LIHU’E — When Harriet Organic raised her children on O’ahu years ago, she gave them love, attention and aloha so they could come productive and caring adults. For the past four years, the 66-year-old Organic has done the same for
LIHU’E — When Harriet Organic raised her children on O’ahu years ago, she gave
them love, attention and aloha so they could come productive and caring
adults.
For the past four years, the 66-year-old Organic has done the same
for special education students through the state-sponsored Kaua’i Foster
Grandparent Program.
“I love them as if they were my own,” said Organic, a
Lihu’e resident.
Organic is the type of senior citizen the state
Department of Human Services hopes to recruit to strengthen the program, now
in its seventh year.
Along with 20 current volunteers, the new ones will
work with students who have special or exceptional needs, according to Jeanne
Stanwood, program supervisor with the state agency on Kaua’i.
Under the
supervision of teachers, the volunteers will serve as tutors, role models and
mentors to special education students from infancy to 18 years of age.
The
foster grandparents will help students with schoolwork, listen and “talk
story,” if asked, about their life experiences, Stanwood said.
The program
was launched nationwide 35 years ago with federal funds to Hawaii and 20 other
states.
Over the years, foster grandparents in Hawaii have provided more
than 1 million hours of service to thousands of children, said Rene Nakama, a
project director with the state agency on O’ahu.
On O’ahu, about 100 foster
grandparents tend to the needs of special education students.
The Kaua’i
program started seven years go with about three volunteers.
Twenty
volunteers serve at Waimea Canyon School, ‘Ele’ele Elementary School, Kalaheo
Elementary School, Wilcox Elementary School, King Kaumuali’i School, Kapa’a
Elementary and Kapa’a Middle School, YWCA Family Abuse Center and in Head Start
programs.
In the four years Organic has worked at Wilcox, she has cared for
36 students. She works at the school five hours a day, four days a
week.
Organic’s daily life is busy enough without her commitment to the
students. She helps feed the elderly at Wilcox Memorial Hospital, does work for
the Retired Senior Volunteers Program and runs errands and cares for seniors
who live with her at Lihu’e Gardens.
Her role as a foster grandparent
brings meaning to her life, Organic said.
“My own children are grown.
Being with the children makes me feel wanted,” she said. “I receive a lot of
aloha, which is important because I can feel the need the children have for
it.”
Through the classes, Organic said she is able to pass on values that
are important to her: Honesty, sharing, giving and love.
Organic said the
students look forward to her visits, a need that motivates her to give more of
herself.
All 36 students she has taught have different personalities and
needs, and it is a challenge for her to make contact with them, particularly
those who are shy and are initially lukewarm to her, Organic said.
“You
have to approach them in a way they are comfortable with. I hug them and
smile,” she related.
Students, she said, remember her long after they have
been promoted from elementary school to high school.
“They give me hugs.
Even at the high school level, they come and show their aloha,” Organic said.
“That warms my heart.”
The senior citizens get as much out of the programs
as the children do, Stanwood said.
“When they enter the program, it gives
them a chance to be part of the community. They feel a sense of worth. They are
happier and their health improves,” she explained.
The senior citizens fill
an important niche – that of love and support the students might not receive
elsewhere, Stanwood said.
The students benefit tremendously from the
nurturing and wisdom the senior citizens pass onto them, according to Stanwood.
“It is like giving water to a plant,” she said.
The Kaua’i program’s
seniors average 73 years of age and are retired business people and housewives.
They are considered volunteers but receive a non-taxable stipend of $2.55 an
hour during a 20-hour work week.
To qualify to work in the program, foster
grandparents must love children, be physically fit, must meet income
requirements, be 60 years of age and older, be willing to accept supervision
and must be able to render services for 20 hours.
In return for their
services, foster grandparents, among other benefits, receive a daily meal or
allowance, are reimbursed for transportation and receive training.
For this
fiscal year, the state agency received $411,404 from the Washington-based
Corporation for National Service and $293,254 in state funds to implement the
program statewide.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at
245-3618 (ext. 224) or lchang@pulitzer.net
