Get Ready for National Volunteer Week, April 20-26

April 1, 2025

National Volunteer Week is a great time to recognize the dedicated volunteers in your fire or EMS department as well as let the community know about the volunteer opportunities your department has. Use these resources to help your department make the most out of the week of April 20-26 and enhance recruitment and retention throughout the year.

Make Me A Firefighter Department Portal – Find free resources and tools to help with volunteer recruitment and retention, including a database to post your volunteer opportunities, an easy-to-use generator to customize recruitment materials, ready-to-use PSAs, event planning guide, and more.

Recruitment and Retention Training – The NVFC Virtual Classroom has a series of courses and webinars available to help your department enhance recruitment and retention strategies.

National Volunteer Week: 10 Ways to Recognize & Retain Your Volunteers – This recorded NVFC Roundtable Talk explores ways to recognize your volunteers and enhance long-term volunteer retention.

NVFC Membership – For just $24 per year, NVFC members get a variety of benefits, including an AD&D policy, access to the First Responder Helpline, all training free in the Virtual Classroom, the Volunteer Voices members forum, and much more. Departments can show their appreciation for their members by purchasing memberships for their personnel so they have access to all of the benefits.

Recognition Ideas – This list of recognition ideas from the Fire Corps program can help you thank your operational and non-operational volunteers.

Psychologically Healthy Fire Departments – This toolkit and training will guide you through ways to better support your personnel and create a healthy, successful, and engaged workforce. You can also pledge your commitment to have your department added to the national webpage.