by James Chiao, FCSN co-chair & volunteer support adviser

What is “President’s Volunteer Service Award” (PVSA) and how did it come about? According to AmeriCorps, which manages PVSA in partnership with Points of Light: “In 2003, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation founded the President’s Volunteer Service Award to recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action, too.”

FCSN has been a certifying organization of President’s Volunteer Service Award since 2014. Every year, through PVSA, FCSN recognizes many of our outstanding volunteer who have made a difference in our community. Last year, 2020, was an exceptional year, the contribution of our volunteers was simply extraordinary. Due to the pandemic, many of our in-person support programs were converted to virtual programs or online learning classes, such as family support, outreach meetings, arts & crafts, drawing, storytime, dance, science, computer and others; in addition, many new programs were created such as Toastmasters Club, FCSN Clubs, FCSN Voices, and SNTutoring program. As a result of these wonderful programs and the outstanding efforts of hundreds of volunteers, the quality of life for many special needs children and adults, sheltered in place, were vastly improved. In addition, due to the nature of the virtual and online programs, many new families outside of the Bay Area were able to participate for the first time.

For the year 2020, thirty of our youth volunteers applied and qualified for the PVSA. For each age group, different volunteer service hours are required to earn the awards, as shown in the table below. Each gold recipient will receive a gold certificate and a medallion. Each silver recipient will receive a silver certificate and a pin. Each bronze recipient will receive a bronze certificate. In previous years, the award package also includes a personalized certificate of achievement and letter signed by President. However, this year, the customary presidential letter won’t be included until such time President Biden is able to craft a personal message to our amazing volunteers.

Age Group	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Teens (11–15)	50–74 hours	75–99 hours	100+ hours
Young Adults (16–25)	100–174 hours	175–249 hours	250+ hours
Adults (26+)	100–249 hours	250–499 hours	500+ hours

For year 2020, we have the following 12 young adult winners:

Full name	Award
Isabella He	PVSA Gold
Katherine He	PVSA Gold
Jenny Chin	PVSA Silver
Eric Zhu	PVSA Silver
Edbert Wang	PVSA Silver
Joy Kuo	PVSA Bronze
Chengqi Li	PVSA Bronze
Rachel Huynh	PVSA Bronze
Luna Chen	PVSA Bronze
Ethan Yuan	PVSA Bronze
Meg Chang	PVSA Bronze
William Chen	PVSA Bronze

For teens, we have the following 18 winners:

Full name	Award
Hillary Chang	PVSA Gold
Neeral Bhalgat	PVSA Gold
Christina Chang	PVSA Gold
James Wang	PVSA Gold
Sterling Xie	PVSA Gold
Jackie Wang	PVSA Gold
Navish Sinha	PVSA Gold
Canis Li	PVSA Gold
Himani Mishra	PVSA Gold
Isabella Yang	PVSA Gold
Candace Tsay	PVSA Silver
Claire Lin	PVSA Bronze
Kyra Deng	PVSA Bronze
Jason Chu	PVSA Bronze
Kenneth Shui	PVSA Bronze
Jennie Wang	PVSA Bronze
Shayla He	PVSA Bronze
Daniel Wang	PVSA Bronze

I would like to thank Erica Chiu, a UC Davis student volunteer, who has taken over the PVSA coordinator position from me this year to handle all the PVSA applications. Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our PVSA recipients, and all our volunteers, who have truly made a difference in the lives of many children and adults with special needs, and the lives of their families too. Thank you.