Local group that helps grandparents who raise their grandchildren receives $10,000 grant

Grandparents raising their grandchildren is a growing social issue in the Valley, according to officials with Duet.

Duet is an organization that provides much needed support for these grandparents, and that organization was just awarded a $10,000 grant from Thunderbirds Charities.

Figures show more than 100,000 Arizona children are being raised by their grandparents. or other relatives. Many of these grandparents feel alone and lost.

"Oftentimes, grandparents are at a loss as to what is the next step," said Duet Executive Director Elizabeth Banta. "We help those grandparents to take the next step, to face the next day, and it's a tremendous sense of relief they express."

Duet provides these grandparents compassion, dignity, and hope. The organization offere workshops, support groups, activities, and legal assistance, for free. The $10,000 grant from Thunderbirds Charities will help continue that mission, and help provide the much needed support.

"The group helps me know how many of us are out there, and that I'm not alone," said Patricia Taylor. She has been taking care of her two-year-old grandson since birth. Taylor's daughter is addicted to heroin, and couldn't take care of him.

"After a couple of months at home with him, I was really at a loss, and I was finding myself with a lot of mixed feelings and a lot of frustration and feeling alone," said Taylor.

Taylor said this group has helped her cope with her new way of life.

"You walk in the room, and the first thing I said was, 'I didn't envision my retirement to be like this, and everyone said, well neither did we,'" said Taylor.

Duet
http://www.duetaz.org/