The displaced students of Grantsville Elementary School will be back at their desks next week for the first day of school thanks to the efforts of dozens of community volunteers.

Altogether, 37 teachers and their instructional materials had to be moved from Grantsville Elementary, which was badly damaged by a July 13 fire, to Willow Elementary and Grantsville Junior High School. Ten portables already owned by the district were reallocated to accommodate the new enrollment plan, which put third- and fourth-graders at Willow and fifth- and sixth-graders at Grantsville Junior High. Five double portables were sent to Willow Elementary and two doubles and three singles were set up at Grantsville Junior High School.

“At times it seemed like we had too much work to do and not enough time,” said Terry Linares, Tooele County School District superintendent.

That was before business leaders and community members stepped forward to help.

Employees from the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Grantsville provided 858 volunteer hours, painting portables, moving tables, arranging desks, and transporting classroom materials. The company also sponsored two buses — one parked in Grantsville and one parked at the Wal-Mart store in Tooele — and encouraged shoppers to fill the buses with school supplies for the Grantsville Elementary teachers.

Many supplies and materials were either destroyed in the fire or damaged so badly by smoke that they could not be cleaned and used in classrooms again.

In addition to the volunteer hours and buses of donated supplies, Wal-Mart presented the school district with a check for $22,103, and another Wal-Mart store in Taylorsville has pledged an additional $3,000.

Grantsville High School’s football team helped unload furniture and move supplies into the portables as well.

Kenna Aagard and Jodi Petersen, fifth-grade teachers relocated to Grantsville Junior High, both said they had volunteers walking into their classrooms last week looking for ways to help.

“We would get them to cut things out, laminate things and help out in a variety of ways,” Aagard said. “It takes a lot of work to set up a new classroom.”

Many local and statewide businesses also chipped in with donations.

Digidocs, a Grantsville copy shop, and Warr Enterprises, a Grantsville millwright, donated 10 cases of paper to the school. Utah Idaho Supply, a regional educational supply store, donated $2,500 in gift certificates for teachers. EnergySolutions gave $1,700 for new library books. Com-tek Computer Services in Grantsville donated four new computers, and the Purple Cow Bookstore in Tooele donated gift certificates for teachers to rebuild classroom book collections.

This Saturday, Aug. 22, Denny’s in Tooele will donate 10 percent of its profits to support Grantsville Elementary School.

Yesterday, teachers, administrators, business leaders, and community members took a short pause from the on-going task of preparing portables and classroom and met at Grantsville High School to thank the many volunteers that have made the process possible and accept donations collected for the school and its teachers.

“It was only a building that burned down,” said Linares, struggling to hold back tears as she thanked the community for their support. “Only in America, and only in a small town like Grantsville, would you find the outpouring of support that would make it possible to move an entire school in a matter of weeks.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com