The Grossmans relax in the park
Colorado Parents of the Year Kari, far left, and George Grossman, right, play with their two children, Grady, 8, bottom, and Shanti, 4, on Wednesday at City Park in Fort Collins. (Photos by Mara Auster/The Coloradoan)Grossmans have two adopted kids and built a school in Cambodia
BY NATE TAYLOR
Coloradoan.com
July 14, 2008
Kari and George Grossman didn't see it coming, but July 7 turned out to be a shocking and humbling day.
The Fort Collins couple not only found out they were named the 2008 Colorado Parents of the Year, but they also found out Kari Grossman's book, "Bones that Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia," won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Peacemaker of the Year.
Her book is about the couple's experience of adopting their 8-year-old son Grady from Cambodia and then building a school in Cambodia.
The Grossmans were selected as Parents of the Year by the Colorado Parents' Day Council not only for parenting Grady and his 4-year-old sister, Shanti, whom the family adopted from India, but for their work building and running the Grady Grossman School in Cambodia.
The Grossmans were also selected because their work in Cambodia models a life of service for their children.
"I never thought about how it would have an effect on our own children's point of view," Kari Grossman said, adding that her son recently told her that when he was "old like Grandma, I'm going to work very hard for the GG School."
"To see what he was getting out of it touched me," she said.
Kari Grossman said the family didn't even know they had been nominated for the parenting award, which celebrates Parents' Day - a nationally recognized day of remembrance for parents celebrated on the last Sunday of July.
"It's just the way our life and the way our family works," George Grossman said of the family's work in Cambodia. "Maybe (the award) is just an affirmation that we're doing something right as a family. We really don't think it's all that extraordinary, but I feel rather humbled by the whole thing."
The Grady Grossman School provides education for five rural villages in Cambodia and is its village's only permanent structure. It started with 50 children in 2001, and today there are 500 students, seven teachers, a solid cement structure with a water well and a solar-powered computer. The school is a part of the Grossmans' foundation, Sustainable Schools International.
With a quarter of the proceeds going to the school, Kari's book has raised about $50,000 for the school. The couple also makes trips to Cambodia three or four times per year.
"I've never seen a couple go to the extent that the Grossmans have," said Peggy Yujiri, spokeswoman for the Colorado Parents' Day Council.
The Grossmans are among 50 nominees for National Parents of the Year, which will be announced on Parents' Day, July 27. They were honored at a dinner on Sunday in Denver along with 11 other Colorado couples.
BY NATE TAYLOR
Coloradoan.com
July 14, 2008
Kari and George Grossman didn't see it coming, but July 7 turned out to be a shocking and humbling day.
The Fort Collins couple not only found out they were named the 2008 Colorado Parents of the Year, but they also found out Kari Grossman's book, "Bones that Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia," won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Peacemaker of the Year.
Her book is about the couple's experience of adopting their 8-year-old son Grady from Cambodia and then building a school in Cambodia.
The Grossmans were selected as Parents of the Year by the Colorado Parents' Day Council not only for parenting Grady and his 4-year-old sister, Shanti, whom the family adopted from India, but for their work building and running the Grady Grossman School in Cambodia.
The Grossmans were also selected because their work in Cambodia models a life of service for their children.
"I never thought about how it would have an effect on our own children's point of view," Kari Grossman said, adding that her son recently told her that when he was "old like Grandma, I'm going to work very hard for the GG School."
"To see what he was getting out of it touched me," she said.
Kari Grossman said the family didn't even know they had been nominated for the parenting award, which celebrates Parents' Day - a nationally recognized day of remembrance for parents celebrated on the last Sunday of July.
"It's just the way our life and the way our family works," George Grossman said of the family's work in Cambodia. "Maybe (the award) is just an affirmation that we're doing something right as a family. We really don't think it's all that extraordinary, but I feel rather humbled by the whole thing."
The Grady Grossman School provides education for five rural villages in Cambodia and is its village's only permanent structure. It started with 50 children in 2001, and today there are 500 students, seven teachers, a solid cement structure with a water well and a solar-powered computer. The school is a part of the Grossmans' foundation, Sustainable Schools International.
With a quarter of the proceeds going to the school, Kari's book has raised about $50,000 for the school. The couple also makes trips to Cambodia three or four times per year.
"I've never seen a couple go to the extent that the Grossmans have," said Peggy Yujiri, spokeswoman for the Colorado Parents' Day Council.
The Grossmans are among 50 nominees for National Parents of the Year, which will be announced on Parents' Day, July 27. They were honored at a dinner on Sunday in Denver along with 11 other Colorado couples.
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