GRAND RAPIDS, MI – When a kiddo needs a helping hand, some gentle redirection, or a shoulder to cry on, Granny K is there.
Kathy Higgins, lovingly known at East Leonard Elementary School as “Granny K,” volunteers as a foster grandparent in teacher Lindsey Contreras’ second grade classroom.
Four days a week, Higgins helps out in the Grand Rapids Public Schools’ classroom with anything and everything students need – from helping with reading comprehension to tutoring to showing them how to spell their names correctly.
“I work with them one-on-one and figure out their needs,” Higgins, 61, explained to MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. “Each child has an individual need, and the ones that need extra help, I’ll pull them to the side and I’ll help them to read and work on their comprehension and just answer any questions they want.”
It’s all in a day’s work for Higgins as a volunteer in the Kent County Foster Grandparents Program, an AmeriCorps Seniors project.
The program takes adults who are age 55 and up, and places them inside a local classroom to work with kids for the school year. There are similar AmeriCorps programs set up in dozens of school districts statewide.
The initiative is meant to help older adults give back to the community, while also helping students with academic and social engagement through mentoring, tutoring, and anything other classroom support.
Rachel Taplin, director of the AmeriCorps Seniors Program, described the program as a “triple win” for students, volunteers, and the overall community.
“I hear over and over again how meaningful this experience is, and they way volunteers feel like they’re giving back to the community and the benefits they’ve experienced because of serving,” Tapplin said.
For Higgins, the program is an opportunity to spend more time with children and serve as a positive adult role model to kids. She can also be there to help direct students to any school resources they might need like a social worker or a counselor.
“I’m just like their grandma,” Higgins explained.
Kathy Higgins poses for a photo at East Leonard Elementary School on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022. Higgins works as a foster grandparents at the school. Students call her “Granny.” Rylan Capper | rcapper@mlive.com
Higgins is a real grandmother, too – which allows her to connect with the students just like she does with her own grandchildren.
She said she has a young grandson who has autism, who she watches every day just down the street from East Leonard Elementary.
“I just watch him until it’s time for him to go, and then I zip across the street,” she said.
The Foster Grandparents program places volunteers in schools that are a match for their schedules, age preferences, and abilities, Taplin said. The program also helps out with providing transportation to and from their school, as well as a stipend of $3.15 an hour.
The program has been around in Kent County since 1977. This year, there are around 35 foster grandparents working in schools across the county, including Grand Rapids, Grandville, Kentwood and Wyoming.
Volunteers in the program don’t have to have any kind of prior classroom experience, Taplin said. But once they’re in the program, they do a little bit of everything.
“That could mean anything from students who are falling a little bit behind and could benefit from some extra one-on-one attention with academic skills, or maybe a student who needs some redirection, so that volunteer can help make sure they stay focused,” she said.
AmeriCorps is always looking for volunteers who want to start the program in new school districts, Taplin said. Anyone who wants to apply to the program can fill out an interest form at https://seniorneighbors.org/services/americorps/ or call 616-771-9748.
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