Dean Angel, a volunteer with the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program in Milton-Freewater, reads to a student.

CANYON CITY — Officials with the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program in Grant County hope to enlist the help of more volunteers toward improving the lives of young people in the community.

The program, sponsored by Community Counseling Solutions, aims to make a positive difference in the lives of children with volunteers serving as foster grandparents.

The group partners with a local school, Head Start center or youth center, and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers help young people with reading, being a mentor in the classroom, improving educational outcomes and care for mothers, infants and children of veterans or military personnel.

“When you step up to volunteer, you will be matched to opportunities that interest you in local schools, Head Start centers, or youth centers,” according to the program brochure. “You will also join thousands of volunteers to help more than 280,000 children get the support and encouragement they need to succeed.”

Currently, the foster grandparent program in Grant County has only one volunteer, who has been helping children with reading at Humbolt Elementary for the past four years. Mary Pruitt, of Canyon City, is now in her 12th year as an AmeriCorps Seniors foster grandparent, having started doing the work in Prineville, said Kay Davis, project coordinator for the Foster Grandparent Program in Grant County.

“The goal is that hopefully you can keep some of them from falling through the cracks because if they can’t read, they can’t do anything,” Pruitt said. “Once a child starts to read, it empowers them to go beyond the fear that they have about themselves. … It gives them the power to go out and try things in real life.”

Davis said the group’s hope is that by the end of the year, the Foster Grandparent Program will have enlisted at least 20 to 25 volunteers with the aim of introducing the service to Monument and Prairie City.

“For the seniors, we really want to make sure our seniors are engaged in their community,” Davis said. “It gives them a sense of purpose. Isolation can be something very prevalent with our seniors. This gives them a chance to be out there, and it’s rewarding for them as well as the students that they are engaged with and the teachers and the principal, so it’s a win-win.”

According to AmeriCorps, volunteers who join the program receive “joy from helping students,” make new friends in their community, discover new passions and learn new skills. Officials said the volunteers will receive hands-on training. Volunteers are paid a non-taxable stipend for their hours of volunteering, Davis said.

“Not all students have a grandparent role in their life, with people in their extended family, so there’s a real special relationship that develops,” she said. “It’s helping a student where they might be having some difficulty reading or focusing on their work.”

For more information on how to join, call 541-276-6074 or email fgpscpinfo@ccsemail.org.