Awards are motivators. Napoleon claimed his soldiers would crawl over glass for a medal. The Volunteer Corps should be included at city functions whenever police or fire personnel are called on to march in dress uniform. The military, police and fire departments are full of the pomp and circumstance that kids especially love!

After six months, participants might be awarded a jacket with a national Volunteer Corps emblem, state Volunteer Corps emblem, city Volunteer Corps emblem and the emblem of their affiliated organization. (battalion color and specific organization logo)

The foregoing awards would be based on faithful commitment of time and every volunteer who met the commitment would be entitled to wear the emblems.

The following awards are earned by participating in a leadership role for an agreed upon period of time.

Ten-Ten medal
Battalion Leader emblem
Battalion Leader liaison emblem
Supervisor emblem

Enabler Plaque for the most hours contributed to Volunteer Corps Center projects in an agreed upon period of time. The plaque would emphasize the hours donated to the Volunteer Corps Center rather than the dollars brought into the honoree's affiliate-organization. The wording would state that because X engaged in enumerated activities he enabled  his organization to perform thus and so.

Inspiration Plaque for the organization contributing the most volunteers to the VC in a given time period.

Awards can be many or few, but they must not be meaningless. Aside from the entitlements, they must be given for meritorious action rather than for the youngest, oldest etc.

Badges

Badges should be prestigious and recognized nationally by institutions and employers. The effort required to earn a badge should inspire admiration. The badge should be a symbol of exemplary achievement. The Foundation is developing a computer tutor which automatically evaluates performance and provides help in weak areas until a score signifying an objective level of mastery is achieved. This would result is an objective standard for employers and educational institutions and make Volunteer Corps badges universally accepted hallmarks. In addition to the computer evaluation, Volunteer Corps members must have participated in activities and have written recommendations from beneficiaries, co-workers and agency and battalion leaders.