STATE COMMUNITY SERVICE CHAIRMAN
NOTICE:
The Community Service reporting year is now in sync with National and started on 1 July through 30 June.
THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY SERVICE TO THE VFW:
The VFW and its Auxiliary’s ability to impact veterans, youth, patriotism, civic pride, volunteerism and just about anything you can name is dependent upon your Post’s being recognized as a caring and involved participant in the community. All of the great deeds performed by comrades across South Carolina should be recognized and accounted for.
For this reason, Community Service reporting is an important requirement of every Post in the Department of South Carolina. Community service is also part of the criteria for All State recognition.
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**** COMMUNITY SERVICE
GUIDELINES ****
What is Community Service and what should I report?
Click this link to find those answers.
Reporting your Community Service activities:
In this Department, we use
our www.vfwsc.org website to report activities
electronically. Each Post should submit
reports using our online report form as activities are completed or at least monthly AND ONLY by the
Commander’s designated individual. Please DO NOT wait until the end of the
reporting year to report activities. Instructions for individual comrades are included below.
Here
are simple instructions for online reporting for the Commander’s reporting
designee:
1. Go to www.vfwsc.org
2. Log into "Members
Only” using your Member # as Username and last name as Password
3. Click on the link
labeled "Community Service Reporting” and fill out the information for
EACH ACTIVITY. All your AUXILIARY
numbers should be combined at the Post and reported here
4. After you submit, you'll
receive an email with your report details
IT
IS IMPORTANT THAT YOUR REPORTS INCLUDE AN EXPLANATION OF HOW THE ACTIVITY MEETS
THE CRITERIA FOR THE CATEGORY YOU ARE REPORTING! Incomplete reports will not be approved and
will be returned for revision. Once
reports are clarified, the chairman will approve the report and the results
will be added to the Department’s Report Card.
Note: You may combine reports for similar
activities. For example, a comrade volunteers at the local food bank every
Wednesday during the month for 2 hours. Submit ONE REPORT for one comrade for 8 HOURS (4 Wednesdays) and include
the dates in the description block of the online report form.
Once your online reports
are approved, you will find the report totals for your Post on the Department's
Report Card.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
REPORT FORM FOR INDIVIDUAL COMRADES 2023-2024
Updated 7/7/2023
Fillible Auxiliary Report Form for VFW Community Service - On line fallible form.
For use by the Auxiliary to document Community Service that can be reported to the VFW. Post Community Service Chairman use this information to update your post Community Service report.
Updated 9/1/23
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WHAT IS COMMUNITY SERVICE
Community
Service, as defined by the National Community Service Trust Act,
encompasses "any human act serving the common good; in the interest of
the community”. Elsewhere, community service is further defined as " a
service that is performed for the benefit of the public or its
institutions”.
The VFW subscribes to the above, but adds that for the purpose of volunteer recognition, VFW Community Service must be performed by and as a representative of the VFW for an organization outside of the VFW and its Auxiliaries and must be verified by an authorized representative of that organization.
As
it is the intent of VFW community service to impact a broad spectrum of
the local community, credit will only be given for a maximum of 1,000
hours to any single organization within a 12-month period.
In addition, efforts performed for the benefit of the Post or Auxiliary should NOT be considered community service. Examples would be maintenance, upkeep or beautification of the Post home, cooking or serving a meal for a Post fundraiser, or working on bingo night. Additionally, efforts that are part of the normal requirements of a Post or Auxiliary would not be considered community service. Examples of this would be providing an honor guard for a member’s funeral, flying the American flag, and conducting Flag retirement programs (unless this is performed for the entire community).
Here are just a few examples of valid community service activities:
-hosting a welcome home party for a military unit at the Post and providing a free meal to those attendees.
-driving a fellow veteran to the local VA facility.
-building a handicap ramp for a veteran
-delivering meals to a shut in
-hosting a Quilts of Valor ceremony and providing meals to veterans and family attendees
-serving on a town committee to help plan Memorial and/or Independence Day activities
-Placing flags on graves for Memorial Day
WHAT IS NOT COMMUNITY SERVICE
A particularly controversial area in VFW community service is service to one’s church. Generally, these efforts are NOT considered community service for two reasons: 1) they are not performed for the community at large, and 2) they are part of an individual’s service to their faith and not to the VFW. The exception to this would be performing the same service for all the churches, etc. in a given community.
