
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EMCEE for Events. |
Participation in any events like game night, spiritual, fun events . |
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Making flyers, newsletters, Technical help, photos, videos, promos, website help, making calls to encourage membership etc. |
Socializing, eating, sleeping. |
Potential Opportunities
Examples of opportunities suggested by the Service Awards Team
qBranding committee –provide opportunity with graphic design in creating our communication messages.
qBe a pool resource to help with administering regular Zoom calls –be tech support etc.
qBe master of ceremony for various committee online events.
qHelp finance / treasury teams with preparing year end tax statements, fund raising event financial roll-up etc.
qVasavi Vani –help with writing drafts of various summaries to be published. Coordinate with various committees in securing drafts etc. Membership committee –helping with processing life membership, verification/making
qcalls to encourage more to become life members.
qSocial media –create dedicated media channels.
qIT / technology team –to help with IT projects including say rollout of our web based form and workflow. They may have skills or can be mentored by the Tech team.
qNBAT and Youth committees are focused on enabling youth participation.
qSevaprojects organized by Service Committee –food drive, coat drive etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How can we Contact PVSA team for additional questions and Clarifications?
NRIVA PVSA Email: serviceawards@nriva.org
2. Why are volunteer families on work or family or student visa not eligible for PVSA?
Response: While we appreciate the volunteer work all families provide to the community, we are able to recognize hours only from citizens or permanent residents. This is a national organization guideline that everyone has to follow. However, NRIVA will recognize your work.
3. How do we keep track of hours volunteered?
Response: NRIVA is rolling out a mechanism to enter the hours through NRIVA.org online portal. Keep track of your hours by entering them in the portal or using a log whether you volunteered supporting NRIVA national events or local chapter events. However only those submitted through the online portal alone will be considered towards the PVSA award. These hours when submitted will be routed to respective committee chairs or chapter leads for their review and approval.
For all non-NRIVA hours, keep track of them yourself and get a document (email or certificate or another form of written confirmation) from the organization your provided voluntary service. At the end of the year, if you wish to submit towards PVSA, it can be uploaded to NRIVA.org service hours reporting portal.
Sample NRIVA log Spreadsheet to maintain your hours.
file:///Users/
4. Do I have to pay NRIVA for receiving the PVSA?
Response: No you will not be required to pay and shall not pay for these awards.
5. Sample Certificate for PVSA from other Organizations /uploads/files/pvsa_sample_letter.pdf
6. Sample Template for Documenting proof:.. /uploads/files/pvsa_sample_template.pdf
7. PVSA Submission Steps:.. /public/uploads/files/PVSA%20hours%20submission%20steps%20ver3.pdf.pdf
