Program gives grandparents more children to care for

Program gives grandparents more children to care for

(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)


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SPANISH FORK — For the past 23 years, Marie Hansen has been helping kids learn to read, count and do arithmetic.

"It's rewarding to see them learn," she said. After so many years of working with first-graders, Hansen, a foster grandparent with the Utah County Health Department, knows just how to help them advance, each at their own pace.

"I just love being with the children. In the summer, I'm lost without them," the 93-year-old said.

And it turns out, year after year of giving of her time has kept her going.

"I'd probably have gone crazy if I hadn't been doing this," she said. "It gets me out of the house and gives me something to do."

Hansen is the department's oldest and longest-serving volunteer. Along the way, she's tried to convince several friends to join in on the rewarding commitment of serving the community, but the department always need more people who are willing to give of their time.

It's a 15-hour per week commitment, though up to 40 hours is welcome, and anyone 55 and older can do it. Volunteers for either the foster grandparent program or the senior companion program receive ongoing training, supplemental insurance while on duty, meals while serving and may qualify to earn a tax-free hourly stipend.

"For many of them, this is the reason they can stay in their home," said Cheri Tuckett, the foster grandparent program coordinator in Utah County. "To them, a couple hundred extra dollars a month really makes a difference."


I'd probably have gone crazy if I hadn't been doing this.

–Marie Hansen


Foster grandparents volunteered 48,547 hours with children in Utah County in 2015, and senior companions, who assist frail elderly in the community with various tasks, gave 38,063 hours, contributing a value of nearly $2 million to their communities. The health department's annual report states that most volunteers with the program report "significant increases in sense of well-being and purpose of life."

"We try to utilize them the best we can," Tuckett said, adding that there is a lot of need in the county, and while 71 volunteers assisted nearly 1,200 children last year, "we could easily double that" if they had more foster grandparents.

"We're always looking for more," Tuckett said. There is a waiting list of teachers wanting foster grandparents help in their classroom.

Participants also get school lunch on days they work, though Hansen said it's not exactly the reason she volunteers.

"I'm not much for pizza, corn dogs and pasta," she said, adding that it's not the kind of meals she is used to. Brockbank Elementary School, where Hansen has volunteered for the entire 23 years of her service, used to have its own chefs.

She said her real love, however, is in the classroom, seeing kids succeed. After a summer break, some children come back to school not remembering what they learned in kindergarten and she works with them to restore that progress, getting students on their way to a successful first-grade year.

"These kids want to bring their books back, they want to do their homework, but sometimes it doesn't get done for whatever reason, but first-graders want to complete their work. Getting to read with grandma helps fill in those holes," said Marcy Noorda, a first-grade teacher at Brockbank. Hansen has volunteered in her classroom for the past nine years.

"It makes our classroom run so much smoother," Noorda said of having Hansen present. "She does so much more than she lets on."

First-grade teacher Marcy Noorda, left, talks with Marie Hansen. Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News
First-grade teacher Marcy Noorda, left, talks with Marie Hansen. Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Hansen writes down every title of every book the kids read throughout the school year, and she keeps track of homework packets that go home and come back so the teacher knows where and with whom to focus. Noorda said that having those tasks covered gives her more time for instruction.

"I can do harder things with them because they've got support to help them through it," Noorda said.

And the one-on-one assessment Hansen helps with in the classroom is invaluable in keeping students on track.

"She's made a lot of impact on a lot of kids," Noorda said, adding that Hansen has rarely missed a day of work. "I don't think people realize how amazing she is. She is honestly one of the most amazing people I've met."

Hansen, who raised five children and has 19 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, said she "really likes kids" and feels comfortable around them. She once turned down a classroom assignment because she didn't agree with the way students were treated by the teacher she would have been working with. She'd rather see people be more patient with them, she said.

"There's so many children who need help, and some of them just don't get any help at home," she said. And while her body is getting older and sometimes limits her from doing the things she loves, Hansen said she'll continue to volunteer as a foster grandma "for as long as I'm able."

"I've had chances to go different places, but I've got a job to do," she said. "I have to keep busy. I can't just sit and do nothing."

Learn more
For more information about the Utah County Health Department's Foster Grandparent program, visit www.utahcounty.gov/Dept2/Health/SeniorServices/FosterGrandparents.asp.

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