School Kids Benefit from Grandpa David

At 6:45 every morning, Grandpa David clocks in for breakfast at Meadow Lands Elementary School. However Grandpa David is not an employee but a volunteer through the Family Resource Center and the Audubon Area Community Services. Grandpa David makes sure he is at school each day and makes sure that he starts with breakfast!

When Grandpa first came to eat breakfast, he made sure he sat with students who were sitting by themselves. Grandpa David is now the one that everyone wants to sit with – kids hurry to get to his table before it is full! Grandpa David loves breakfast and wouldn’t start his day any other way. The final breakfast shift of the day is for the special services students – these are the kids for whom Grandpa David has a true heart. He is seen many times signing to one student who uses sign language to make Grandpa David laugh.

But Grandpa David doesn’t stop at breakfast: He stays all day at Meadow Lands. Grandpa David may be seen reading to a group of Kindergarten students or listening to other students read to him. Many times he will be caught playing instructional games with kids or, more important, just listening and showing his love.

Grandpa David was a former deputy sheriff in the 1960’s and is the biggest kid in the school. Grandpa David even did mission work in an orphanage in South America.  He has been named King of the Mardi Gras party at the school and has even been caught riding bicycles around. Last year alone, he volunteered more than 1,530 hours.