Stories

For many grandparents, raising grandchildren means starting over when their bodies are tired and their resources are limited. The struggle is real — from stretched finances to late-night worries — yet every day they keep going. These stories show the courage behind the sacrifice, and remind us that love doesn’t retire.

✨Based on real Stories, representing real Strength

“In Texas today, more than 266,000 grandparents are officially responsible for raising their grandchildren, according to census-based reports. In addition, there are over 263,000 children living in kinship care arrangements — situations where relatives other than parents, often grandparents, step in to provide daily care and stability. These numbers highlight both the scope of grandfamilies in our state and the vital role kinship caregivers play in ensuring children have safe and loving homes.”

“According to Every Texan (2025), kinship care saves Texas more than $50 million annually in foster care costs.”

Source:

¹ GrandFacts Texas Fact Sheet, 2021 Update – Generations United & AARP
² Every Texan, Kinship Care in Texas Benefits Children and Saves the State Millions (Febuary 2025)</sub> Harvest of Our Own

“In 2023, about 1 million grandchildren were raised by their grandparents with no parents present in the home … As of September 2024, about 2.5 million children across the United States are being raised in kinship/grandfamilies — that is, by grandparents, other relatives, or close family friends with no parent living in the household.” Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network

Source:
Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network – “Kinship/Grandfamilies Data” Grandfamilies

These numbers are steadily rising in Texas and across the United States, creating an urgent need for grandparents and kinship caregivers to have greater access to resources, support, and assistance.

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Marion and Harold Johnson of La Grange never expected to parent four children again—but when crisis came, they answered with love and faith. With resources from Grand60 Miracle, they turned heartbreak into hope.

A Harvest of Our Own

For decades, Marion and Harold’s lives followed a steady rhythm on their Texas farm. That rhythm shattered when their son Jacob fell into meth addiction. Jacob and his wife Shonda had left four children—ages 2 to 12—neglected and unsafe too many times. It was reported to the authorities. When CPS called, Marion didn’t hesitate: “Bring them home.”

Suddenly, the Johnsons were fighting not just for custody, but to keep the siblings together. In court, doubts rose about their age, Harold 65 and Marion 62. But their attorney reminded the judge: “These grandparents have given more in one year than the parents did in ten.” The children were thriving—safe, in school, and surrounded by love.

When the judge asked Harold, if at the age of 65, he could handle raising four children, he replied, “I won’t be running marathons. But we raise our food, we read the Bible every night, and most of all—we have enough love to last.”

Weeks later, the adoption was granted. Tears fell as Marion and Harold opened the letter on their dusty farm road. The children were theirs—officially and forever.

Three years on, the farmhouse is full of music, chores, laughter, and dreams. The Johnsons move a little slower, but every evening they still sit on the porch, coffee in hand, grateful for their hard-won harvest of love.

During those hardest months, Marion’s niece could have come across Grand60 Miracle through Instagram and Facebook ads. Curious, she would have explored the website and, realizing how valuable it could be, sent the link — grand60miracle.com — to her Aunt Marion. There, the Johnsons would have found a lifeline of resources to meet both their immediate and long-term needs:

  • Legal assistance that helped them navigate the adoption process

  • Remote emotional therapy sessions for both the children and themselves

  • Financial aid and food support that helped the family throughout the years

  • Faith-based support that connected them to local church communities in Fayette County

  • Donations coordinated through Grand60 Miracle’s community partners that provided clothing, school supplies, and grocery support during the first difficult year

  • Summer camp scholarships so the children could make friends and heal in safe, joyful spaces close to La Grange

These resources eased the hardship, and gave Marion and Harold the stability, encouragement, and tools to keep their family together.

Grand60 Miracle helps grandparents transform hardship into resilience, ensuring children grow up surrounded by family, love, and stability.

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The Wake-Up Call: Evelyn Carter’s Fight for Family and Health

What began with a knock in the night turned into a journey of love, resilience, and a 25-pound weight loss to stay strong for her grandchildren.

At 1:32 a.m., 70-year-old Evelyn Carter was startled awake by pounding at the door. When she opened it, CPS stood outside with her two grandchildren, ages 7 and 13—frightened, shivering, with only the clothes on their backs and two pillowcases half full with scraps of clothing. Their home life had collapsed under neglect and violence. Now they were being placed with the only safe person left: Grandma.

Evelyn pulled them inside, wrapped them in blankets, and whispered, “You’re safe now.” But inside, she felt the weight of her own battles pressing down. She was living with diabetes, stage 3 kidney disease, high blood pressure, glaucoma in both eyes, bouts of depression—and she was 45 pounds overweight, which put her health at even greater risk. Retirement was supposed to bring rest, not another round of raising kids.

The system doubted her. Was she too old? Too sick? Could she really raise two children who had already seen too much pain? Evelyn questioned herself, too. But love was stronger than her fears—and when a church friend who had 3 grandchildren she was raising and in a similar situation sent her the link to Grand60 Miracle, everything began to change.

Through Grand60 Miracle, Evelyn found a lifeline. Legal guidance helped her secure guardianship. Counseling eased her depression and gave the children someone safe to talk to. Food and financial support lightened her load. Most of all, she found health resources that gave her hope. With a weight specialist and exercise programs she discovered through Grand60 Miracle, Evelyn slowly began shedding pounds—25 the first year. Each pound lost felt like a promise kept: “I will be here for them. I will not give up.”

Today, the children are thriving—doing great in school, laughing again, no longer afraid of the night. Evelyn still has health challenges, but she is stronger, lighter, and steadier in spirit. Every morning, when she hears the sound of sneakers pounding down her hallway, she smiles. That 1:32 a.m. knock, which once felt like the end of her peace, became the beginning of her purpose.

Through the help Grand60 Miracle could provide, Evelyn would have been able to:

  • Get legal guidance to secure guardianship without being pushed aside by the system.

  • Connect to virtual counseling that helped her and the children work through grief and fear.

  • Find financial support programs that stretched her fixed income further.

  • Access emergency food resources so her grandkids never went hungry in those first hard months.

  • Receive referrals for new and used donated clothing so the children—and Evelyn herself—could have dignity and fresh starts.

  • Receive medical referrals that understood her diabetes, kidney disease, and glaucoma.

  • Reconnect with church-based mentors who reminded her she wasn’t carrying the burden alone.

  • Discover summer camp scholarships that gave the children joy and a sense of normal childhood.

  • Join peer support circles of other grandparents raising grandchildren, where her story was finally understood.

  • Work with a weight specialist and exercise programs that helped her shed 25 lbs that first year, and rebuild her strength.