Volunteer Awards

Recognize a volunteer or community member/organization who has made a significant impact in girls' lives with an award.

Award nominations may be submitted at any time. Nominations are reviewed and, if selected, awarded at our annual Ceremony of Honor.

Volunteer Awards

See Girl Scout Adult Awards for individuals.

In order for an individual to be considered for a volunteer award three unique nominations from three different people must be submitted to council using the form below.

SUBMIT VOLUNTEER NOMINATION

Troop Awards

The Honor Troop serves as a guide for troops to ensure a well-rounded year of Girl Scouting. Use this as a tool to lead your troop successfully and ensure girls are exposed to diverse girl-led leadership opportunities.

Honor Troop Application

Service Unit Awards

The President's Award serves as a guide for Service Units to ensure a well-rounded year of Girl Scouting. It recognizes the efforts of a Service Unit moving its assigned area toward the achievement of our council goals.

Community Awards

Community Thank You Award recognizes any community member or organization that has provided a one-time or episodic service to Girl Scouts.

Community Partner Award recognizes any community member or organization that has provided superior contributions to Girl Scouting over an extended period of time.

SUBMIT COMMUNITY AWARD NOMINATION

Membership Numeral Guards & Volunteer Years of Service Pin

The MEMBERSHIP NUMERAL GUARD recognizes any Girl Scout member for his or her years of membership in 5 year intervals. Years may include combined girl and adult membership years. Years do not have to be continuous or consecutive.

The VOLUNTEER YEARS OF SERVICE PIN recognizes volunteers in Girl Scouting for their active volunteerism in 5 year intervals.

These pins are offered freely to any deserving adult member or volunteer within our council compliments of Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest.

REQUEST NUMERAL GUARD AND/OR VOLUNTEER YEARS OF SERVICE PIN

The President's Volunteer Service Award

Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest is proud to be a certifying organization of the President's Volunteer Service Award (PVSA).

The President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) 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. Please make sure you track your hours and submit to info@gsdsw.org by the first Monday in April. Below are the various categories of the Bronze, Silver, Gold awards available.

Volunteer Eligibility

United States citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e., green card holder)
Must be at least five years old
Completes eligible service within a 12-month period (for annual Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards) and over a lifetime (for Lifetime Achievement Awards)

Eligible Service:

Unpaid acts of volunteer service benefitting others
- Service through National service programs that provide a stipend (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) may count towards the Lifetime Achievement Award*, but not for the annual Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards)
- Travel stipends, transit/parking passes, membership passes, expense reimbursements, and other nominal volunteer support do not impact service eligibility

Eligible Service does NOT include:

Donating funds
Political lobbying (Non-partisan voter registration is an eligible activity)
Religious instruction
Conducting worship service
Proselytizing
Volunteer service performed as part of court-ordered community service
Serving only family members

Hours Required to Earn Awards in Each Age Group

Age Group	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Lifetime Achievement Award*
Kids (5–10 years old)	26–49 hours	50–74 hours	75+ hours	4,000+ hours
Teens (11–15)	50–74 hours	75–99 hours	100+ hours	4,000+ hours
Young Adults (16–25)	100–174 hours	175–249 hours	250+ hours	4,000+ hours
Adults (26+)	100–249 hours	250–499 hours	500+ hours	4,000+ hours

* The Lifetime Achievement Award is not available to be awarded at this time.

Note: As of May 2019, PVSA no longer offers volunteer account creation and volunteer hours’ tracking to individuals. Please use this spreadsheet to track your hours, and once complete send it to info@gsdsw.org by the first Monday in April for recognition.

Informal Ways to Thank Volunteers

Giving and receiving recognition is an important component of any volunteer experience. A card from the girls, a handmade gift, an e-mail message or a surprise party are informal ways to say “thank you” to adults in Girl Scouts.

View All Adult Awards in Girl Scouting on one page.

CONGRATULATIONS to all our past GSDSW Adult Award Recipients.

Not sure how to wear your awards? Click here to see an example of an adult Girl Scout uniform.

Questions? Contact Volunteer Experience at 915-566-9433 or info@gsdsw.org

2020 Volunteer Spotlights

Thank you to all of our volunteers who help create girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Each month we would like to shine the spotlight on our dedicated volunteers in our council! Know someone who goes above and beyond for our Girl Scouts? Submit a nomination at info@gsdsw.org.

May - Ruben Limon: Reuben has been a Girl Scout Volunteer for three years and is a dedicated troop leader. His daughter, Sophia, is the main reason he joined Girl Scouts but quickly learned that he truly believes in building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.

"I believe in empowering our daughters with the strength to not only survive in the modern world, but to grow, thrive and prosper both emotionally and physically," says Reuben. The one thing Reuben always looks forward to in Girl Scouting is the large events where girls can meet and socialize with other girls from different service units. He is the true representation of being "Man enough to be a Girl Scout."
June - Brooke Upchurch: Please join us in congratulating Brooke Upchurch as this month's Volunteer Spotlight. Brooke has been a volunteer with Girl Scouts for 7 years and is on her 4th year here with GSDSW. She, along with the other volunteers in Alpine, has helped to grow her troop to 25 girls and 16 adults! She leads the Juniors in their multi-level troop. During the quarantine, they have stayed active by encouraging the girls to participate in Council-led virtual badge earning activities and holding their own virtual meetings for their Girl Scouts to earn planned badges. For the Juniors in their troop, they select the badge they want to work on and meet via Facebook Kids video messenger. For the Daisies and Brownies, their leaders posted the steps on their private Facebook page. The Girl Scouts and their parents are then posting videos and pictures of them completing their badge work. Brooke truly helps to make the world a better place and we are lucky to have her! Thanks Brooke!
July - Tammie Peterson: Tammie Peterson has been a Girl Scout since she was a Junior in the late 60s or early 70s. She started again when her girls entered first grade in the 90s while she was pregnant with her fourth child. Everyone thought she was crazy when she signed up to be the leader at the recruitment but she continued on to become a service unit manager until 2002. Two years ago she found her way to the Desert Mountains Service Unit in Alamogordo, NM, and since then has been the Service Unit Manager. This year she also started a Cadette Troop to help fill a need for older girls in Alamogordo. Her favorite thing to do with Girl Scouts is camping and she helps organize a campout every year for her service unit. When speaking about camp Tammie says, "I've laughed and cried, sang and danced. I've learned new things about girls, the world and myself." Tammie is a prime example of a Girl Scout and we are SO lucky to have her! Thank you Tammie!