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Students provide Christmas for ‘Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’
Many children find it difficult to imagine Christmas without candy, colored lights and presents under the tree. But for more than 100 children in Southern Dallas County, it’s difficult to imagine Christmas with their parents.
That’s because their grandparents are raising them.
In a trend that is growing, more and more children are being abandoned by their parents and raised by their grandparents, according to Maudia Gentry, an instructor of gerontology at the University of North Texas at Dallas. “Many of them are in their 80s. Sometimes they have as many as six children they are trying to provide for,” in spite of many of them being in poor health with limited or no incomes, Gentry said.
UNT UNT Dallas gerontology student Jean Hackney presents a pair of bicycles to one family at the school’s Christmas party for grandparents raising grandchildren Dec. 13.
Gentry and 47 UNT Dallas Campus gerontology students helped provide Christmas for 81 families and 104 grandchildren at the “Grandparents and Relative Caregivers Raising Children” Christmas party Dec. 13.
“We had to cut the list off simply because we could not accommodate everybody,” Gentry said.
Gentry and her students, in conjunction with Dallas Senior Services and the Dallas County KinCare Network, hosted the third annual Christmas party. For the first time, organizers passed out food baskets in addition to bags of clothes and toys.
“For the families that are really low income, they’re having a really tough time,” Gentry said. “We’ve got food baskets for them today, along with toys and bicycles and coats and sleeping bags and dolls.”
Before receiving their gifts, the families were treated to a program that featured a Junior ROTC color guard and soloist from Justin Kimball High School. Victoria Barbour, senior commissioner (Dallas, District 3), and Belinda Glenn, also with the City of Dallas, greeted the group. Glenn challenged the children to honor and obey their grandparents who sacrifice so much to care for them.
Guests also enjoyed a meal catered by Smokey John’s Bar-b-cue. But the food baskets, gift cards and bags of toys and clothes generated the most excitement. Families were called up one at a time to receive their gifts.
Brenda Brawley, a senior from Dallas who will graduate in May at age 60, said it made her “feel great” to help serve the grandparents and their grandchildren. “It’s enlightening, and it feels good to give back to the community.”
UNT UNT Dallas gerontology student Emily Floverk talks to Alberto, one of the children attending the school’s third annual Christmas party Dec. 13 for “grandparents raising grandchildren.
“I think it’s great,” said Cheryl Fehrenbach, a senior from Waxahachie. “It’s involvement. It’s personal. It’s instant gratification because you see the kids immediately in their response to what you’re giving.”
Brawley, Fehrenbach and other students shared similar comments about being a part of the Christmas party. But each one quickly shifted the conversation to their professor, who coordinated the event.
“I love the class,” Fehrenbach said. “I love Dr. Gentry. She makes you feel involved. You want to be involved. It’s a way of giving back.”
In its request for assistance for the Christmas party, the city gave a brief description of each family. For instance, one stated that one of five grandchildren in one home—14-year-old Khalil—“is an honor student and will travel to Washington, D.C., on a school trip commending honor students.” Another read, “The grandfather received custody from CPS last month. The grandfather stated that he is financially unable to care for the children but will keep them from going into the foster care system.”
In September Gentry led her classes to do a back-to-school project for grandparents raising grandchildren. They provided backpacks for students.
“We all love her,” Vivian Mallory of Dallas said of Gentry. “She is very knowledgeable about her subject area. She makes it so interesting for her students that anything she asks them, they are willing to participate in. My first time being involved in an event like this was in September with the backpacks. It’s a great opportunity to give back to the community.”
The students said Gentry never has to beg them to participate in class projects. “We are there to sign up and volunteer in all ways if we can,” Fehrenbach said.
Eric Wikoff graduated from UNT in Denton in 2007 and said he came to the UNT Dallas to get his gerontology certificate. “She’s the best that UNT has to offer. She loves her students, and she definitely gives us an example to look at,” Wikoff said. “She always gives back to the community.”
Fehrenbach, who graduates in May at the age of 52, called Gentry “a great instructor.”
“We need more like her at UNT,” she said.
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