Mount Vernon — To the Editor:
This past weekend we celebrated the 38th anniversary of National Grandparents Day. Grandparents Day was created with the purpose of honoring grandparents, and to help children recognize the strength, wisdom and resilience that can be learned from older generations.
The Mount Vernon District has the highest concentration of seniors aging in place in all of Fairfax County and our community embraces this opportunity and is evidenced by the success of community organizations such as Mount Vernon at Home and the Hollin Hall Senior Center. Our students, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and community music ensembles are often found volunteering with at these organizations.
GrandInvolve began in 2014 when a group of 16 volunteers met and began a pilot program at Crestwood Elementary School with the goal to work together for the benefit of the community by building intergenerational relationships. In just a few short years, GrandInvolve has taken this very important concept of building up our communities by involving grandparents in the lives of younger people, and they now support over 108 volunteers at six schools with 3,016 hours of classroom service time just last year.
GrandInvolve is planning expansion into all Title 1 schools in the Mount Vernon and Lee Districts during the 2017-2018 school year. We encourage seniors in the community to consider this wonderful opportunity and hope you are inspired to visit their website for more information. https://www.grandinvolve.org/volunteer-with-us/
Dan Storck
Mount Vernon District Supervisor
Karen Corbett Sanders
Mount Vernon District School Board Representative