Description
A local program is linking up children who are just beginning their education, with seniors who have a lifetime of experiences to pass on.
And they're hoping to find more people who want to become a foster grandparent.
Every day, 300 children go to Head Start, run by Catholic Charities. It's not about daycare. It's about early education and life skills for the entire family.
“We have social workers, family advocates who work with the parents, and the grandparents to make sure that a child grows up in a good, loving environment,” said Deacon Martin Gutierrez, Vice-President of Mission and Community Engagement, Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of New Orleans.
But there is another reason these classrooms have loving environments. It's people like Hazel Harris.
“I’m a mother. I’m a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a great-great-grandmother,” said Hazel Harris, a foster grandparent.
Miss Hazel, or Mamaw as some of the children call her, is just one of the dozens of seniors in the Catholic Charities foster grandparent program. She attends Head Start to share her lifetime of skills and knowledge with the children every weekday, regardless of the weather. So, what would she be doing if she were not here?