The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Big Brothers Big Sisters honors city woman
65-year-old named foster grandparent of the year
City resident Carmen Sanchez has been a foster grandparent, or senior mentor, with the program since 2010.
MIDDLETOWN >> City resident Carmen Sanchez was recently named foster grandparent of the year by Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Connecticut affiliate of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America youth mentoring organization.
Sanchez has been a foster grandparent, or senior mentor, with the program since 2010, according to a press release. The 65-year-old takes two buses each way Monday to Friday to travel to and from the Community Renewal Team’s Locust Stret Early Care and Education Center in Hartford, where she’s stationed.
Sanchez, one of the 51 senior mentors volunteering for Nutmeg’s foster grandparent program, was honored for her length of service, her commitment to the program’s mission, and for the manner in which she provides educational and emotional support to the children she’s interacted with over the years, the release continues.
The award will be presented May 9 at the annual Big Brothers Big Sisters of the year awards at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford.
The foster grandparent program, created in 1965, is administered through grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency, and is managed locally by Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The mission is to address challenges being experienced by disadvantaged children and enrich the lives of limited-income older people by making it possible for them to interact with youth in a mentor/instructor/friend capacity in local elementary schools, Head Start programs and day care facility settings, according to the agency.
Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters, founded by businessmen Bernie Fields and Arthur Director in Middletown in the early 1960s, helps children from singleand no-parent homes avoid negative behaviors and reach their highest potential, according to the release. Nutmeg does so by creating and maintaining one-on-one relationships between at-risk children and professionally screened adult volunteers.