For years, Jean drove past the same building on her way home from work without giving it much thought.
Then someone told her what happened inside.
Every day, the doors open to people with nowhere else to go. Guests arrive after a night spent in a car, in the woods, or at a motel room if they could afford one. There are no homeless shelters in town, so for many people, this is the only safe place to come for a hot meal, a shower, and clean clothes.
During her lunch break, Jean called to ask if they needed volunteers.
"I was at a point in my life where I felt like I was missing something. So I started wiping tables and sweeping floors. I actually enjoyed it. Soon, I found myself volunteering after work whenever I could, and coming on Saturdays to wash dishes."
She never imagined volunteering would change the course of her life—today, Jean is the executive assistant and volunteer coordinator at Love And Hope In Action.
A Safe Haven for Those Who Need It Most
Every morning, volunteers arrive early to cook breakfast and prepare the dining room, while others work throughout the Clothing Pantry and Hygiene Cottage, assisting clients, sorting clothing donations, monitoring showers, and restocking donated supplies.
As breakfast wraps up, another volunteer shift is already preparing for dinner.
In the Hygiene Cottage, volunteers run loads of laundry, fold fresh towels, scrub toilets, refill soap dispensers, and disinfect showers for the next guest.
"It's crazy busy," Jean laughed. "But we love it."
It's work most people would never describe as glamorous.
But sometimes, those volunteer shifts mark the beginning of a new chapter.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
Jean still smiles when she talks about Bobby.
"He has such a soft spot in his heart," she said.
For years, Bobby had been coming to Love And Hope In Action to have dinner and take a hot shower. He carried a long history of trauma and addiction, but he also had an unmistakable warmth about him. Bobby would stop by Jean's office to talk through whatever was on his mind that day. Before long, he started calling her "Sister."
One Thursday evening, Bobby came to dinner overwhelmed. Jean could tell he needed someone to listen. She knew exactly which volunteer would meet him where he was: Tim was working his usual shift, washing dishes and scrubbing bathrooms.
So after dinner, Bobby met Tim in the Hygiene Cottage.
Washing machines hummed in the background. Fresh towels sat folded on a shelf. While Tim worked through the evening routine—wiping everything down for the next morning—Bobby kept talking. Tim listened and encouraged him while he cleaned.
Jean still thinks about how ordinary the moment looked. Tim was simply volunteering where he had signed up to serve. She believes that volunteer shift placed Tim exactly where he needed to be.
That night, Bobby decided he was ready to enter recovery. The following morning, another volunteer, Kam, drove him to the same program where both Kam and Tim had once begun their own recovery journeys.
Weeks later, a six-page handwritten letter arrived on Jean's desk.
Bobby had written to them about his journey, the hope he had found, and thanked the people who had encouraged him to take the first step. Bobby proudly shared that he'd completed Phase 1 and was preparing for Phase 2 of recovery. Jean folded the letter and set it back on her desk.
"This," she said, "is love and hope…in action."
More Than Just a Volunteer Shift
Jean often tells new volunteers that there are no small jobs at Love And Hope In Action, whether it's folding towels, scrubbing toilets, or washing dishes.
Sometimes those jobs become part of another person's healing.
Sometimes they become part of your own.
And sometimes, years later, the person washing dishes beside you is someone who first walked through the doors looking for a meal, a shower, or a reason to believe tomorrow could be different.
They have a name for those volunteers: clienteers—clients who become volunteers, too. People who came looking for help and later returned to serve others.
Today, Bobby is one of them—a proud "clienteer" himself. He's earned his 90-day sobriety chip and now volunteers alongside the people who once supported him.
Hope has a way of coming full circle.
A longtime volunteer introduced Love And Hope In Action to Unison after seeing how much time volunteer scheduling required. Today, Jean uses Unison to coordinate daily volunteer shifts, giving her more time to focus on each person walking through the doors.
