Foster Grandparents Honored For Service
By Kevin Gray
The 33rd annual Foster Grandparents dinner Oct. 5 became an evening designed to recognize the love and confidence building foster grandparents give to school children in Miami, Linn, and Johnson County schools.
A special award, the PhD of Love, went to Grandma Ruth Wrench of Osawatomie, who at 101, is the oldest foster grandparent in the United States. “We knew Grandma Ruth deserved this after all she has done for children both in Paola and Osawatomie over her 30 years with the program,” said Sherry Duer, former Foster Grandparent Program director, who retired last June.
Wrench, said Duer, has been with the program since the early days. “Beside the devotion to school children, she has freely given to her family, church and her community to make this world a better place. And since there’s no Foster Grandparent program outside the United States, this makes Grandma Ruth the oldest Foster Grandparent in the world,” said Duer.
New director Jennifer Haley said the program has always had great leadership thanks to Duer’s leadership. “Sherry has retired, but she is keeping an eye on the program and has been mentoring me,” Haley said.
Guest speaker Janis Grandon, Paola’s Cottonwood Elementary principal, said, “Jennifer has great ideas and is working hard. The program should thrive and grow,” Grandon said.
Using numbers to deliver her message, Grandon said Foster Grandparents volunteer 1,200 minutes each week. “In my building alone, 414 students are touched every day,” Grandon said, “and it serves 18 different schools or sites. Grandma Ruth has served so many children herself for multiple years.”
The number one, Grandon said, represents how the grandparents nurture children, one by one. “Every child needs a grandparent, anyone’s grandparent,” Grandon said.
The grandparents touch and change lives for the better, Grandon said. “They are role models, mentors, a friend, and adviser. They can also fire up the children and guide them to solve problems, as well as giving our children a sense of their own world,” Grandon said.
The national organization, said Haley, will be celebrating its 45th anniversary later this month in Chicago. “We have nine grandparents going and plan to have a good time and enjoy ourselves,” Haley said. Foster grandparents slated to attend the convention are Helen Webster and Anna Tschantz, TRI-KO; Patsy Gladfelder, Swenson Early Childhood Learning Center; Julane Williams, Trojan Elementary; Susan Auten, Cottonwood Elementary and Edith Williams, Sunflower Elementary in Paola; Leona Luckey, Lakemary Center Inc. and Industries; Agnes Green, Morning Out for Mothers; and Beverly Knapp, Wellsville Elementary.
Foster grandparents for 2010 attending from Osawatomie: Ruth Wrench, Patsy Gladfelder, Carolee O’Brien, Donna Burkhart, Judy Lyons, Swenson ECLC; Ann Hauber, Julane Williams and Dixie Forney, Trojan Elementary; Maxine Roy, Scottie Kerns, Anna Tschantz, Cecil Robinson, Helen Webster and Ora Lee Chenault, TRI-KO; Ida Vertrees, Osawatomie Head Start; and Earleen Packard, Osawatomie Community Learning Center;
Virginia Dougan, Fontana Elementary; Mary Jane Able, Shirley Bardwell, Pat Pennington, Donna Wolfe, Roxie McKellips and Mary Redd, La Cygne Elementary; Carol Ayres, Bernadean Gonser, Agnes Green, Shirley Mayo and Diana Wright, Morning Out for Mothers; and Beverly Knapp, Wellsville Elementary;
Paola schools: Margaret Cook, Shirley Damron, Betty Smith, Susan Auten, Dorothy Erickson, Mary Smith, Alice Elms, Flossie Hines, Willie Cotton, Marc Ruggles, Cottonwood Elementary; Edith Williams, JoAnn Hamlin, Sunflower Elementary; Marge Cowman, Barbara Howard and Betty Osborn, Paola Adult Education Center; Verona Doman, Marie Cashman, Leona Luckey and Judi Martin – Lakemary Center; and Rosemary Golden, Paola Head Start;
Louisburg schools: Betty Cook and Annette Kueser. Broadmoor Elementary; Clara Vallacqua and Margaret Lawrence, Rockville Elementary.
If anyone is interested in becoming a foster grandparent, call Haley at (913) 294-3880.
Short URL: http://osawatominews.com/?p=453
Posted by admin
on Oct 20 2010. Filed under News and Updates.
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