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“Everybody wants to celebrate them,” Small Town Hope founder and CEO Mandi Paronish said. Skye Bernecky, a child care provider at the Northern Cambria center, agreed, adding that they can’ t do anything about the lack of funding, so they want to make sure the three foster grandparents on staff know how appreciated they are. Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program...

NORTHERN CAMBRIA, Pa. – Starting Tuesday, the Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program will be moved to an inactive status due to unknowns with future funding, so the Small Town Hope Inc. staff and children held a going-away party for the individuals that have become family.

“Everybody wants to celebrate them,” Small Town Hope founder and CEO Mandi Paronish said.

Skye Bernecky, a child care provider at the Northern Cambria center, agreed, adding that they can’t do anything about the lack of funding, so they want to make sure the three foster grandparents on staff know how appreciated they are.

Small Town Hope | Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program

Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program participant Raymond Chirdon helps feed an infant in the “Baby Room” at Small Town Hope daycare facility in Northern Cambria on Monday, June 30, 2025.

Raymond “Pappy” Chirdon, 72, is the most tenured of the foster grandparents, having been with the early child care center for seven years, followed by Shirley “Grammy” Murphy, 74, who’s been there two years, and Ann “Grammy” Hickman, 68, who’s helped out for about a year and a half.

The day was marked with lunch, treats, the children providing the three with handmade cards, coloring sheets, artwork and a lot of emotions.

“I’m going to miss the help, oh my gosh,” nursery Director Sandi Davis said.

The three foster grandparents agreed they were saddened at the hiatus of the program but expected it as reports of deepening cuts at the federal level continued, especially conversations regarding AmeriCorps.

According to information Paronish received by the program coordinator Cambria County Area Agency on Aging, the offering is being put on inactive status because the “Office of Management and Budget has not approved or released funding for the grant year,” which starts Tuesday.

Paronish said she was shocked by the news when it arrived Friday.

“It’s so much harder without them,” Bernecky said.

Paronish agreed, saying “from an operational standpoint, they fill the holes left in child care due to underfunding and limited staff.”

“They add quality without adding financial burden,” she added.

Small Town Hope | Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program

Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program participant Ann Hickman, of Carrolltown, reads to children in the “Toddler Room” at Small Town Hope daycare facility in Northern Cambria on Monday, June 30, 2025.

The foster grandparent program dates to the 1960s and is locally coordinated by the Cambria County Area Agency on Aging with assistance from an AmeriCorps Seniors grant.

It’s geared toward volunteers who are at least 55 and want to be role models, mentors and friends to children.

Small Town Hope has hosted the program for about 10 years. It started with Alice Paronish, Mandi Paronish’s grandmother, who volunteered after the death of her husband, Steve Paronish.

“That made her whole world different,” Mandi Paronish said.

Caring for the youngsters gave her a purpose and the small stipend she received helped out, Mandi Paronish said.

Since then, the center has had one or two foster grandparents each year until now, when there were three.

Chirdon spends most of his time with the infants, and Hickman prefers the 1- and 2-year-olds, while Murphy bounces between both.

Small Town Hope | Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program

Cambria County Foster Grandparent Program participant Shirley Murphy, of Hastings, comforts a child during nap time in the “Toddler Room” at Small Town Hope daycare facility in Northern Cambria on Monday, June 30, 2025.

Each day, two of them are there to help the center staff of 15 care for between 40 or 50 children.

“You get so attached to the kids,” Hickman said.

When the Chest Springs native moved back to Carrolltown around three years ago, she was exploring volunteer options and discovered the foster grandparent program.

She initially wanted to work at Cambria Heights Elementary School because of the proximity to her home, but when she shadowed Chirdon, she fell in love with Small Town Hope and has been there since.

Just thinking about the children there makes Hickman smile.

“This was a good thing to do with my time,” she said, adding it made her time “worthwhile.”

Chirdon started volunteering at the recommendation of a grief counselor he saw after the 2017 death of his wife, Shirley Chirdon, and he relayed the joy he felt interacting with a newborn in the family.

The day he had that conversation he saw a news report on the need for foster grandparents and signed up right away.

“It was a godsend,” Chirdon said.

Davis, who he primarily works with, said Chirdon is a dedicated man who gets on the floor with the children, plays with them, feeds them and helps with their development.

“He’s awesome,” Davis said.

“I couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

She added with a laugh that he can rock the babies to sleep better than her sometimes.

Chirdon said his favorite part is watching the children grow and develop.

Murphy agreed, saying, “I love being with the kids.”

Although the program can’t continue at Small Town Hope at this time, Chirdon, Hickman and Murphy said they’re interested in volunteering at the facility, which Mandi Paronish was thrilled about.

“I think the important part is the program has served the community for almost 10 years and, more importantly, it’s improving the children’s lives because they received more care than the average kid in day care,” Mandi Paronish said.

The Cambria County Area Agency on Aging could not be reached for comment on the matter.

Small Town Hope provides sendoff for foster grandparents after program put on hold