The Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame has been vetted and certified as an organization qualified to award the Presidential Service Awards to qualifying veterans for volunteer service time, in addition to the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame and Department of Defense Vietnam War 50th Commemoration awards already given to Vietnam War Veterans, Blue Star Surviving Spouses, and Gold Star Families.
Who is eligible?
There are lots of ways to be awarded the Presidential Service Award for lots of types of volunteer service thru other organizations, but the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame Society specializes in veteran service because they are a veteran organization. Members of the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame Society are encouraged to seek and find other veterans who are generous with their time and give back to other veterans to nominate them for this award. However, it is not necessary to be a member of Society or even be a veteran in order to nominate a veteran for the Presidential Service Award.
Types of Awards
There are four service awards available for Florida veterans from the Society. The Bronze, the Silver, and the Gold awards are annual awards for service within 12 months. The fourth award is a lifetime award that is awarded by the Society directly from the President of the Society. Talking about the awards in detail, the Bronze Award is given to those veterans who have served for a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 249 hours as a veteran. The Silver Award is for veterans who have served between 250 and 499 hours. The Golden Award is presented to veterans who have served for more than 500 hours. Currently, the Presidential Service Award organization is not offering the lifetime service award; therefore, the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame Society is awarding its own lifetime award to Veteransfor their service in the state of Florida. As a prerequisite, a nominee must be a Florida veteran, Blue Star Surviving Spouse, or Gold Star Family.
How can a veteran get nominated?
The best part of the Presidential Service Awards is that there is no deadline; nominations can be submitted anytime. However, there are a few steps that a nominator has to follow before nominating any veteran. In the first step, the nominator is required to provide their personal details, i.e., name, number, and contact information. Similarly, veterans’ details are required in the next step. In the third step, a reference should be provided in addition to the nominator with complete details; the reference should be a volunteer coordinator or officer of the organization with which the veteran volunteered. The next step requires the details of the service provided by the veteran, which must include their hours of service (which should be counted within any 12-month period) and an outline of the organization as well. If these prerequisites are fulfilled, a nominator may submit the form. After submission, the nomination is reviewed by a committee, and once the committee approves the nomination, medals are then ordered from Washington DC. The medals are delivered to a Florida regional Society member, who will schedule a time and location so that nominees may receive their awards.
The Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame Society urges nominators to keep in mind while selecting a veteran to nominate that this Hall of Fame is not about military medals or what the veteran did during the war.It’s about what the veteran did for the State of Florida and his or her local community after military service.
