Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer Today!

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly. Our numerous programs and services offer you a wide array of volunteer opportunities that are sure to fit your interests and availability.

It’s easy to get started. After reviewing the volunteer opportunities below please start by filling out a volunteer application and review our volunteer terms and conditions.


Individual or Family Opportunities

As a volunteer-based organization, we rely on volunteers for all of our programs and services. Whether you have just a few hours a year to several hours a week, Little Brothers may be a place for you. 

Friendly Visiting

Sign up as a Visiting Volunteer if you want to create a lasting friendship with an elder. Your commitment to visit your elder at least twice a month helps to relieve their isolation and loneliness. We ask you to commit to this program for one year but the time you commit per month is flexible and can accommodate your busy schedule. This is also an opportunity for your whole family and to introduce your children to volunteering.

Social Activities

We provide numerous social activities throughout the year for our elderly friends both on-site and at venues throughout the community. Activities vary with the season but usually include movie matinees, inter-generational programs,  picnics, historical tours, and theatrical experiences. We celebrate birthdays and holidays including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Halloween. Volunteers are needed to prepare food, set up the dining hall, serve the guests, clean the dining hall, provide transportation, and provide home visits. Your time commitment is based on your preferred volunteer role or roles and may last anywhere from two to seven hours at a location near you.

Holiday Celebrations

Volunteers are needed for a variety of roles each Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Each holiday we prepare a traditional meal for over 800 elders and 400 volunteers at twelve sites in a five county area. We require volunteers to prepare food, set up the dining hall, serve the guests, clean the dining hall, and provide transportation. Your time commitment is based on your preferred volunteer role or roles and may last anywhere from two to seven hours at a site near you. For more information and to sign-up, please visit register.littlebrothers.org

Medical Transportation

Volunteer Drivers provide our elderly friends with door-through-door transportation (picking up passengers at the door of their home and delivering them through the door of their destination) to their medical appointments. Each transport requires approximately three hours of your time in a five to thirty mile radius. We also need Volunteer Drivers to provide our elderly friends transportation to our nearest regional hospital in Marquette 100 miles away.

Firewood

Volunteers are needed to cut, split, stack and deliver firewood to our elderly friends who heat their homes with wood. This is an ideal opportunity for large groups such as fraternities, church youth groups, or service groups to volunteer. This volunteer opportunity requires 2-3 hours of physically demanding work and volunteers should be in good health and follow all safety precautions.

Food Assistance

About 100 bags of non-perishable food are packed each month for our elderly friends in need. Volunteers are needed to assist with filling the bags or deliver the bags to the homes of our elderly friends. The bags are packed and ready to be distributed the third Wednesday of each month. Delivery volunteers are asked to deliver a few bags a month with a short visit with the elderly friend.

Medical Equipment Loan

We loan out commonly-needed equipment such as walkers, canes, wheelchairs, shower seats and other assistive devices to any area senior for as long as they need it at no cost. Volunteers are needed to inventory, inspect, and clean the equipment about once or twice a month .

Office Support

We ask Volunteer Receptionists to commit to answer and make phone calls and perform various office tasks for four hours once or twice per week. Additional volunteer opportunities including help with filing and mailings have flexible hours and dates.


Group Volunteering

We have a variety of volunteer opportunities and projects for large and small groups.

Firewood Program

Our Firewood Program is one of our most popular opportunities for group volunteering. To keep the homes of our elderly friends warm all winter long, we need groups to cut, split, and stack firewood at our woodlot. It requires volunteers to use chainsaws, log splitters, and splitting mauls. Younger groups can dedicate their time to stacking the firewood. This opportunity is for active volunteers who enjoy the outdoors and a little friendly competition.

Treat Baskets

Bring a smile to an elder by providing treat baskets filled with individually wrapped candy. These will be distributed to our elderly friends with their holiday meal on Thanksgiving and Easter. The baskets need to be small (the size of a single serving deli container). This is a good opportunity for artistic youth groups.

Decorated Grocery Bags

On Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter we deliver fresh, hot meals to our elderly friends who cannot join us at our dinner parties. Each meal gets delivered in a festively decorated bag for the season. We’ll provide you with new paper grocery bags to be decorated. This is a good opportunity for youth groups, elementary school classes, and nursing home activities.

Seasonal Cleanup

This is another good opportunity for active volunteers who enjoy the outdoors. Each winter, we send volunteers to widen the snow covered paths and driveways of our elderly friends. We do not allow volunteers to shovel roofs. In the spring when the snow has melted, volunteers are needed to clean up their yards. In the fall, volunteers are needed to rake leaves.