Families, Old Friends of the Families Attend Picnic

When Helen Pollack was flipping through the want ads for volunteers, the word grandmother caught her eye.

“That’s my cup of tea,” the 75-year-old thought.

She had retired from the duties of parent and grandparent, her own clan having reached maturity. So the job was one she knew a little about.

There was a catch, of course. The Family Friends Project of the National Council on Aging, which placed the ad, was recruiting volunteers like Pollack to work with families that have a disabled or chronically ill child.

Pollack accepted the challenge and became one of the first recruits.

She and the rest of the class had a chance to show off their skills Sunday when the Family Friends Project threw a picnic for them and their new families at Studio City Park.

Pollack, dressed playfully in a red and white polka dot hat and gingham shirt, was bouncing 20-month-old Alejandro Aldana on her knee. Alejandro has cerebral palsy.

Pollack bounced and bounced. Alejandro laughed and laughed. Finally, he seemed to get frustrated and started to cry. His mother, Maria Aldana, got up from the other side of the picnic table and took over. Later, they all went over to the grass and sat down, like a family.

That’s exactly what a volunteer grandparent is for, said Marilyn Rosen, director of the project.

The Family Friends Project is now operating in eight cities with money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of New Jersey, Rosen said.

It started in Los Angeles last October under the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles and UCLA Medical Center.

So far, Rosen has mustered 25 volunteers and is hoping to expand to 60.

The only requirements for becoming a volunteer, Rosen said, are to be 55 or older and “have a special love for children.”

Before joining their families, volunteers receive 20 hours of training, including classroom study in child development and experience in primary schools.

Volunteers are expected to be with the family at least four hours a week. They receive $7.25 a week reimbursement for expenses, Rosen said.

They can help with baby sitting, shopping and chores, or simply provide moral support.

“The children are very disabled,” Rosen said. “There’s a lot of sadness. The families are stressed. Sometimes they feel very vulnerable.”

That was the case with a young Van Nuys mother of a 1-year-old boy with Down’s syndrome. She said Sunday that her first three meetings with volunteer Betty Maxwell of Northridge seemed cold.

Then the two women began to understand each other, said the young woman, who asked that her name not be used.

“Having a handicapped child does a lot of good and bad to a family,” she said. “The point comes when you break down and everything looks black. She’s everything to me when I feel down.”