Who We Are – Grandly

“Being strategic grandparents can be compared to building beautiful cathedrals; we grandparents have the privilege to work for our descendants.”

Myriam Laureys, grandmother from Belgium

Our History

Grandly, a ministry to grandparents, was started by two youth workers: Mike Shaughnessy, a man in his sixties who has chosen to live single to serve the Lord, and Pili Abouchaar, a 24-year-old, single woman from Xalapa, Mexico.

In July of 2015, they met together for lunch at an international youth conference in Costa Rica. Pili asked Mike if he was doing anything new. He started telling her about an idea he had, “I want to get grandparents doing youth work. They are in a perfect position to reach their own grandchildren. They just don’t know it. What if we could equip them to pass on their faith more effectively? Imagine how many kids we could reach?”

Pili wanted to know who was leading the project. Mike responded, “No one yet. Would you be interested?” She was. She quit her job, moved to Lansing, Michigan. That is how Grandly began: with a young single woman as the director of an outreach to Grandparents with the goal of equipping them to do youth work.

If you are going to do grandparenting, “Do it Grandly.”

Our Purpose

Grandly helps grandparents fulfill their God-given role to pass on their faith to their grandchildren. It gives them vision, hope, methods, and personal support, drawing on the principles of youth work and insights shared by other grandparents.