HOUSTON — Just about everyone is having to adjust to our new virtual reality, even foster grandparents.

The statewide program that puts grandparents into schools to help mentor students is having to figure out a new way to foster: fully online.

Even with six grandkids of her own, Yolanda Martinez knew there’s still room for more.

“They all need love. They all need hugs, and that’s what it’s all about That’s what we’re there for,” Martinez said.

She signed up to be a foster grandparent in Rosenberg, dedicating four days of her week at a local school.

“Either take them to art class, music. Or just sit down and read with them or they read to me,” Martinez said.

The kids call her “Grandma Teacher.”

“They have low self-esteem, I think, and when you do something for them, or you pay attention to them, and sit down and read a book, it changes their day, that’s for sure,” Martinez said.

And it changes Martinez’s as well.

“They become your grandkids, and you treat them as such,” Martinez said.

But when COVID-19 hit and schools closed, Martinez lost touch with her “grandkids.”

“I miss all that. It feels a little empty,” Martinez said.

And like everyone else, she and other foster grandparents are adapting, finding new ways to get back to their kids.

Over the summer, they’ve written letters, decorated lunch bags, even had virtual story time, and virtual mentoring should start soon.

“How-to videos like sewing, or art videos, or crocheting. Just different things like that that they can help them with, besides the school work,” said Nina Murillo with The Foster Grandparent Volunteer Program.

Murillo said it’s truly beneficial for everyone.

“It’s very important, because it keeps them motivated, both the children and the senior,” Murillo said.

But for Grandma Yolanda, she just can’t wait to see her kids once again.

“I miss their little personalities, and you get attached to them,” Martinez said.

For more information on The Foster Grandparent Volunteer Program, click here.