Jennifer Watson

Name: Jennifer Watson

Age: 30

Family: Husband, Ryan; children, Taylor, Nathaniel and Alyson.

Residence: Linda.

Occupation: Homemaker. I'm also an environmental science major at the University of Phoenix.

How long have you lived in the Yuba-Sutter area? We moved here in 2009 from Alaska — my husband is in the Air Force.

Hobbies, interests: Scrapbooking, reading, shopping, playing softball and spending time with family — my family is very important to me.

For what groups do you volunteer? Edgewater Elementary School since it opened in 2009 — I have been on the Parent Teacher Organization, serving as treasurer until last year, and am now the room parent chair for the third to sixth grades.

I started a music program at the school last year — I can sing and play the saxophone — and am now working with about 210 kids in seven classes, from grades third to fifth. We've done a couple of performances a year and just did a winter performance.

There was a teacher at Edgewater who taught the kids to play recorders — I asked if I could come into the classroom and get the kids to sing. Then the program expanded.

I've been volunteering with the Olivehurst-Linda Little League since last year. I went to a board meeting and got voted in as the fundraising chair, then ended up taking over as treasurer last year. Now I am the treasurer.

I grew up in Colorado where the (baseball) fields were great; it's a shame these are not up to par. I don't work hands-on, but if they need someone to raise the money I can help.

In Alaska, I volunteered in the kids' classrooms and helped put events together.

I was a teacher's aide a lot while in high school.

How do you fit volunteering into your schedule? I have a set schedule — my husband and I play softball, (so) there are days we have a school activity, then my son has baseball, then we have softball. Trust me, it's a lot of planning. Volunteering takes up so much of your time, but it makes you become more organized.

Words of advice: Talk to somebody in the community; if it's a school, a Little League, there's always a need for help. Volunteers are so few and far between that we really need extra people to come out and volunteer for anything.

Why be a volunteer? To help the community. If you can't do it financially, you might as well help out and see what you can do to help the situation become better, especially for kids.

Quote: "If you want something done, you need to put forth the effort, not just sit by and watch."