Grandma B is in da school !
Published: August 22, 2003
Double jobs, single parent families with responsibilities at home. Young kids who need to be looked after and can’t be left alone. There’s a multitude of reasons while even parents who would love to help out at school often simply can’t. And with families spread out all over the community or country where’s a kid to go for that extra help? That’s where foster grandparents come in.
Over 220 volunteer seniors in Martin, Palm Beach and Okeechobee counties, help out at schools as foster grandparents.
…the volunteers there serve a variety of roles, from sitting down and reading to students to performing many of the tasks normally done by parents through the school’s PTA such as running the book fairs.
Bernice Barth, 80, is one of those volunteers. She helps out in first grade four times a week. The kids know her as “Grandma B”.
“It isn’t work,” Barth said, sitting on a picnic table near the school’s playground. “It’s a pleasure.”
Barth isn’t the only one who enjoys the time she spends with students. The kids like it, too.
Even on her first day of volunteering for this year, it was obvious Barth had already connected with a few immediately.
One girl gave Barth a big hug just for strolling over and watching her complete her work. Another sported a large smile when she told him she would only call him “Dan” because he was too grown up to be called “Danny” anymore.
“It’s very rewarding,” Barth said. “The key is that you’re helping children in whatever way is necessary. Some need help more than others.”
Most of the volunteers found the program by word of mouth, church meetings, gatherings, as opposed to any organized recruiting. They get their gas mileage paid, free school lunch - and lots of love.
“When you see their face light up when they learn new words, new things, it’s priceless,” DeBenedetto said.
DeBenedetto, better known as “Mr. Artie,” also has been seen as a father figure and role model to many of the third-graders he helps.
One of them, 10-year-old James Smallwood, is working with Mr. Artie for a second year after being held back in the third grade.
“He helps me with my reading,” James said. “I’m a better reader.”
DeBenedetto said he’s seen a definite attitude change in James for the better in hopes he’ll be promoted next year.
DeBenedetto said he loves helping the kids out — it’s a role he cherishes and says he was born for.
“I’m going to do it until I die or I can’t get up no more,” DeBenedetto said. “I won’t give this up. I love it too much.”
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