Myra Vance is putting out a call for more seniors. Vance serves as a regional coordinator for the Foster Grandparents Program. Based in Petersburg at the Region Eight Planning and Economic Development Council Office, Vance covers an area that extends west to Harrison County.
The FGP started six decades ago, but suffers from confusion. As Vance explains, the Foster Grandparents Program has nothing to do with foster children or foster care. FGP participants never take children anywhere outside of the school environment.
Seniors living on a low or fixed income may qualify for a stipend, but those who do not meet income eligibility requirements often volunteer. Vance states that receiving a stipend differs from a salary because stipends do not count against benefits such as food stamps as salaried income does. Participants also qualify for mileage reimbursement and vacation time.
FGP serves as an early version, a grandparent if you will, to the recent Communities in Schools program.
FGP brings seniors into schools to work with children, often with special needs, academic challenges, or coming from problematic homes. The seniors step in to help when teachers and their aides are addressing needs of the entire class.
Caring for these children may mean helping to tutor them, listening to them when they have had a hard day, or engaging a quiet and shy child in conversation to get them to open up. Seniors often have a special knack for reaching children when others cannot.
Vance needs more participants with a little over 30 in a program established for more than 50. Should numbers not grow, the program could get cancelled.
Both programs serve as ways to help seniors remain active and connected to community. Almost every study states that these aspects help to promote more years of independent living and quality of life in seniors.
If interested in the Foster Grandparent Program, please reach out to Myra Vance at Region Eight in Petersburg at (304) 257-2448 for more information.
