B2(Hjncaster Farming, Saturday, November*, 1195 LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Fanning Staff HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) —Some people may call them old Some may call them retired but more than 500 grandmas and grandpas packed the Marriot ball room on Monday and shared their enthusiasm for a job that keeps them busy at least 20 hours a week. Called the Foster Grandparent Program, participants are 60 years or older and volunteer 20 hours per week serving as grandmas or grandpas to children and teenagers who have special needs. “I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile,” said Marjorie Deit rich. After years of helping her husband George on their Union rfaci. jss of Lehartsvllle cares for a gli. can neither talk nor walk. “She Just wants to hold my hand and never let go. She needs me. I don’t ever warn to g ive her up," Rachael said of her chr jmt It one of. , jter grandparents who serve special needs children In Pennsylvania. Foster Grandparents Discover Pleasure In Volunteering County farm, Marjorie felt bored after they retired from active farming. Through the prodding rtf an acquaintance, Marjorie attended a foster grandparenting seminar. “I was really scared,” Marjorie said of her assignment to a school that she describes as a place for wayward boys. But, it took only one day for Marjorie to fall in love with the boys who range from 11 to 18 years old. "I’m really attached to them. At least five of them ate really special to me,” Marjorie said of the boys who seem just like normal grand children to her. She helps them with their home work and assists the school teacher in whatever needs to be done. It’s her relationship with the boys that increases the value of her time spent as a tutor. The boys affectionately call her Grandma Marge. While Grandma Marge thinks it is her duty to help the boys, she found that by letting them help her may make the relationship health ier. She said that one day she had difficulty walking but was reluc tant to ask for help. Finally, she asked one of the boys if she could hang onto his arm while she walked. Marge to troubled youth. It took a lot of prodding to convin ce her to give foster grandparenting a try. Now she doesn’t want to stop. “I Just love them ail to bits,” Lillian Worley of Topton says of her natural bom and foster grandchildren. ‘T thought you’d never ask,” he said as he eagerly offered Ids arm. “My grandma always holds onto my arm and you remind me of her.” Since then, he waits outside for her to arrive each day and accom panies her around die school. While some retired people shied away from joining the program because of the time commitment, Lillian Werley of Topton counters that the sacrifice is well worth it “This (being a foster grandma) is my first option. They need me. If I can help someone along the way then my living is not in vain,” she said. Lillian works as a volunteer aide in an elementary school. ‘They just call me Grandma. And I call them all ‘Honey,’ because I can’t remember each student’s name and I don’t want to show partial;, ty,” she said. Although Lillian said she is hesitant to drive on bad roads and it is not required of “grandmas,” she is also reluctant to skip any days. “If you want to do something, do it correctly or not at all,” is an adage her father taught her to live by. She knows the value of helping others, she said, because her hus band died in a 1951 farming acci dent that left ho* a widow with three preschoolers. “People took time out to help me. I got so much help,” Lillian said. Her whole life is now devoted to helping others, not only as a foster grandparent but as a volunteer in other areas. Lillian has three sons, nine grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. “I just love them all to bits,” she said of both her natural bom and foster grandchildren. Unlike Lillian, Fern Adams has no children or grandchildren by birth. But she volunteers as an aide at a Hamburg-area elementary school five days a week. “I’m new. I just started in Sep tember, but I like helping children learn to read,” she said. “The foster grandparenting program is very educational, rewarding, and fulfilling,” Lillian said. Just like the students they serve, foster grandparents also are graded on the help they provide. Recently Lillian was thrilled that her annual review showed out standing and excellent marks for her help in the classroom. Not all grandparents received the same verbal affirmation that Lillian does, but that doesn’t make their services less rewarding. Rachael Hess, who with her husband Arthur made a living shipping milk in Berks County, offered to help at the Hamburg Center for the mentally handicapped. She said, “I take care of two girls that I don’t want to give up. One just wants to hold my hand and won’t let go. She can’t talk or any thing, but I talk and fuss over her all the time. And I’m sure she appreciates it because she never lets go of my hand.” Rachael said that she applied for die job because she wanted to bet ter herself. That was six yean ago. Rachael said that she never gets tired or discouraged from going to the center five days a week. “I don’t know anything better that one would want to do,” she said of her responsibilities at the center. The needs of the children served by the Foster Grandparent Prog ram include school dropouts, teen runaways, babies bom HIV posi tive, children coping with aban donment, homelessness, abuse and neglect, AIDS, chronic or terminal illness, physical, mental and emo tional disabilities, drug and alco hol abuse, mental illness, illitera cy. learning and developmental disabilities, juvenile delinquency, and teen pregnancy. Pennsylvania has more than 900 foster grandparents who assist more than 80,000 children with (Turn to Pagv B 21)
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