Wakeeney ? With great love for children and for helping her community, Shirley Scholl takes time out whenever she can to fill in for an absent grandparent. She has participated for one year so far in the Foster Grandparent Program sponsored by Fort Hays State University.

But it has become something more than just program participation for Scholl.

“This gives me a reason to get out of bed every day. I just dearly love children. Just to see the smile on their faces means so much to me, and I get to give something back to my community,” said Scholl, 67.

For the last year, Scholl has aided WaKeeney Grade School teacher Jackie Schreiner with second-graders in the classroom. During the summers and during the school year, she has helped out with summer school, doing anything Schreiner needs her to do.

Dion Reetz's frustration with his math problems comes out June 29, while waiting for Shirley Scholl's help. For the last year, Scholl, 67, a participant in the Foster Grandparent Program sponsored by Fort Hays State University, has aided WaKeeney Grade School teacher Jackie Schreiner with second-graders in the classroom.

“I do a little bit of everything,” she said.

That “little bit of everything” includes going over spelling words with the children, assembling educational materials, grading tests and papers, and helping the students with their work.

Schreiner said she enjoys having Scholl on board because the extra hands allow her to work with the kids more.

“Each day it seems like I have a new child in my life. Each child is special in their own way,” Scholl said.

Scholl also takes children to go-cart races and swimming and teaches them how to crochet.

With more than 20 years of baby-sitting experience, she also will fill in for parents who need a little time to themselves, but on her own and not as part of the program.

“I have children ask me what Foster Grandparent means. I’ll say it means I can be anybody’s grandparent that needs a grandparent,” she said. “Sometimes their grandparent lives far away, or maybe they’ve lost a grandparent, and they will ask me if I will be their grandparent.”

Scholl’s theory is that anyone at any age could need a grandparent, and she believes that she can even be involved in an adult’s life.

WaKeeney Grade School teacher Jaclyn Schriener and volunteer foster grandparent Shirley Scholl are caught in a swarm of soon-to-be second graders in late June.

Scholl learned about the Foster Grandparent Program through a wellness fair that she attended and knew right away it was something she wanted to do.

“I retired for a few years, and all at once I looked at the four walls and thought there has got to be something more out there,” she said. “It’s been a great year. It’s a challenge, but I love challenges. I look forward to it each day. I feel so fortunate that God put me in this position.”

Even though she spends as much time as possible with the children that she works with, Scholl somehow finds time to walk three miles a day, do water aerobics, tend to her house and yard, and do different types of needlework.

Scholl, who has lived in WaKeeney for 32 years, has five children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren of her own.

Foster Grandparents must be at least 60 years old and willing to work at least 15 hours per week. Income-eligible volunteers get a tax-free stipend of $2.65 per hour.

The program is part of Senior Corps, a group of national service programs to give senior citizens a chance to put their life experiences to work at their community schools, day care centers, after-school programs, drug treatment centers, correctional institutions, Head Start centers, libraries, hospitals and homes.