The Oklahoma Museums Association encourages museums to recognize their volunteers the week of April 19-25! A majority of Oklahoma museums rely on selfless individuals to keep the doors open and programs operating.  Often it is a welcoming volunteer who is the first person a visitor sees when entering a museum. Often it is a specially trained docent who will lead the gallery tour and discuss works of art from the permanent collection. Often it is a volunteer who will have the last contact with the visitor before they go on their way remembering the positive experience they just had at your museum.  As best said by Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.”  Thank you to the many volunteers for giving of yourself and making a difference for Oklahoma museums.

To assist your museum in celebrating National Volunteer Week, a promotional toolkit is available from the Points of Light Foundation. The 2009 National Volunteer Week toolkit has the necessary information and resources to recognize your volunteers with a special event, or just to tell the rest of your community about how wonderful your volunteers are! Use this toolkit to leverage the nation's focus on volunteering during the week and honor your deserving volunteers. The toolkit includes event planning information, media outreach tips, background information on the week and volunteering, and template materials for easy tailoring, including press releases and much more. The toolkit can be found at www.pointsoflight.org/programs/seasons/nvw/tools.cfm