University not fretting over volunteer program costs
By Amy Johnson
Staff Reporter


University officials say limited volunteer enrollment is the primary reason the costs for the Reading Frog’s volunteer time-off plan will not be calculated at this time.

“Cost has no consequence or significance unless the program is greatly expanded in terms of the number of volunteers, hours or organizations involved,” Chancellor Michael Ferrari said.

Ferrari said approval of the volunteer plan, which allows staff members to get paid for up to 12 hours of wages for volunteering at local elementary schools to read to children, will not cost the university any out-of-pocket costs as long as the number of volunteers remains consistent with the 35 to 40 participants last year.

“Staff members wanted to do this for the kids, not the money,” Ferrari said.

Mary Lane, the Staff Assembly Reading Frog’s liaison, said the volunteer time-off program was approved by Ferrari and his cabinet early this fall.

Karen Baker, chairwoman of the Staff Assembly, said the trial period will expire in April 2003.

“Our hope is that the program will be granted an approval or extension,” she said.

Ferrari said the program was granted a trial basis so the university could gauge the response from staff and that costs to the university were not considered because the number of volunteers was expected to be small.

“We knew from attending all the meetings that there would be a relatively small number of volunteers,” he said. “If we would have had any reason to believe that the entire staff would participate, we would’ve had to calculate costs.”

In the last three weeks, approximately 35 staff members have traveled to seven area elementary schools to read to children, Lane said.

“We thought we would have more people volunteer with the approval of the volunteer time-off plan, but so far we haven’t,” she said. “One positive thing is that we haven’t had any drops (in volunteers).”

Baker said she asked the community service committee to produce a year-end report with the number of hours each staff member used to volunteer. After reviewing the report, she said she will send it with a letter of recommendation to the chancellor and his cabinet.

Ferrari said the first question addressed will be how much the program helped the children. The second issue will be to determine how much it will cost the university, he said.

Lane also said money is not an issue for the volunteers.

“We are not looking for money from the university for volunteering,” she said. “We are hoping for a continuance. Worrying about not getting paid is not what volunteering is about.”