Linda Burns is not sure where her passion for children comes from, but she said she knows it’s something that was instilled in her at an early point in her career.
“I have always wanted to work with children — that was my passion,” Burns said. “I used to work at the hospital and tried to get into the nursery but never did, so when the school called me, I just left.”
Burns has worked for Hot Springs Head Start for 45 years, holding many positions. She currently serves as the recruiter by helping enroll children for the school. The school currently has 174 students with ages ranging from 6 weeks to 4 years old.
In April, Ouachita Baptist University’s Ben M. Elrod Center for Family and Community honored Burns with the Foster Grandparent Service Award for 25 years of service with the program. Burns is a supervisor for a group of Foster Grandparent volunteers who serve at the Hot Springs Child Service Center. Burns has supervised more than 50 volunteers and served more than 75,000 hours and will be retiring in August.
“Normally, we do an award for a foster grandparent, but because Linda has worked for us so long, we wanted to honor her,” said Donna Reynolds, director of the Foster Grandparent program. “She has been the supervisor at the station in Hot Springs for as long as I have been here, and I have been here 20 years.
“Normally, we would do our recruiting and interviewing for the grandparents, but she has taken it on for us and keeps her place full of volunteers. We just appreciate her time and effort.”
Burns said she has one of the largest groups and currently oversees 10 volunteers. She said the Foster Grandparents assist the children in the classrooms, helping them with colors, numbers or just spending time with them.
“The children just love them,” she said. “They tend to think of them as their grandmother or grandparents. They give that extra support they need.”
She said once she took over, the program just continued to grow, as more and more grandparents started coming to her wanting to give that extra love.
“They also are wanting something to do and keep themselves busy,” Burns said.
She said the grandparents have to be 55 or older and serve in three schools, including Hot Springs, Mountain Pine and Southwest Plaza.
“We have them in three sites so far,” Burns said. “We have had them in our Lake Hamilton Center, but some of them get older and can’t work anymore.”
“She not only sees about these volunteers at work, but she sees about them afterward as well,” Reynolds said. “She visits them in the hospital and has been to numerous funerals.
“She kind of takes them on as her own. She does so much for us and the program as a whole.”
JoAnn Johnson, who has been a Foster Grandparent for almost a year, works at Hot Springs Head Start, and she said one of the things she enjoys about it is having the chance to spoil the kids like grandmas do, because her grandchildren live in California.
“I kind of helped a couple learn to walk, so that was my biggest accomplishment,” Johnson said.
Shirley Burns and Willa Stewart work with the toddlers at Hot Springs Head Start, and Shirley said the toddlers are very enjoyable.
“My favorite thing is, when I come in the morning and they say, ‘Hey grandma,’ and everybody runs to the door, and they are trying to let grandma in,” Stewart said.
Rose Adams also serves as a Foster Grandparent and said she enjoys it because it gives her something to do and gets her out of bed.
“I think in the classroom, my favorite thing is when you are sitting down on the floor, they automatically think you are sitting down for them, and they all gather, and half of them bring you books, so you get to read a lot,” Adams said. “Outside, when I leave here, my favorite thing is seeing them in the community.”
Adams said it is important for her to serve as a Foster Grandparent because “you don’t know their home life, and this is all the love they can get.”
Shirley said she really misses them when they go up to the next class or when they graduate and go to kindergarten.
“We are proud to see them move on, but it is sad, too, because you had put that time in with them,” Shirley said.
All of the Foster Grandparents at Head Start Hot Springs agreed that Linda Burns is serious about kids.
“That’s her passion and love, she has been here so long,” Shirley said.
“She’s still going strong and still fighting for the children,” Adams said.
“And she stays on us. She don’t let us get away with anything,” Johnson said. “She is a good person to have as your superior.”
Linda is originally from Hot Springs, having graduated from Hot Springs High School in 1972. She earned an associate degree in child development at Arkansas State University-Beebe.
“I enjoy working with the grandparents and going to their meetings and learning about the different programs for the grandparents,” Linda said.
She said the meetings provide different programs on how to read and work in the classroom with the children. Linda said she enjoys working with kids because they are like little people, with different personalities and attitudes.
“They are a joy,” she said.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.