Service to Veterans Volunteers Hour Recognition

The American Legion Auxiliary has a tradition of recognizing time and service through the use of Service to Veterans pins and hour bars. Formal recognition is the same for Hospital, Senior, or Student Volunteer members and nonmembers who represent the ALA at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities as well as during unit and/or post activities serving veterans.

Hour bars for your Service to Veterans pin can be earned through work done on behalf of veterans in state or community-based nursing homes/soldiers homes, contracted veterans homes, daycare centers, foster homes, halfway houses, hospices, homeless shelters, stand downs, Christmas Gift Shops (not at a VAMC), veteran cemeteries or gravesites for any service tasks including but not limited to transportation, snow removal, landscaping/yard mowing, and assisting with tax preparation.

Hours can also be earned through work done in your home for the benefit of homebound, sick or injured servicemembers and veterans. These activities might include sewing, mending, and/or babysitting while the veteran attends medical appointments or rehab sessions, or making quilts or knitting for hospitalized or homeless veterans. Anything done directly for a veteran outside of a VAMC is considered Service to Veterans.

Caregivers can be awarded Service to Veterans hours which may accumulate for hour bars for time spent providing care and assistance to veterans within their families if they do not receive PROFESSIONAL compensation for doing so. If the caregiver lives with the veteran, they may be awarded 10 hours a week. If they do NOT live with the veteran, then they may be awarded 5 hours a week. The caregiver must report these hours through the existing structure within their units and departments to receive credit.

These hours can be counted only once and not reported again under another committee such as National Security or Community Service. If you are unsure which committee your hours belong to, just pick the one that makes the most sense.

Volunteer hours are certified by department secretaries in accordance with department procedures. Once a volunteer has reached a milestone in their accumulated hours, the department secretary will send certification to ALA National Headquarters. This certification form is located at www.ALAforVeterans.org and requires the member’s name, membership ID number, and the hour bar needed.

Hour Bars and Milestones

Volunteers are recognized when specific hour milestones are reached:

• 50 hours
• 100 hours
• 300 hours
• 500 hours
• 1,000 hours

After the first 1,000 hour bar is awarded, the next bar will be earned in 1,000 hour increments up to 20,000 hours. The next hour bars are available at:

• 25,000 hours
• 30,000 hours

After a volunteer has reached 35,000 hours, they will be awarded a Lifetime Service to Veterans pin.