About Us

For the past ten years PAFF has worked with families across the lifespan. Since its inception in 1999, PAFF has supported kinship families (grandparents and other relatives raising grandchildren) and now works with some 75 families in four counties in southern Mississippi (Covington, Forrest, Jones, and Smith). Services have been supported by monies from The Brookdale Foundation and the National Family Caregiver Support Program administered through the Area Agency on Aging.

Beginning with a Faith in Action grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2002-04), homebound elderly received non-medical services through trained volunteers. This now unfunded program continues with support from the Community Nursing Program at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Funding from the Rosalyn Carter Caregiver Institute and Johnson and Johnson in 2005 supported an intergenerational health and exercise program for grandparents and grandchildren in the RAPP program.

Katrina in 2005 devastated the office but work continued off-site and the Annual Grandparent’s Celebration Picnic was held on schedule in October. Our offices were rebuilt by February of 2006 and a grant from the Foundation from the MidSouth helped replace our lost computer equipment. Much worked needed to be done post-Katrina.

A post-Katrina Hurricane Recovery Grant (2006-07) from the AARP Foundation and a Building Community Resilience Grant (2007-08) through the Foundation for the MidSouth addressed recovery issues for elderly and kinship families affected by the storm, which, in our area of Petal and Hattiesburg were at least 90% of our program participants.

Currently, PAFF is working with the Foundation for the MidSouth and the Intergenerational Center of Temple University in a Communities for All Ages National initiative to address obesity and diabetes and build a healthier community in East Hattiesburg. The goal is to create alliances and leverage resources to address community issues as a community with vision from all ages.