SAN DIEGO — Students call her “Grandma Linda” at school. But Linda Cochrane Johnson is not really their grandma.
She does participate, however, in the Foster Grandparent Program, which has been sponsored by Catholic Charities for 50 years. The program trains seniors to work one-on-one with students that need a little extra help, from kindergarten through high school.
Cochrane Johnson, a retired mental health counselor, learned about the program after picking up a flyer at the George L. Stevens Senior Center, and she decided that it was something she would enjoy. She’s been a Foster Grandparent since 2016.
Within her own family, her “one and only grandchild” is now in college. But, through the program, she has found herself once again connecting with young children.
“At one point,” she recalled, “I was working with the first-graders. … It kept me moving. I was constantly moving up and down, walking around, and running after young people, trying to keep up with them. And then, they said, ‘Come on, play with us!’ … And I said, ‘I’m a grandmother, not a kid.’ And they said, ‘You can do it. Come on, Grandma!’ So, it was a lot of fun.”
She fondly recalled that, when students accompanied by their parents would spot her at school, they almost always came over to introduce Mom and Dad to “Grandma Linda.”
“It was a very nice feeling to know that you made that much of an impact with the students,” she said.
Michelle De Los Santos has served as program manager since October but has helped to coordinate the program for over 12 years. She said that it was created “to help older adults find a purpose” after retirement.
She said that the program “closes the generation gap” between seniors and youth.
“The volunteers go in as a non-threatening adult,” she explained. “They’re not a teacher, not a teacher’s aide; they’re just a grandparent figure, trying to give … a little bit of a push, motivation, and the students just fall in love with them.”
Frequently, Foster Grandparents are tapped to help children to improve their literacy skills. They also commonly work with children who have special needs, such as autism, ADHD and mental health challenges. Other students include those who are learning English as a Second Language, as well as “at-risk” youth who are in need of mentoring.
The number of seniors volunteering as Foster Grandparents has varied over the years.
De Los Santos said there were about 80 volunteers before the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the numbers decline. The program found a way to continue its work during the pandemic, when it temporarily shifted from in-person to virtual.
Currently, there are 34 Foster Grandparents in San Diego and Imperial counties, the oldest of whom is 88 years old, and there’s a push to increase that number.
Foster Grandparents must be at least 55 years old, go through training and a background check, attend a monthly in-service, and commit to a minimum of 15 hours a week working with children at one of several school sites in San Diego and Imperial counties. The schools can be Catholic or public ones.
In most cases, the grandparents’ work follows the traditional August-June academic year. They receive a stipend of $4 an hour.
The manager said that some seniors have volunteered with the program after having lost a spouse and experienced loneliness in their own lives.
“I’ve seen (the program) help so many volunteers come out of their shells,” she said. The trainings and in-services involve social interaction and group discussions. “It’s been great for so many volunteers’ mental health.”
De Los Santos recounted some touching anecdotes that demonstrate the value of the program in the lives of students.
Around the time she started with the program, De Los Santos heard about an alternative education student, age 14 or 15, who appeared to be a victim of neglect. The student would arrive at school every day with her hair disheveled, her clothes wrinkled, her shoes dirty and her shoelaces untied.
“There were two grandmas in that classroom that … took her under their wing,” she said, recalling how the volunteer duo worked with the girl over the course of the school year.
The student was “a totally different person by the end of the year,” said De Los Santos. Among other things, she had higher self-esteem and greater interaction with her classmates.
“There was nobody else reaching out to her or … helping her to do this,” she said. “And those two grandparents, in tandem, worked with her and turned her life around.”
The manager heard another story about a girl who, as a high school freshman, tried her best to get out of attending or participating in her classes. Four years later, though, it was a different story altogether: She not only graduated but went on to train as a medical assistant.
“She came back, and she told the volunteers, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you.’”
Cochrane Johnson, who is a practicing Methodist, said that she “felt right at home” volunteering at a religious school, St. Rita’s Catholic School, where she mostly worked with second- and third-graders. She said that the kids seemed to appreciate that she wasn’t “this stiff little grandmother figure.”
“Sometimes, I made them laugh; sometimes, we (would) sit around and laugh or play games together,” she said. “But just knowing that they were learning … it made me feel good knowing that, hey, I still had what it takes to try to show somebody how to do the work and take pride in what they were doing for themselves.”
She acknowledged that not every retiree has the time to commit to the Foster Grandparent Program, especially those who are responsible for watching their own young grandchildren on a regular basis.
“But I have time,” she said, “and it makes me feel good as well as … help the students feel good about themselves. So, I don’t mind volunteering. It keeps my mind active.”
Retired and want to make a difference?
Catholic Charities sponsors the Foster Grandparent Program that puts seniors in schools to help students who need more attention.
They must be at least 55 years old, go through training and a background check, and be available to work a minimum of 15 hours a week during the school year.
More information is available online at ccdsd.org/foster-grandparents, or by phone in San Diego County at (619) 323-2841 and Imperial County at (760) 353-6822.
