Foster Grandparent program diversifies throughout South Florida

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Foster Grandparent program diversifies throughout South Florida

By Diane C. Lade
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 9, 2003

Oh, the stories Foster grandparent Lillian Williams, 92, reads to student Megan Exterkamp, 17, at the Seagull School in Fort Lauderdale. The national program began in 1965 and includes more than 400 people in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Every weekday, Lillian Williams heads into work.

She's a grandparent. Loving is her job.

"It keeps me young," laughs Williams, an exuberant 92. "The Lord is keeping me here for these children, and I'm proud of it."

Fostering an education Alex Roberts, 91, helps third-grader Jannier Lafuente, 9, with his reading skills at Central Elementary School in ruralOkeechobee. Foster Grandparents help students, hospital patients and juvenile offenders.

Alex Roberts, 91, is a grandparent, too -- among the first at a rural elementary school near the tip of Lake Okeechobee. His job?

"He helps me understand the story more," says Stanausha McNeil, 9, one of the third-graders Roberts guides through extra reading sessions.

Williams and Roberts are Foster Grandparents, members of what's thought to have been the nation's first volunteer program exclusively for seniors. It was created in 1965 under the Older Americans Act.

Today, the program is more than 14,000 strong, with seniors age 60 and older going into public schools, Head Start programs, hospitals and juvenile offender centers.

Palm Beach County didn't start Foster Grandparents until 1998 and now has about 210 grandparents. But Broward County's grandparents were among the first, having started with about 70 in the program's national inaugural year and grown to 234 today.

South Florida has seen changes in those 38 years, and so has its Foster Grandparent programs. Most of the volunteers are at least in their 70s now.

They are an increasingly diverse group: About 56 percent of Broward and Palm Beach counties' programs are black, and more Spanish- and Creole-speaking people are enlisting as the area's immigrant senior population increases.

"When you look at pictures of our Foster Grandparents from years ago, you see almost all white men and women," said John Gargotta, executive director of Broward Grandparents, the nonprofit agency that runs the program. "We're getting more Hispanics and Haitians now, which is what we need in our schools."

Williams, a former insurance agent and longtime Dania resident, agrees there were fewer black grandparents when a friend recruited her 28 years ago. But it's not something she really notices.

For Williams -- assigned to the Seagull School, a Fort Lauderdale program helping physically disabled children and teens -- it's all about the students. Some live in group homes and rarely see their own parents, let alone their grandparents.

"She's our grandma. Nobody else's," says Assistant Principal Marti Moore.

When she first came to Seagull, Williams was a little unnerved by youngsters who were strapped into wheelchairs, who could not hold a pencil and said good morning with a guttural cry.

But soon they were her grandkids in spirit. Kids such as the ever-smiling Danielle Hopkins, 18, who despite her cerebral palsy can drive her wheelchair with controls placed near her head and communicate with a spelling board activated by taps from her left knee.

"I loved them, and they loved me," says Williams.

Program organizers think one reason more minorities have come into Foster Grandparents is that applicants, although they are called volunteers, earn a $2.65-an-hour tax-free stipend if they fall below a certain income, about $11,225 annually for a single person. Elderly minorities, whose average earnings are lower, are more likely to qualify.

About two-thirds of the program's budget, amounting to around $1.6 million for Broward and Palm Beach counties' grandparents, comes from the federal government. Local governments, the United Way and charities make up the rest.

The stipend helps some buy medications and food. But if it were rescinded tomorrow, Williams and most of the other grandparents say they would stay. Some become so attached to the teachers they serve, they follow if the teacher transfers to another school, even if it means a longer drive.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, the nonprofit organization managing Foster Grandparents nationwide, has discussed getting Congressional approval to lower the program's age limit to 55 and raise the income requirements to entice new volunteers.

"The grandparents now are often older people who eventually get sick and have to withdraw," said spokeswoman Jan Newsome. "We need to keep the program growing."

In South Florida, Foster Grandparents is doing that by going boldly where they have never been. The Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast, which manages aging services in a five-county area, in December placed its first grandparents in rural Okeechobee.

Three landed at Central Elementary, home of the Panthers and a place where up to three generations have squirmed through their lessons. Alex Roberts is a relative newcomer in the town, known for its vegetable farms. He moved there 20 years ago, already retired from the printing business and with grandchildren of his own.

Although they never had grandparents before, the Central teachers were so taken with them that they nominated Roberts for a Prime Time Award, an honor given to six outstanding volunteers by the area agency annually. In May, Roberts became the first Foster Grandparent to win.

Sharon Nipper, a Central kindergarten teacher who had grandparent Ann Long assigned to her room, wishes there were one for every classroom. "They're good for the children, who don't always get the extra attention they deserve," she said.

Roberts initially volunteered at Okeechobee's senior center, dishing out lunches. "But I wanted to steer clear of old people," said Roberts, who like Williams is the oldest member of his Foster Grandparents program.

Now, like the other volunteers, he spends 20 hours a week in the classroom. Palm Beach County's grandparents concentrate on reading improvement, and Mr. Roberts, as the children call him, spends his day listening to halting tales of brave animals and firemen and happy endings.

"When you see something all in capital letters, say it like you're strict. Like you're a teacher," he coaches Stanausha, one of three girls wading through a story about Gloria, a police dog that is rewarded with ice cream.

Later, the conversation turns to swimming and the importance of the buddy system. Roberts mentions he learned to swim as an Army recruit in Miami Beach during World War II.

"Who was your buddy?" asks Whitney Sweet, 9. Roberts pauses.

"I don't remember," he says. "It was a long time ago."