Volunteer

Thousands of people volunteer their time and talents with LMM each year. Our volunteers fulfill a community need by positively impacting others through service.

If you’d like to volunteer or learn more about specific volunteer opportunities, please contact your area of interest below.

Advocacy

If you are interested in helping advance LMM’s advocacy agenda, which focuses on ending homelessness, reforming the criminal justice system, and advancing racial equity, please subscribe to Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s newsletter which provides the latest advocacy news and alerts. For additional advocacy opportunities including ways to share your own experiences with homelessness or the justice system, please contact LMM’s Advocacy Director.

Guardianship Services

We respect the dedication, contribution, and unique commitment of our volunteers. Volunteering as a guardian gives you the opportunity to meet a need in your own community for an at-risk group of people. You will be able to reach out with a caring heart and hand to a person who likely is without family or close friends. As a volunteer guardian, your primary tasks would be health-related decision making, placement-related decision making, managing personal relationship issues, and advocating for your ward.

lmm volunteer in front of a mural

Housing & Shelter

Volunteer contribution is vital to the life of the Men’s Shelter. Many volunteer opportunities with Housing & Shelter are available and fit the interests of individuals and groups seeking to engage with our residents and make a difference. We look forward to hearing from you!

Teach

  • Computer Lab: Assist residents with basic computer questions, job search and resume writing.                                                                                            
  • Job Readiness: Assist one-on-one with those seeking jobs.                                                                                                                           
  • Housing Readiness: Help residents prepare for housing in a program covering such topics as rights/responsibilities of being a tenant, budgeting/credit counseling.

 

Kitchen

  • Cook and/or serve a meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner).

 

Spiritual

  • Scripture Study: Reading and reflecting on Scripture with a volunteer group that welcomes all faith traditions.
  • Listening: Be a listening/pastoral presence, training sessions on the Listening Program at 2100 are offered.

 

Maintenance

  • Help with neighborhood clean-up, painting, construction, and clothes sorting.

 

Legal Clinic

  • Join with paralegals and lawyers, assisting residents with legal issues including child support, divorce, and expungements.

 

Visual Arts or Music Workshops

  • Paint indoor, outdoor murals with shelter residents
  • Lead simple art workshops
  • Lead music and discussion groups

 

Life Skills Workshops

  • Lead recovery workshops & other life skills.

The guiding principle of LMM’s Men’s Shelter is to provide a place of welcome. We embrace the presence, gifts and voices of every individual and strive to respond to the needs of each person while respecting their dignity. In volunteering, a welcoming attitude is conveyed in many ways:

  • Commitment to person-first language, as in a “person who is homeless” versus a “homeless person,” honoring the dignity & self-respect of those we serve
  • Meeting people where they are
  • Building trust, which may take time
  • Being willing to give others our full attention, even if it’s only a brief encounter
  • Learning names
  • Knowing that we all have assets, and building on them where possible
  • Connecting through the things we have in common 
  • Honoring the commitment of reliability (whatever it is)
  • Stating commitments, rules, and expectations clearly from the beginning, to help people feel comfortable and safe
  • Promoting an atmosphere that honors boundaries
  • Respecting other people, as you wish for others to respect you
  • Confidentiality; the names of residents stay here
  • Seeking to understand rather than to proselytize

Workforce Development

Workforce Development serves the underserved by providing job training to individuals who face employment barriers, but there’s so much more! We have a Women’s Resource Room for our participants who are in need of clothing essentials and job interview apparel. If you’re interested in volunteering to sort and/or do inventory of our donated items, please reach out to us!

Youth Resiliency Services

Youth Resiliency Services welcomes volunteers to assist with shelter upkeep including minor repairs, furniture takeaway/delivery and beautification activities (i.e. landscaping). There are also opportunities for inventoring and sorting of donations, or for hosting special events such as a clothing and/or personal hygiene items drive, and organizing and providing a meal for the youth.

For volunteers working directly with youth, we welcome individuals who have specialized training and/or experience in facilitating groups pertaining to education, career and life skills development. Young people in our care are minors, therefore a volunteer application will need to be completed and approved.

Friend-to-Friend

Friend-to-Friend is a program that matches volunteers with woman residents of Northeast Reintegration Center and with men at Grafton Correctional Institution. The purpose of the match is to establish a friendship. The volunteers commit to visiting once a month and writing a letter or card once a month. Volunteers are matched with residents that receive few or no visits and are in need of a friend to communicate with as they navigate the criminal justice system.

Inclement Weather Alert: Men's Shelter at 2100 Lakeside is open. Please seek shelter!