Get involved
You do not need a car, a caring profession, or a talent for small talk. You need to be reliable, and willing to be taught. We handle everything else.
active volunteers
minimum monthly commitment
of free training, once
still volunteering after a year
Volunteer roles
Every role below is currently open. Where we are short is listed honestly — those are the neighbourhoods where someone is waiting.
Spend two hours a week with the same older neighbour. Talk, play cards, sit in the garden, listen to the same story a fourth time and enjoy it more each round.
Take someone to dialysis, the pharmacy or Sunday service. You stay for the appointment and bring them home. Mileage is reimbursed at the federal rate.
Collect hot meals from our Woodward kitchen and hand-deliver them along a set route. Six to nine stops, about ninety minutes, always the same faces.
Make five to eight short phone calls each morning from wherever you are. The most flexible role we have, and the only one you can do in your dressing gown.
Fit grab bars, change awkward bulbs, hang handrails, test alarms, clear snow. Trade experience welcome but not required — we will teach you on your first Saturday.
One hour, one person, one device, no jargon. If you can set up a video call without sighing, you are already qualified. Students earn service hours here.
Becoming a volunteer
We take screening seriously because the people we serve deserve that. None of it costs you anything.
The form below, plus two references. Ten minutes.
A half-hour conversation, in person or by video, about what you are hoping for and what you can genuinely commit to.
Free background check, then one Saturday, 9am–3pm: safeguarding, boundaries, dementia awareness, confidentiality, and how to sit with a silence. Lunch included.
A coordinator introduces you in person, then checks in at week one and every month after. You will always have someone to call.
Volunteer application
There are no wrong answers here, and applying does not commit you to anything.
No background check, no schedule, no county line. Handwrite a note to a stranger and we will read it aloud on a porch in Detroit within two weeks. Individuals, families and classrooms all welcome.
Congregations, classrooms, book clubs, unions and workplace teams. We will build a half-day that actually helps rather than one that makes for good photographs.
Businesses & institutions
Partnerships that work are the ones where your people show up, not just your logo. Here is what that can look like.
$6,000 funds one meal-delivery route — nine households, hot food four nights a week, for a full year. Your team can ride along once a quarter.
$12,000 covers every programme for every older adult on one Detroit street: visits, meals, rides, safety work and winter cover.
We are always short of accountants, HVAC technicians, ASL interpreters, grant writers and anyone who understands Medicare paperwork.
| What we need | For which programme | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Insulated meal carriers (catering grade) | Meals & Groceries | High |
| Refurbished tablets, 10" or larger, with cases | Tech Together | High |
| Grab bars, stair treads, motion-sensor lights | Home Safety Squad | High |
| Snow shovels, ice melt, salt spreaders | Winter response | Seasonal |
| Large-print playing cards, dominoes, puzzles | Friendly Visits | Ongoing |
| Postage stamps and plain writing paper | Letters of Love | Ongoing |
| Gas cards for volunteer drivers | Rides & Errands | Ongoing |
To arrange a drop-off, email give@lovetheelderly.com or call the office on (313) 555-0142.
A volunteer costs us about $310 a year to recruit, screen, train, insure and support. That volunteer will give roughly 100 hours back.
