Four days a week, 89-year-old Hazel Bowman goes to school to see her grandchildren.

All 20 of them.

“I hug them and tell them how special they are,” Bowman says.

For the past 25 years, the Ypsilanti woman has drawn scores of children under her wing as a volunteer in the Washtenaw County Foster Grandparent Program.

“I live alone,” Bowman says, explaining why she’s been so active in the program. “I have no one to talk to except the dog.”

The foster grandparent program couples people age 60 and older with special needs children — whether in a school, hospital or day care center.

Foster grandparents receive a monthly stipend for volunteering, a meal each day they volunteer at the site, training, transportation assistance if needed and an annual physical.

Bowman, out of her own volition, has followed teacher Lisa Murray from one school to the next for 18 years. Murray now teaches at the Willow Run Elementary Learning Center on Holmes Road in Ypsilanti, which is a part of the Willow Run school district.

The partnership is a testament to the way they value each other’s presence.

“I couldn’t be able to do what I do without her,” Murray says.

The individual attention Bowman can give to students makes a big difference, Murray says.

Sometimes students who are acting out in class are seated at a table with Bowman so she can work her calming influence.

“She’s so patient with them,” Murray says.

“She’s kind of like my real grandma sometimes,” says Evangelina, a student in Murray’s third grade classroom. “She said I’m smart, and a good reader.”

Once the school year ends, Bowman says she doesn’t hear from the children — whom she’s adopted almost as her own — again.

The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners honored Bowman for her 25-year commitment to the program at the beginning of its most recent regular meeting.

Bowman was slightly taken aback as everyone in attendance gave her a standing ovation.

“I was surprised when someone told me it had been 25 years,” she says.

Students in Murray’s classroom this school year have grown accustomed to Bowman’s style.

Did “Grandma Hazel” help them get better at their work?

“Yes!” exclaim Marcus, Evangelina, Azria and Claivon, all students in Murray’s class.

“She helps everybody do their work,” says Marcus.

Bowman knows the value of hard work. At a young age, she started working in a Lucky Strike cigarette factory in North Carolina before moving to Michigan in 1945. As she raised two children of her own, Bowman continued to work — taking jobs at an airport and in laundry facilities, including one at the University of Michigan.

After retiring, Bowman says she soon got tired of watching TV, crocheting and hanging around the house.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here,’” Bowman says.

Bowman is adamant about being on time to her volunteer sessions.

“When I don’t go to school, it’s like I miss church,” Bowman says. “I get worried when I miss some school.”

Barb Patterson, coordinator of the foster grandparent program, says it’s difficult for many tutors to stay in the program long, because of their exposure to children with extreme disabilities.

But Bowman remains completely committed to her volunteer work. “I would do it even if they cut the program,” she says.

Bowman spent several years as a foster grandparent in a group home for severely mentally and physically handicapped children. The facility has since disbanded, and the Washtenaw Intermediate School District now cares for the children who were in the program.

Out of all of the children she’s helped, year after year, there is one who will always be fresh in her memory: a 12-year-old girl named Janet, who couldn’t walk or talk because of her condition.

“I had to hold her and rock her like she was a little kid,” Bowman says. “She would giggle and laugh . . .I had to leave when she got too heavy to hold.”

The Washtenaw County Foster Grandparent program continuously accepts volunteers and new schools to host the volunteers. Those interested should call Patterson at (734) 544-6746.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter @amywrites_.