Volunteer Spotlight: Bobbie Bridges

Published on April 12, 2016

Bobbie Bridges has been volunteering with our Foster Grandparents program for 13 years! Every morning, she goes to Kingsley House Head Start to spend time with the two and three year-olds there.  Each day, she helps them with breakfast and lunch, making sure that they form good habits about clean hands and a tidy eating space.  She also spends time reading with them, doing arts and crafts, and even playing outside with bikes and basketballs.  As a Foster Grandparent, she is there to provide love, social and emotional support, and to help students prepare for higher levels of schooling.

When Bridges arrives in the morning, the children run to her and hug her.  “If I’ve been away for a day, they are all asking where I’ve been,” she says.   According to Bridges, the job is a wonderful way to spend retirement and there are almost no challenges!

Recently, Bridges also received the Joseph Massenburg Memorial Award for Excellence in National Service from New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu for her work with Foster Grandparents.

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Congratulations on your well-deserved recognition, Mrs. Bridges, and thank you for the work you do with the children in our community!

Foster Grandparents are role models, mentors, and friends to children with exceptional needs. The program provides a way for low-income seniors age 55 and over to stay active through volunteer service with children and youth in their communities. Foster Grandparents provide their life experience, wisdom, love and attention to encourage, tutor and mentor children and troubled teens in a variety of settings such as schools, Head Start and day care centers, shelters and rehabilitation facilities. The Foster Grandparent Program is part of Senior Corps, which is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Do you know someone who might like to be a Foster Grandparent? Contact Shelli Simeon at[email protected]  or (504) 310-6882.