|
The Foster Grandparent Program celebrated its inaugural
year in 1965 nationally as a cooperative effort between the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Department of Health Education and Welfare in Washington, D.C. The program was developed by Sergeant Shriver as a component of President Lyndon Johnson's War On Poverty and was intended to enable limited income senior citizens to volunteer with children who demonstrate exceptional need.
Since its inception locally in 1972, the Foster Grandparent
Program of Central Florida has strived to fulfill this mission, to recruit and train limited-income seniors, ages 60 or older, to provide twenty hours per week of one-on- one attention to special needs children. Today, 250 Foster Grandparents volunteer with children at 85 locations in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola Counties.
Sponsored locally by Florida Senior Programs, Inc. and
funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Heart of Florida United Way, Orange County, and other community contributors, the Foster Grandparent Program of Central Florida provides a small non-taxable stipend ($2.65/hour) to seniors, ages 60 or older, who volunteer with special-needs children twenty hours each week in schools, hospitals, drug treatment centers, correctional institutions, Head Start centers, after-school programs, and residential facilities. The stipend empowers seniors to participate in the program without incurring significant personal costs. In addition to the stipend, participating volunteers receive transportation assistance, meals while on duty, and supplemental accident and liability coverage while they are serving. All Foster Grandparents, in addition, receive forty hours of pre-service orientation and additional monthly training. |
