The annual “Adopt-A-Grandparent” event took place last week.
The event has been hosted by the Dallas City Attorney’s Office for the past 18 years. This program reaches out to grandparents who have been tasked with raising their grandchildren.
This year, there were about 50 grandparents signed up for the program. Organizers then reach out to community members to donate gifts to the participating families.
Last Thursday, a group of such grandparents met at Concord Baptist Church to receive these donated gifts.
Rhonda Greer told WFAA that she respects these grandparents very much for taking on all that they do.
“First of all, it’s challenging. And it’s a blessing. God is real. To see so many grandparents willing to take on the responsibility, it’s a lot. You don’t have a life. Everything is stopped,” Greer said.
Staff from the city attorney’s office distributed gifts, mainly filled with toys for the children. However, the grandparents were in for a surprise gift as well.
The official Adopt-A-Grandparent organization operates during more than just the holiday season. It also works with more grandparents than just the ones raising their grandchildren. The group’s mission is to “Combat Loneliness Together,” recognizing that the elderly are an important, yet often overlooked part of the community.
The program exists to unite the older and younger generations, especially the seniors who do not have grandchildren of their own, and the young who may not have grandparents.
Anyone who missed out on giving back to the elderly through the Adopt-A-Grandparent gift donations may consider participating in the year-round program.
Adopting a grandparent is very much like having a pen pal. Participants have regular phone or video calls with their grandparents and exchange letters through the mail or email.
The program hopes to keep this vulnerable group integrated with the general community through this initiative, as its website states, and combat the “solitude, confusion, [and] general feeling of no longer belonging” that sometimes comes with aging.
