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Through Metropolitan Family Service, Foster Grandparent serves children in our community.
Foster Grandparent was established nationally
in 1965 to benefit two traditionally neglected populations: low-income older adults and special-needs children.
Services
- Tutoring in reading and math
- Mentoring
- Guidance through classroom activities
- Providing emotional and physical support
Last Year
- 70 Foster Grandparents volunteered each week
in Portland and surrounding communities
- More than 1,400 school children received academic
tutoring and classroom support
- Over 52,000 hours of service were provided by Foster Grandparents in
the tri-county area, meeting the critical needs of the community
Accessing Services
Foster Grandparent has 39 community partners in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties. Volunteers serve in schools, childcare centers,
children's hospitals, residential treatment centers, and other similar public and non-profit organizations.
Community Partners
- Serve primarily low-income and special-needs children
- Provide on-site orientation and training
for new Foster Grandparents
- Adequately supervise all Foster Grandparents
- Offer necessary information to aid in program evaluation and reporting
- Contribute a portion of the costs for volunteers to be placed at their sites
Volunteers
Foster Grandparent provides opportunities for adults over 60 to remain active and serve the communities in which they live.
Volunteers earn a modest stipend while serving 15
– 40 hours per week, while children receive individual attention and direction from a caring, dedicated adult.
"I feel like what I do makes a difference to the children."
"I like to do things that will benefit society."
For more information about how to support or volunteer, contact Foster Grandparent at 503.249.8215, ext.
17 or
fgp@metfamily.org
Corporation for National Service
Working with governor-appointed state commissions, nonprofits, faith-based groups, schools, and other civic organizations to help volunteers serve their communities.
www.cns.gov
AARP
Membership-based social welfare services created to benefit older Americans.
www.aarp.org
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fgp@metfamily.org
503.249.8215, ext. 17
Metropolitan Family Service
2200 NE 24th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97212 |
Nine years ago 71-year-old Thelma Bisaccio was grieving the loss of her husband and needed a reason to leave
her apartment. She heard about MFS Foster Grandparent. Thelma called immediately, signed up, took the training, and never
looked back. Today she has her own rocker at Helensview High School, where she cares for babies whose student
moms are working hard to graduate from high school.
For five hours a day, five days a
week, Thelma rocks the babies, gives
them their bottles, reads to them, talks
to them, or gets down on the floor to
play with them. She does everything that
a loving grandparent would do. "The program gets me
out into the community and makes me feel
more useful. I wish I had found it
sooner," Bisaccio says. "It keeps me
going."
Her area of the Child Development
Center at Helensview High School
cares for up to 12 babies, ages six
weeks to nine months old. "I'm
heartbroken when babies move on,"
she says. "But I just love to watch
babies grow and progress each day."
The students of Helensview call
her "grandma" and are grateful that
she is there each day to care for
their babies. Her supervisor Louise
Jeffrey is grateful for the extra
pair of hands that frees other
workers to do more strenuous tasks.
Thelma has worked at Helensview
High School, her fourth location
with Foster Grandparent, for five
years. During the summer months she
works at the Police Activities
League Youth Center (PALS) helping
supervise children.
Thelma has an adult son and
daughter, five grandchildren, and
four great-grandchildren of her own.
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