As Reno’s prices increase while wages remain low and stagnant, more and more growing pains are becoming apparent. Notably, nearly half of the 104 schools in the Washoe County School District are Title I, or so-called high poverty schools, to whom federal funds are distributed as determined by the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Seniors in Service, a non-profit that addresses elderly loneliness, has been growing a program that places senior volunteers in area schools to provide companionship, mentoring, and a foster grandparent. It’s a generational win-win.
“In northern Nevada, we’ve been operating here since the seventies,” said Foster Grandparent Volunteer Coordinator Sheri Brown. She currently manages about 80 volunteers. The program gives an opportunity to senior citizens who are still interested in giving back to their community. “We have them paired up with children who can really use the extra help,” said Brown.
A lot of the volunteers visit elementary schools that are located in lower-income neighborhoods. Brown said she currently focuses most of her volunteers in Washoe County, with a handful in Lyon County, but ultimately, she wants this program to span the entire state.
Volunteers spend anywhere between five and 40 hours a week engaging and mentoring students. “The mentoring aspect is a whole other thing,” Brown explained. This is where the foster grandparents get to listen, provide hugs and emotional support. “Be a positive role model for the kids,” explained Brown.
While there are more female volunteers than men, Brown feels that her grandpas who do volunteer are very special and have a knack for relating to the younger male students. “I would love to have more volunteers, we can take as many as we can get,” she said. As the volunteer coordinator, Brown tries to pair the volunteers up with a location and students that best match their personality and location. She does not want to have them driving long distances and often works with the volunteers who prefer one school over another.
The program has evolved over the years. Volunteers used to primarily go into hospitals and mentor children through the process of being hospitalized. “We’ve gotten a lot of volunteers over the years but where we are now is not where I would like to be,” said Brown. The pandemic has taken a toll on volunteers. Brown said the program lost about ten volunteers since the pandemic began.
Linda Peterson has been a volunteer as a foster grandparent for over ten years. She found the program through her church. Before the pandemic, Peterson would spend time with about 20 students and was eager to get back into the classroom again.
“Try and get through the door without being hugged by all the students,” Peterson said is usually how her day begins at each school. She helps the teachers get ready to teach, the students prepare for the day, and she provides that one-on-one connection that is often lost in schools.
Peterson said the most rewarding aspect of volunteering is the way the kids get into her heart and thoughts. She has nurtured and cultivated many long time friendships. “It makes my life worthwhile,” she said.
Peterson encourages people to give it a try, to spend a day with a school foster grandparent. To see what it is like and the impact that can be made. “They’re little sponges and they just love you to pieces regardless of what’s going on,” she said. Her favorite activity is reading to them, followed by helping students navigate their math work.
“I wish people would just take a chance and just brighten their life,” Peterson said. “This pandemic has taken away from my quality because I was not around the little people to help them to learn.”
Brown has learned the impact of the program also goes beyond the students and the foster grandparents themselves. “I just kept hearing so many stories of the volunteers telling me that their teacher would get into a slump and have a hard time,” she explained. “I realized how much the volunteers were cheerleaders for the teachers as well.”