84. The Power of Intergenerational Connections with Foster Grandparent

In this episode of Raising Tech, host Amber Bardon welcomes Danielle Lyons, Program Director of the Fort Wayne Foster Grandparent Program, sponsored by Lutheran Life Villages. Danielle explains how the program connects volunteers aged 55 and older with children in need, providing mentorship, friendship, and academic support. Volunteers assist in schools, childcare centers, and after-school programs, fostering intergenerational relationships that benefit both seniors and children.

Danielle highlights the emotional impact of the program, noting how many children who have lost parents or grandparents find comfort and stability through these relationships. She also shares the program’s historical roots, which began in 1965 as a way to support low-income seniors while helping children, particularly those with disabilities.

Amber and Danielle discuss how fostering these connections helps combat ageism and social isolation, promoting engagement and purpose for seniors. With the program’s 60th anniversary approaching, Danielle shares plans for a major celebration to recognize the contributions of volunteers.

You can find more information on their website, Facebook or the AmeriCorps website.

Danielle Lyons: dlyons@lutheranlifevillages.org / 260-426-2273

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Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Amber Bardon: Welcome to Raising Tech Podcast. I'm your host, Amber Bardon. And today, our guest is Danielle Lyons. Danielle is the program director at the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program, which is sponsored by one of our clients, Lutheran Life Villages in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Welcome to the show, Danielle.

Thank you. Thanks for having me. I learned about this program when I was visiting Lutheran Life Villages and I thought this was such a unique, [00:01:00] cool thing that you're doing and I thought it'd be really great for our listeners to hear about this and learn more in case it's something that they're interested in getting involved with.

Foster grandparents are volunteers who are 55 and older who serve as role models, mentors, and friends to young, low income children at risk of falling behind in school. Tell us a little bit more about the program. 

Danielle Lyons: Okay we are a program that have seniors all throughout the community. We invite them to come in and apply.

They have to be 55 years and older. We want them to be able to come in and want to work with children We work with up to about fifth grade and they have to have a passion of working with children. We want them to love children. We have volunteers that work with infants, they might go in and rock babies.

They might help feed the babies. There's no diapering. They don't have to worry about that part. They seem to like that part not having to do but Then we have some that work with third up to fifth graders who might need some support [00:02:00] in reading. But our seniors come in and they want to volunteer.

They go out into the community. We are all over Fort Wayne. We are at every end of Fort Wayne. We work in child care centers, schools after school programs, we are everywhere and our volunteers usually spend between 15 to 20 hours a week. But we do have some that are so dedicated. They volunteer up to 40 hours a week.

It just depends on what their comfort level is. We are a program that started in 1965. I'm very proud of that. We are 1 of. The first pilot programs across the country. AmeriCorps seniors is a program that is all over the United States. They have 3 programs under the AmeriCorps umbrella. 

So we have been here. For a long time Lutheran Life Villages has been our sponsor for over 20 years. And we are very proud to have been here since [00:03:00] 1965. 

Amber Bardon: I think programs like this are so important. And 1 of the reasons I wanted to highlight this on our podcast is, I think ageism is a major issue, and we don't hear a lot of people talk about that.

But when you think about moving into a community like, Lutheran life villages, there can be a lot of fear that it's for old people or just a lot of no, just negative thoughts about what it looks like to be around older adults. And that's why I love these types of programs because it helps expose people to what older adults the experience of having them in your life is like, and that it can be really positive.

And then I think it's also just. That to build that community and that sharing of information and knowledge. So can you tell me a little bit more about how you see those benefits playing out through this? Yeah, 

Danielle Lyons: our seniors. I tell you, I learned something new last year and I, I almost thought, wow, why didn't I think of that before?

When I was going to the sites and talking [00:04:00] to the principals and asking, what is your need, and I always think, our seniors, of course, they go in and they volunteer and they read with the kids, they do that one on one, they might work in a group with children and, they develop that friendship.

But what I learned last year, and it was so powerful we had children who lost parents. and grandparents to COVID. And they needed that grandmother figure and that grandfather figure in their life. And it didn't even, I didn't even think about that piece. It just really, I was like, wow, I didn't think about that.

And kids tend to gravitate to grandma and grandpa. That's an important role. And for a lot of our young children, they don't have that anymore, whether it be that they did lose them to COVID COVID. COVID. Or that grandma and grandpa may not live close to them anymore. They may live in a different state [00:05:00] and they need that special grandma, grandfather figure.

They tend to want to cuddle with them and read the books with them. They feel more comfortable sharing those stories that maybe they're not comfortable sharing with that younger teacher. That's new to them. Children change teachers a lot, and they just feel more comfortable sharing those stories with grandma and grandpa.

So I think it's important for the kids, but also for the grandparents, because you have grandparents who might live in a senior community that don't get to see those kids anymore, that don't get to share that special relationship with young Children that they want so much. Some of our grandparents They don't have grandchildren.

They may not have had children in their life. And so having that special relationship, they look forward to going in and spending that little bit of time that they can with those young children. It's a powerful [00:06:00] relationship. especially even in the summertime, when summer, when school's out and it's the summertime, they don't get to see those kids for a long time. But when they see those kids out in public. Oh, my gosh, those kids run right to him and the parents are like, who is this person?

The kids love their grandparents and they look at them just as though they are their real grandparents. So that intergenerational connection, huge very big in their life and in their relationships. 

Amber Bardon: Yeah, I really love that. And as someone who I didn't have grandparents growing up, and my kids also don't have the benefit of having grandparents either that are still living or live near them, I could definitely see a benefit to that.

