Grandfriends

Grandfriends

by Anchor Shepherd

If I ever doubted the veracity of “The Lord moves in mysterious ways,” I do no more. In March, Shallowford hosted a communications conference.  George Tatro, Pastor of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, was a participant and introduced me to Caitlin Hill, a teacher from Indian Creek Elementary.  As a retired elementary educator, I was interested in hearing about her school and students.  We chatted, and I asked her if anyone had ever come to read to her students.  Her  response was, “No one has ever come to   our school to read!”  When I asked if she would be interested in having some readers, her enthusiasm was infectious.  And thus, Indian Creek Grandfriends was born.

 

For the last seven years, I have been a Grandfriend at Hawthorne Elementary, and it has been some of the most rewarding work with which I have been involved.  The Grandfriends program was conceived and implemented by Kristy Fuqua, and dozens of grandparents, friends, and neighbors have been reading at Hawthorne for years.  In addition to children being exposed to the wonder of stories, books, and authors, bonds have been formed and lasting friendships, too.  It’s great fun!

 

Why couldn’t we – Shallowford Presbyterian Church and Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church - share our love of reading with Indian Creek as well as the Bountiful Bags?  We could help feed young minds as well as young bodies. When I contacted Caitlin and Diana Lam, the founders of Bountiful Bags, and asked them if they thought their Principal would be open to such a program, the reply was a resounding YES.  Knowing that there were only a few weeks of school left, it was decided we needed to start out small and determine if this was a viable activity and if so, expand it for the 2012-2013 school year.  I contacted George and asked if he could recruit five readers from Memorial Drive, knowing we could get five from SPC.  He did, and we did, and after meeting with the Indian Creek Principal, Shallowford hosted an organizational meeting.  Armed with a mountain of books and ideas, we started the first week after Spring Break.  Then, every week, ten of us read to Pre-K, Kindergarten, first, second, and third grade students.  We were greeted with smiles and hugs.  They were eager to hear a new story or another book by an author they enjoyed.  They shared what they learned.  They helped celebrate my birthday, requested pictures of our families, and moaned when it was our last day to read.  One Grandfriend assured me he had reaped far more benefits from the reading than the children had. 

 

As the word spread, more and more Indian Creek teachers requested a Grandfriend, so some of us took on more than one class.  With that in mind, we now plan to recruit more Grandfriends – 30 – in order for every homeroom, Pre-K through third grade, to have a Grandfriend.  I secretly hope that fourth and fifth grades will also “catch the spirit” and request Grandfriends.

 

So, that’s our story.  Let us know if you would like to join us.