Examples of reports that cannot be approved:
● Passing out Buddy Poppies
● Hours working on a fundraiser
● Serving meals at the Post to members or guests when there is a charge for those meals
● Flying the flag at home and at the Post
● Mowing the lawn at the Post
● Putting on a breakfast for Post members.
● Providing Post facilities for a pool tournament
WHY REPORTING IS IMPORTANT
At the end of each reporting year, VFW national reports the number of hours and the monetary value of all of our donated time and money to Congress. These total numbers demonstrate the importance of the VFW to our government, the savings we provide to the government and the Veterans Administration, and why we should continue to maintain our tax-exempt status.
WHY REPORTS MUST BE "HONEST AND ACCURATE”
The VFW is always susceptible to an audit by the Internal Revenue Service. Reports that are inflated or are not within report guidelines can jeopardize our tax-exempt status.
WHAT TO DO AT POST LEVEL
Every
Post should have a Community Service (CS) chairman who will be the only
comrade designated to complete the Post’s CS reports via the vfwsc.org website.
Log in at "Members Only” and enter your Member ID number and Password,
then just click on "Program Reporting” and the blank report form will be
there for you to complete. PLEASE PROVIDE A GOOD DESCRIPTION OF EACH
ACTIVITY AND EXPLAIN HOW IT MEETS THE CATEGORY THAT YOU HAVE SELECTED.
The categories are explained on the website just above the Program
Reporting link.
Keep
Individual Community Service Report forms on hand at your Post for your
members to complete and leave for your Post Community Service
chairman. Some posts maintain a binder with blank forms for comrades to
take home and complete. Some posts put the Community Service Report
Form for Individual Comrades on their post web site. Comrades can then
download their report forms directly from the website, complete the
report form, and send it electronically or physically return the report
to the Post for the chairman to review.
The
chairman should consolidate reports at the Post level. He/she should
also gather reports from your Post’s Auxiliary President and report
Auxiliary hours, miles, money along with the Post’s reports on the
VFWSC.org website.
Chairmen should try to send reports in AS THEY OCCUR or, at least, on a monthly basis.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Do not "double report”. Don’t report the same activity under more than one category and claim the dollars, miles, comrades and hours again and again.
Example: your Post marches in the local parade (which would be Americanism) and invites the local Scout organization to participate (which would be Youth Activities). You had 10 comrades march in the parade and the parade lasted three hours. Report 30 hours, 10 members, and the mileage for each of the 10 comrades under Americanism. Send a different report for the Youth Activity but DO NOT INCLUDE HOURS, COMRADES, MONEY, MILEAGE etc. again. That would be double reporting if you claimed those hours again under a different category.!
SAFETY REPORTS
Every
Post should make Safety an agenda item at each meeting. Make sure you
report it! If the safety briefing took 3 minutes, just Multiply 3
minutes times 20 comrades attending to get 1 hour. Enter 1 in the
report. If it took 4 minutes, 4 times 20 equals 80 minutes. Change to a
decimal and enter 1.33 hours.
Categories of Community Service for Reporting:
● COMMUNITY SERVICE includes any activities within your community which help to benefit the community, school, parks, recycling, neighborhood cleanings, etc.
● AID TO OTHERS is self-explanatory. Taking a hot meal to a veteran who can't get out is an example.
● AMERICANISM/CITIZEN EDUCATION is simply taking the time to teach someone about flag etiquette, the Constitution, military service, etc.
● YOUTH PROGRAMS include the annual Voice of Democracy, Patriot's Pen, Scout of the Year Program, etc.
● YOUTH ACTIVITIES - Posts and Auxiliaries are encouraged to provide youth programs within the community such as Athletics, Scouting, Contests, Education, Recognition, etc.
● SAFETY - Pedestrian, Drug Awareness, Recreational, Highway, Home/Fire, etc
● MILITARY SERVICE - Any support given to a unit, an individual family member, ceremonies, welcome home, uplink, Unmet Needs, USO, etc.
COMMUNITY SERVICE & AID TO OTHERS - (Post activities within your community which help to benefit the community, school, parks, recycling, neighborhood cleanings, etc.)
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Annual Community Service
Award Deadlines:
In addition to the Department’s award
criteria, the attached Manual has all of the Award Criteria and forms for these
Community Service related programs.
Community and
Citizenship Manual
Questions? If you need any help or guidance, please
contact the Department Chairman, Nick Camera, at ncamera1@gmail.com