Get help
Asking is the hardest part. We made the rest easy.
No cost. No income test. No insurance card. No immigration questions. If you are 60 or older in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb County, you qualify — and so does the person you are worried about.
In an emergency, call 911. To report suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation of an adult in Michigan, call Adult Protective Services on 855-444-3911, any hour, any day.
Three ways to reach us
Pick whichever is easiest today.
Call us
A person answers, not a menu. Monday to Friday, 8am–6pm ET. Spanish and Arabic spoken; other languages by interpreter within the hour.
Send a referral
Nine questions, about four minutes. You can refer yourself, a parent, a patient, a congregant or the neighbour whose lights have been off.
Come in
Open door, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am–2pm, at our Woodward Avenue office. Coffee is on. No appointment needed.
Who we serve
If you are wondering whether you qualify, you probably do.
We keep eligibility deliberately wide. The only firm requirements are age and geography.
Age 60 or older. Adults under 60 living with a disability are served case by case — please call.
Living in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb County, in your own home, an apartment, senior housing or with family.
We do not ask about income, savings, insurance, citizenship or immigration status — ever, for any programme.
What happens after you contact us
We call back within one business day
A coordinator rings to say hello and check we have understood. Nothing is decided on this call.
A home visit within a week
We come to you, sit down, and take about an hour. Family are welcome. Nobody signs anything on the first visit.
Your plan, in your words
We write down what you asked for, read it back, and change whatever we got wrong.
You meet your match
Usually within ten days of the first call. A coordinator makes the introduction in person and checks in at week one, month one, and every quarter after that.
Referral form
Tell us who needs a neighbour.
Answer what you can. A blank field will never stop us calling you back. If you would rather do this by phone, ring (313) 555-0142.
Common questions
The things people ask before they call.
Yes, really. Every programme is free to every participant, funded by donors, congregations, local businesses and grants. There is no fee, no co-pay, no sliding scale and no invoice. Volunteers are also instructed never to accept money, and to politely refuse gifts worth more than a plate of food.
Every volunteer completes a written application, two reference checks, a criminal background check including the Michigan sex offender registry, an in-person interview, and a full day of training covering safeguarding, boundaries, dementia awareness and confidentiality. Drivers additionally provide a licence check, driving record and proof of insurance. Volunteers carry photo ID and will always show it at the door — please ask to see it.
Absolutely, and you never need to give a reason. Tell your coordinator, and we will find someone else without any awkwardness. Roughly one match in nine gets changed in the first two months. That is not a failure — it is the system working.
Meals, rides and the Warm Line usually start within a week. Friendly Visits average ten days but can run to five weeks in neighbourhoods where we are short of volunteers — currently parts of Macomb County and northwest Detroit. We will always tell you the honest wait on the first call, and you will never be quietly parked on a list.
Refer her anyway, and tell us she said no. We hear it constantly, and it is almost never about the help — it is about not wanting to be a project. Our coordinators are trained to arrive as a neighbour rather than a service, and we will never enter a home or begin a programme without the person's own agreement. Sometimes it takes three visits. Sometimes it takes a winter. That is fine.
No. We are not a licensed home care agency and our volunteers do not provide personal or clinical care of any kind. What we do have is a referral partnership with agencies across the region who do, and a coordinator who will make the introduction and follow up to make sure it happened.
Call us. Letters of Love and the Warm Line have no geographic limit at all. For everything else we will connect you with your local Area Agency on Aging or an equivalent organisation, and stay on the line while you make contact.
Only the staff coordinators who arrange your services and the volunteer matched to you, who receives your name, address, phone number and anything you have asked us to pass on. We never sell, rent or trade participant information, and we do not share it with other organisations without your spoken permission. Full detail is in our privacy policy.