CLINTON -- Volunteers donated nearly 1.2 million hours to Utah schools in 2009, says Utah PTA president Ilene Mecham, and that makes teachers like Julie Feeman, a first-grade teacher at Clinton Elementary School, undeniably grateful.
This year, volunteers such as Ryan Granquist, Bernice Good and Melissa Goody are helping Feeman teach her 23-student class about reading, math and writing.
Granquist, motivated by his son, Ethan, spends at least 30 minutes a week in the classroom reading to students and discussing books with them.
His employer, Wells Fargo, pays for his time at the school and donates many of the books he reads.
"I've always wanted to be involved," Granquist said.
Good, who is 75, retired from teaching 10 years ago. She gives her time simply because she learned the school needed volunteers.
Goody volunteers because her daughter, Brooklyn, is in the classroom. The mother not only helps in the classroom, but also helps teachers by taking projects home.
Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart said volunteers are used at every level in the schools.
At the elementary level, they are used mostly for reading programs and chaperoning field trips, he said.
Volunteers are used at the secondary level to help with fundraising activities, Taggart said.
Feeman, who has taught for the past 18 years, said each year is different when it comes to volunteers.
One group of parents will be "gung-ho" at the beginning of the year, but not so much by the end of the year, she said.
This year, she has a group of parents who want to be involved in the classroom and she uses them as much as she can.
Feeman said she is just grateful for all the volunteers because it gives her students one-on-one time with reading, writing or math that they otherwise may not get if she had to do it all alone.
Clinton Elementary Principal Chris Laypath said the state Office of Education's Student Tutoring Achievement for Reading program has helped his school see an overall increase in volunteers.
One of the school's community council members learned about STAR and spearheaded a drive to recruit volunteers, Laypath said.
Notes were sent home, calls were made and presentations were done at Clinton city's senior citizen club.
Volunteers do not always help strictly in the classroom, either.
One volunteer, a grandfather, helps in the parking lot in the mornings to keep children safe, Laypath said.
Another volunteer comes in on Fridays and gives treats, using his own money, to students wearing school colors. It promotes school spirit, he said.
Retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Rich Younger, 61, tried to stay home after he retired but found himself in the classroom in 2003.
His wife, Shirley Younger, is a teacher at Clinton Elementary.
"I could just waste time staying home or be here, doing whatever they want me to do," Rich Younger said.
That includes tutoring, fixing a machine or staying near the portables during parent-teacher conferences until the last parent leaves, he said.
Donna Gregory, 77, spends her days volunteering at the school, mostly tutoring, she said. She receives a small stipend from the Foster Parent program for her time.
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