A Little Help, a Big Impact

On Wednesday mornings, Susie Schultz spends time with her friend Carol. They have lunch together on their birthdays and drive to the Denver Botanic Gardens to see holiday lights. Five years ago, they were strangers. Carol responded during COVID when volunteer organization A Little Help asked members to reach out to isolated seniors. The organization connected them, and now Carol is a treasured part of Schultz’s life through the simple act of showing up.

At 91, Schultz has lived in her Stokes-Belcaro neighborhood house since 1968, where she raised three children and watched the block transform over decades. She has lived a full life in this area, and she knows what she wants right now: to stay in her home. And A Little Help has become a reliable ally allowing her to do exactly that.

Local Roots

A Little Help started in 2005, born from the simple idea of neighbors helping neighbors age in place.

“We serve all sorts of older adults, but primarily our goal is to keep people in their homes,” A Little Help’s Metro Denver Director Jake Dresden explains. “Bonnie Brae and Belcaro is obviously a very residential area. It’s a place where we thrive.”

What’s changing is the demographic shift. As gentrification has touched these neighborhoods over the last decade or two, fewer older adults are aging in place than before. But for those who are still there—people like Schultz—the presence of A Little Help makes all the difference between staying and leaving.

For Dresden, the on-demand neighborly care is what matters. Not the tasks themselves, though volunteers certainly handle plenty, such as raking leaves, shoveling snow, and fixing cabinet doors. Dresden and his wife had volunteered for years before he joined the staff five and a half years ago. What struck him most was how those small acts opened doors to genuine friendships that enriched everyone involved.

“I wouldn’t have met older neighbors in Wash Park,” Dresden says. “I probably would have just walked past their houses. But A Little Help allowed me to go to their houses and rake their leaves or help them with technology or get them groceries, then allowed me to become close friends with them.”

Beyond the Tasks

A Little Help serves over 3,000 older adults in the Denver-metro area and Northern Colorado, with nearly 3,000 background-checked volunteers. Factoring in one-time corporate volunteers and service events, that number jumps to over 5,000.

Jonathan Bryant, a volunteer for five years, works in senior care and spent years watching aging services from the vendor side. But he felt disconnected from the real impact. One Saturday morning, he found A Little Help while searching for volunteer opportunities and called on Monday. The first person he helped was Schultz.

“I was there to fix a cabinet door,” Bryant recalls. “Then I realized there was a simple faucet drip I could fix at the same time.”

But what mattered more was what happened after. Bryant took extra time to sit and talk, because he knows from professional experience that loneliness carries a health cost comparable to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

Bryant noticed that Schultz struggled to track her monthly bills, so he built her a spreadsheet and returned month after month to update it. He also fixed her computer problems, taped down rugs to prevent trips, and washed windows. Then his son Owen started coming along. At first reluctant about rising early on Saturday mornings, Owen soon looked forward to the visits and would walk Schultz’s 12-pound Shih Tzu, Tiger, while his dad and Schultz chatted. Schultz describes the pair simply: “They couldn’t be nicer.” Having people like Bryant to help gives her peace of mind, she explains, because she knows the people entering her home are trustworthy.

When asked what he gets out of volunteering, Bryant admits he almost feels selfish because he gains so much from it.

“To me, it’s the health and spiritual benefits that come from actually getting out and making those connections because it is so rewarding,” Bryant says. “I can’t think of a single occasion where volunteering with A Little Help hasn’t been the highlight of my day.”

Giving Back

A Little Help doesn’t assign people to tasks or mandate monthly commitments. Instead, volunteers log into a portal, browse nearby requests, and choose what appeals to them. The flexibility matters because Denver’s volunteer market is saturated with opportunities. But the deeper draw is what Dresden calls the “meaningful connection.” Once a volunteer goes to someone’s home and listens to their story, the dynamic shifts. It’s no longer service; it’s friendship.

“Volunteering has proven to be extremely beneficial for your mental and physical health and your well-being,” Dresden says. “That’s what keeps people coming back. They were able to pitch in, they were able to do something our older adults maybe couldn’t do themselves. But in the process, they met somebody and learned their story.”

Schultz could hire service providers to handle the tasks she needs—window washing, transportation, yard work, even technical support. But she knows that those services wouldn’t come with A Little Help’s personal touch. She has needed windows washed so she could see her garden, rugs taped down to prevent trips, mattresses flipped and computer problems solved. Volunteers who happened to be electricians even fixed her electrical issues and refused payment. The difference shows most clearly when she considers other options.

“Some of these Lyft and Uber drivers are grumpy,” Schultz says. “The volunteers with A Little Help, they want to do this. They enjoy what they’re doing. And it makes it nice for the recipient.”

Get Involved

Bryant has become an ambassador, bringing flyers to networking events, recruiting fellow senior care professionals and leveraging his 30,000-person LinkedIn following to bring awareness to A Little Help. As winter approaches, Bryant wants people to understand what’s at stake.

“There’s a real need out there,” Bryant says. “The needs are at their greatest now: transportation, snow shoveling, leaves on the ground. If people knew the good feeling you actually get in return, they would be actively volunteering today.”

Getting started is simple. Visit ww.alittlehelp.org, fill out an application and complete a background check (paid by A Little Help). Once cleared, access the portal to browse and choose nearby requests. A Little Help accepts donations and relies on contributions from individuals including older adults receiving services, volunteers, and community members supporting grassroots care.

Some people both give and receive help, Dresden says. An older adult who can’t rake leaves might be happy to drive someone to a doctor’s appointment. Community members of all ages work together, each contributing what they can.

“We want people to join the community in whatever way, shape or form,” Dresden says. “Whether it’s as a volunteer, whether it’s as an older adult, whether it’s as both. It’s all needed.”

This winter, as temperatures drop and snow blankets the sidewalks, A Little Help is looking for people to show up like Bryant and Carol did for Schultz. Small acts make a big difference to seniors who want to age in place and, who knows, it could lead to a friendship for the ages.

Seth Davis is the editor of MyDenver magazines and lives in Denver with his wife and two children.