By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
This Sunday is Grandparents Day and Grand Rapids resident Teresa Longstreet and her church Brighter Life Pentecostal Power Church is hosting a special drive-thru Grandparents’ Day Celebration to encourage everyone to connect and spend time with the grandparents and older members of their family.
“I was just talking to my mom about how there is no recognition for grandparents and how they are always there and you can always depend on them,” said Longstreet, who is the grandmother to four. “We started talking about Grandparents Day and she said some people might just not be aware of it. I was like ‘Really? Why not?’ She then asked me how I knew about it and I said because I like older people and I looked it up.”
Dispelling a myth
The holiday was not set up by a card company. It was actually the idea of West Virginia native Marian McQuade who thought of the idea in 1956 while trying to arrange a special celebration for the elderly members of her community. It was through that she discovered that many of the senior citizens, especially those in nursing homes, did not receive visits from their families.
McQuade started to campaign for Grandparents’ Days in the 1970s with the idea that the holiday should be a time for families to visit with older family members living in nursing homes. As she worked with politicians and others, McQuade emphasized the wisdom and family history that grandparents can offer their grandchildren and other family members.
Congress passed the legislation proclaiming the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents’ Day in the United States with then-President Jimmy Carter signing the proclamation on Aug. 3, 1978. Since then, the day has its own designated flower, Forget-Me-Nots, and song written by singer/songwriter Johnny Prill.
Connecting the Generations
Much like McQuade, Longstreet also wanted to celebrate the contributions that grandparents give to their families.
“I remember talking to my grandmother and she would say something and then say “You will understand that when you get older,’” Longstreet said. “You are like ‘What does that mean?’ and then you get older and suddenly you realize what she said and it all makes sense.
“It is important for children and grandchildren to have those conversations together, to have those aha-moments.”
So while discussing Grandparents’ Day with her mother, Johnnie Mathews, who has 37 grandchildren, the idea of hosting a drive-by Grandparents’ Day Celebration at Longstreet’s church, Brighter Life Pentecostal Power Church, 1255 Broadway NW, began to form.
“When she presented the idea I started thinking of my own grandmother and how close she was to me,” said Brighter Life Pastor Tyree Evans. “I wished I could show how appreciative I was.”
Evans said he saw how the project was an opportunity to connect with the community.
“I guess as a church we sometimes over look our foundation,” he said. “Our church will be able to celebration the foundation of the grandparents who have helped raise the children and grandchildren.”
Because there are a lot of people who walk in the community where the church is located, it was decided the event would be a drive-by, walk-by, come-by event, Longstreet said, adding that social distancing requirements will be adhered to.
Longstreet based the idea off of her sister’s drive-by graduation party and within just a week and half, Longstreet and the Brighter Life congregation was able to organize the event that included putting together goodie bags, collecting Forget-Me-Not petals, and creating thank you cards for participants to give to their grandparents.
“I’m a little tired but I am so excited,” Longstreet said about the event, which she said the church plans to make an annual thing for the community.
“If nothing else, I hope people just spend sometime this Sunday celebrating the grandparents in their family,” she said.
