Grandparents have lunch with CCISD students

By BRITTANY FHOLER 
Cove Leader-Press 

Sunday was National Grandparents’ Day, but on Friday, students in the Copperas Cove Independent School District celebrated early with a Grandparents Day Lunch at J.L. Williams-Lovett Ledger Elementary School. 
Parents, grandparents and even some great-grandparents waited in line to check in for lunchtime with their kiddos as students made their way into the cafeteria. 
Linda and Jerry Hornberger sat at a table with their great-grandson, Keygunn Madison, 8, and his mom and brother. Linda explained that Keygunn’s grandmother worked as a teacher in Lampasas and was unable to make it to lunch, so they decided to come instead. 
“I think it’s wonderful because our family means very much,” she said. “God has really blessed us.”
Linda explained that she and her husband previously lived in west Texas and were very happy to be close to their granddaughter and her family now. 
“I just think it’s nice to be able to be here because family should be very important to everyone and I think it’s a very wonderful idea to have Grandparents Day, because a lot of grandparents are very involved in raising their grandchildren,” Hornberger added. 
If parents wanted to eat a lunch provided by the school, they were asked to preregister and select their options in advance so that Child Nutrition workers knew how many extra meals to make. According to Parent Outreach Coordinator Debbie Payne, 35 parents/grandparents preregistered. 
The majority of the visiting family members brought their own food from local fast food restaurants. 
Volunteers decorated the tables and made banners for the lunch, and tables were added in the school’s gymnasium for more seating options this year. 
“We want to make sure that the kids have their grandparents. If the kids don’t have grandparents here, these grandparents and parents are wonderful because they will sit and talk to the other children,” Payne said. “We want everyone to have a good time.”
Principal Marla Sullivan was pleased to see all the grandparents and family members come out to eat with the students. She said it was especially important to have the lunch and recognize grandparents because so many students live with their extended family members. 
“It just gives them that opportunity to have someone of that generation to kind of identify with, so that as they read stories about grandparents, it gives them a more real visual,” Sullivan said. 
She added that she thought the more adult support a child can have, “the better they’re prepared for life.”
Grandparents’ Day is celebrated the first Sunday of September after Labor Day each year. President Jimmy Carter signed a proclamation by Congress proclaiming a National Grandparents’ Day on August 3, 1978.