While I am still embracing military families, this year for Christmas I embraced a new group of families that is equally deserving of our support – Grandparents and Kin Raising Children (a 501(c)3 corporation).
As a grandmother, I have known the incomparable joy of a grandchild’s love. And as the old joke goes, you love them to pieces and then give them back to their parents.
But for some grandparents, there is no giving them back. Their own children, for a myriad of reasons, are unable to assume the role of parent, and to keep their grandbabies out of foster care, these grandparents assume the role their children were meant to perform. In doing so, they forgo most, if not all, of the monetary aid available.
No one, when planning for their golden years, thinks they will need to set money aside to raise their grandchildren. So when circumstances beyond their control, thrust them into a role they hadn’t planned for, they are often left financially unprepared.
That’s why, this year, as a grandmother, I decided it was time to act on behalf of these GRAND parents . Thanks to you, these very deserving grandchildren had a very merry Christmas that would otherwise have been impossible.
I would like to give a special thank you to Holy Trinity Catholic Church Pre School, the Republican Women of Fayette County and the McIntosh Teachers Bunko Group. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of the friends and neighbors who helped these most deserving grandparents do what grandparents do – make their grandbabies smile!
Cathy McMullen
Peachtree City, Ga.