That's such a great program. And can you give a little more insight into how the program originally started? What was their thought process behind it? 

Danielle Lyons: Yeah. Originally it started with. The older generation who were very poor the plan was to get them out there to help with the kids who needed more help.

[00:07:00] And it was more towards the children who were disabled. They needed help with those kids, and we had women who were willing to go and help work with those children, and they were going to pay them a small amount of money to help them. And they did. And of course. The program expanded, it got bigger and bigger, and we had women who were able to go out and do this and were excited to get that stipend, that tax free money.

Since then, it has grown, and we still have women that are willing to go out and, do this and receive that stipend. It's not a lot. Our seniors only get about maybe 250, 300 a month. it is a little bit extra that can help pay some of those bills that they may have, depending on their income.

And it's worth it. It's giving them an opportunity to get out of the house. It's giving them an opportunity to socialize with other people. We can go on and on [00:08:00] about talking about the loneliness and the depression that our seniors experience by staying home all day and not having that companionship and that, that idea of going out and spending time with other people.

So this is a win for them, no matter what. 

Amber Bardon: Yeah, absolutely. I was just at 2 client sites in the last 2 weeks and this very topic of isolation and engagement came up. So this is definitely an issue and that's again why I wanted to talk about this program on the podcast is this is such a unique way to address that.

 If a senior living community is interested in getting involved in this type of program, how would they go about that? 

Danielle Lyons: There's a couple of things. AmeriCorps seniors has a website on their website. It's called pathfinder. If you went to pathfinder on AmeriCorps seniors website, it will give you you'll be able to type in what state or what city you live in and it will tell you what programs are available in that city or in that state.

State and then you can [00:09:00] look for yours and then they'll tell you what's available. And then you can reach out to that director and find out what's out there. As far as for Fort Wayne where I am we've got our own website. We've got F. G. P. F. W. dot org. You can also see us on Facebook and I try to upload all of our special events. I'm going to be putting some new pictures up today. As a matter of fact, because we just had our winter celebration yesterday and that's at the foster grandparent, Fort Wayne on Facebook.

And then, of course, you can always email me at dlyond@lutheranlifevillages.Org. And I can give you all the information that you need. I always tell people that apply for our program. Of course, 55 and older is always the 1st thing I ask you. We have to do background checks because you're working with children.

That's always important. You have to pass those 1st you gotta love kids because. That's what they want. They want that love. They want that [00:10:00] attention. They want that companionship. Those are the most important things. The rest is super easy. You don't need a college degree. You don't have to have, all these smarts.

We just want you to be able to want to spend time with children and give them the attention that they need. It's not rocket science at all. 

Amber Bardon: Yeah, absolutely. Are there any specific stories you can think of that you can share with us?   

Danielle Lyons: This past year, we did a lot of things.

We've been on TV. We've been in magazines. We've been in newspapers. We've done a lot of stuff to get our program out there. I think probably our biggest thing that we're excited about right now is, our 60th anniversary is coming up in May. We are really doing it this year. We're going to have our anniversary gala.

So it's going to be huge. And we're hoping to invite our mayor and get some, constituents out there. Hopefully they will come. We want to get some people from AmeriCorps to [00:11:00] come. We just want to really make it an exciting event because I'm sure you understand when it comes to our seniors, they're very proud, but at the same time, they sometimes don't realize how much they really do.

And so when I tell the grandparents. You help this child learn how to read and how important it is. Sometimes they just don't realize how big of a deal that is. And so I want to make sure that when we have this celebration this year, we let them know you did a big thing. These last 60 years are huge.

And so that's going to be our big celebration. 

Amber Bardon: That's great. That's exciting. Congratulations on 60 years. 

Danielle Lyons: Thank you. Very proud. Very proud. 

Amber Bardon: Danielle, this has been a great conversation.

I've really enjoyed learning more about the program. I didn't know a lot about it. I just knew that it existed. So I really appreciate your time and joining us. Is there anything we didn't talk about that you want people to know about this program? 

Danielle Lyons: I just really wish I really want people to spread the word [00:12:00] of the importance of this because.

We are volunteers who really help a lot of Children, and it's a free way of helping teachers and Children. I don't think people realize how much work we really do. We're like the quiet ones in the corner that no one really notices, but in our seniors totally enjoy it.

To see them be able to still be active in the community and do something that they love and to keep them out of that loneliness and that depression and make new friends. It's a wonderful feeling to see all of that happening. So I think if we can just get more people to see who we are, that's a great thing.

Amber Bardon: And I can tell you. Really are passionate about what you do and you enjoy it. 

Danielle Lyons: Oh, I love it. I love it. I wouldn't I used to do early childhood I was a teacher and I love the children and I always had a foster grandparent in my classroom. I love it. And so when I became the director of this program, [00:13:00] oh, my gosh, I wouldn't change it for the world.

I love my grandparents. They're awesome. They're awesome. 

Amber Bardon: That's wonderful. And I know you did mention where people can learn more about the program, but do you mind just saying all of that again at the end of our episode? We like to include that. 

Danielle Lyons: Oh, sure. Yeah. So there's AmeriCorps Seniors Pathfinder and that's on the AmeriCorps Seniors website.

We also have our Facebook page, which is Foster Grandparent Fort Wayne. And then my email address is dlyons@lutheranlifevillages.Org. And you can also give me a call if you need to, and that's 260 426 2273. And I can answer all of your questions. And then we also have our own website, which is fgpfw.

org. 

Amber Bardon: That's wonderful. Thank you so much, Danielle. I appreciate. Oh, 

Danielle Lyons: thank you for having me. I'm so happy. Thank you so much. [00:14:00]