We Are Thankful!

By Jana Carson, GRANDcares Site Coordinator, Larimer County

As Thanksgiving approaches, we at the GRANDcares Project have a lot to be thankful for!  Many great things have been happening recently that we are excited to share with you!  Looking ahead, there are also many things to be grateful about as well.

Powerful Tools for Caregivers – Grandfamilies Classes

Two different cohorts, one in Larimer County and the other in Adams County, have wrapped up the last of their Powerful Tools for Caregivers – Grandfamilies sessions. These groups were fantastic! We really enjoyed getting to know each of the grandparents, helping them learn more self-care techniques, and connecting them to a variety of community resources!  We are especially thankful for Gail Engle, one of the Larimer County class co-leaders who is also a grandparent raising a grandchild! 

Recognized in the News!

Speaking of Gail Engel, she recently won the 7Everyday Hero award from Denver7 News for her work with Grand Family Coalition! Click here to view the video. She also won a Community Service Award from Group Publishing!  See her picture on their website here. Gail’s non-profit works to help grandparents in Northern Colorado connect with each other through support groups and grandfamily-friendly events.  She now has a support group for Spanish speakers as well. Gail also works to connect grandfamilies with resources in the community.  Her experience (both personally and professionally) with the system makes Grand Family Coalition an invaluable resource for grandfamilies.  For more information, visit the website at https://grandfamilycoalition.com/.

Gail was also recently featured in a Family Leaderships Training Institute (FLTI) of Colorado article (Click here to read the article) for her work with Larimer County Alliance for Grandparents (LCAG).  Dr. Christine Fruhauf, one of the Principal Investigators for the GRANDcares Project’s research was also featured in the article.

Upcoming Classes Planned

Larimer County has an upcoming Powerful Tools for Caregivers – Grandfamilies evening class planned for the Spring.  It will be held on Wednesdays, January 24^th – March 7^th from 5:00 – 7:00pm at Mountain View Presbyterian Church in Loveland. Dinner will be provided from 4:30 – 5:00pm, and childcare will be available while grandparents are in class.  To register, call Jana Carson at 970-491-8204 or email at jana.carson@colostate.edu.

Additionally, the Maui County site will be hosting a Managing Holiday Stress for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren workshop on December 7 from 10:00 - 11:00 am at Maui College and they are planning another mini-workshop on stress management for grandparents early next year in upcountry Makawao. You can register by emailing Christine Spencer at grandcaresmaui@gmail.com. 

We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Positive Youth Development on the Big Island

In South Kona, on the Big Island, Powerful Tools for Caregivers- Grandfamilies, kicked off their first cohort in June 2017. Three grandmothers or “tutus” as we say in Hawai’i participated in GRANDcares program.  

Melony Tavares, a tutu from Big Island brought her three grandkids to one of the classes. During the classes for grandparents,  there are planned 4-H activity for the grandchildren. An aspiring elementary school teacher, Kili Kunitomo, supervised the activity. Kili’s planned activity for the grandchildren was to make slime. This slime consisted of glue, contact solution, baking soda, and food coloring.  

Making slime, is considered “messy play”, and messy play has many developmental benefits for children.  Children learn and develop through many types of play, but especially through unstructured and exploratory play. Through this kind of activity, children are able explore using their senses and engage their natural curiosity.  

When Melony joined the class the following week, she reported that her grandson went home at the end of the previous class beaming with excitement.  “He felt  proud of all the batches of slime he had made,” Melony said.  In the week to come, her nine year old grandson saved up all his allowance and bought all the materials to make the slime in bulk.  This included the ingredients and small containers, price tags, and labels. He put together individual slime containers, took them to school, and sold them to his friends. He made a profit and is one of GRANDcares youngest aspiring entrepreneurs! 

Melony’s fellow tutus who attended classes said they really enjoyed the class curriculum, while their grandkids enjoyed fun, supervised play! Mostly, they stated that they really enjoyed “getting to know each other”.  

A special thank you to the Greenwell Family Development Center for providing a beautiful setting for our grandfamilies and our program.  

By: Kylie Brown, Site Assistant, Maui Site 2, Big Island