It's A Grand Life

Need Help at Home? How This Nonprofit Fixes Homes for Seniors & Families FREE

• Ryan Armbrustmacher • Season 4 • Episode 10

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0:00 | 24:01

In this episode of It’s a Grand Life, we highlight an incredible nonprofit making a real difference—St. Joseph’s Helpers.

Executive Director Rayna Bennett shares how their volunteer-driven organization is helping seniors, veterans, and families stay safe in their homes through free home repairs, ramps, and essential services.

From fixing doors and installing grab bars to building wheelchair ramps, this mission is all about neighbors helping neighbors.

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

How seniors can get free home repairs
How volunteers are transforming communities
Why aging safely at home is more important than ever
How churches and communities are stepping up to serve
How YOU can volunteer or donate

With 2.3 million grandparents raising grandchildren in the U.S., safe housing is more critical than ever.

👉 Learn more or get involved:
https://www.sjhelpers.org

📍 Serving Michigan, Northern Kentucky & expanding nationwide

👍 Like, subscribe, and share to help more families get the support they need.

#NonprofitImpact #SeniorHelp #FreeHomeRepairs #VolunteerOpportunity #Grandfamilies #AgingInPlace #CommunitySupport #MichiganNonprofit #FaithBasedService #HelpingSeniors #HomeRepairHelp #StJosephHelpers #ServeOthers #NeighborsHelpingNeighbors

0:00 Intro – Helping Grandfamilies & Caregivers
0:45 Meet St. Joseph’s Helpers
2:20 Rayna Bennett’s Background & Mission
3:45 What St. Joseph’s Helpers Does
4:40 How Volunteers Power the Organization
5:30 Who They Help (Seniors, Veterans & Families)
6:10 Biggest Need: Volunteers
7:20 How Anyone Can Get Involved
7:25 What Is Julie’s List?
8:40 Referrals & Free Community Resources
9:10 Real Impact & Growth Stories
10:00 Faith, Service & Community Impact
11:30 How to Donate & Support the Mission
12:00 How to Volunteer (Step-by-Step)
13:00 How They Coordinate Projects
14:10 Expanding Across the U.S.
15:50 Youth Programs & Volunteer Opportunities
17:30 Yard Cleanups & Community Projects
18:25 Wheelchair Ramp Program Explained
20:00 Cost of Ramps & Recycling Donations
21:15 Final Thoughts – How You Can Help

Support the show

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to It's a Grand Life, where our mission is to be a voice for grandfamilies and kinship caregivers everywhere. Did you know that in the United States alone there are 2.3 million grandparents raising their grandchildren? 2.3 million. It's a Grand Life is committed to making a difference for those kids. That's why we have the podcast, a Facebook group, and the grand fund. The Grand Fund, which is a 501c3 which was launched in June of 2024, provides financial assistance to grand families, including shelter, food, clothing, and household needs. Grand families are in every neighborhood, in every city, every tribe and territory nationwide. If this is you or someone you love, we're here for you. And we welcome you to join us on this mission. Our goal is to offer hope and resources to help you. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us wherever you get your podcast and leave a review. You can also join our Facebook group, just search for it under It's a Grand Life. And your reviews, comments, and sharing of our podcasts help us reach others that need assistance. Welcome to another episode of It's a Grand Life. Hello, my name is Craig Nash. I'd like to welcome you to another It's a Grand Life. And we've got a special guest today. I think you're absolutely going to be blessed. Raina Bennett from St. Joseph's Helpers, right here in Michigan and also northern Kentucky, is here to talk about this outstanding ministry that helps folks that need chores done around the house. Many of you are struggling. Boy, I've had a lady one time on the east side of Detroit said, I've got a door that I if we had a break in and there's a hole in the door and I don't know who to turn to. Well, if I would have known about St. Joseph's Helpers, I would have connected them right away. But Raina Bennett, thank you so much for joining us here on It's a Grand Life.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks, Craig. I appreciate it. I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_01

Tell us a little bit about your journey to get, first of all, to get connected with St. Joseph's Helpers, and then maybe a little bit about the mission and vision about what makes you guys such an explosive not-for-profit here in Southeast Michigan.

SPEAKER_00

Well, my personal joy my personal journey to become a St. Joseph Helpers Executive Director started out in Illinois. I'm from a suburb west of Chicago in the cornfields. And I was in social work. I was a social service director for many years. I also have worked in leadership in other capacities and food and other places. And uh COVID kind of changed everything for everybody, and my direction turned when we were in skilled nursing facilities dealing with all the people that were having all these issues. It was very difficult. So I was looking for something that was similar to social work where I could still serve people and help people to remain safe in their homes. And uh indeed, there was a uh job description for an executive director in Michigan near Detroit, uh, very limited on what the information was, but it sounded good. So similar to social work, it's it's helping serve people. And then I met with our president and founder, and I became the executive director of St. Joseph Helpers in uh September of 2022 when we started day one.

SPEAKER_01

Fantastic. So you've been at this for almost four or full years, right? It's that's uh so tell us a little bit about the work of St. Joseph's Helpers and So I'll start with our mission.

SPEAKER_00

We actually are an organization founded on Christian values composed of men and women. They volunteer their time and talents to provide those in need uh to make them feel safe and secure in their home with basic home repairs. Uh also we have a vision, which is that every home in the country is a safe and secure place to live. So as we grow into our our St. Joseph helpers areas and territories, we hope that we could help serve people in the whole country.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. Every home in America would be a safe place to live.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And you perform this incredible service to all these folks, uh, primarily in Michigan and northern Kentucky now, but I know you're you're you have goals of going nationwide. Who does the work? How do you and how do you find this army of carpenters and plumbers and and uh you know folks like that to to complete these tasks?

SPEAKER_00

So we do outreach into all of the churches locally. Uh we call and try to introduce ourselves to everybody, try to get to hopefully set up a table in the back of a church so we could give out information so people know about us because not everybody has heard of us yet. We're still still pretty new. Um, so we set up a table. It has just brochures about what we do and a sign-up sheet if you're interested in volunteering. So I'd I'd have to say if I I put up the numbers, I'm gonna say about 90% of our volunteers have come from churches that we have recruited.

SPEAKER_01

And now, are there specific denominations that you target? Or you you know you'll talk to Episcopalians, you'll talk to Catholics, you'll even share with a few Lutherans. It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00

Any anybody who's willing to serve. So we all, you know, are Christian and we want to we want to stick to those Christian values. So anybody who's willing to help serve, that's who we outreach to.

SPEAKER_01

So you are literally taking the love your neighbors yourself charge by the Lord Jesus, um uh literally. And you're trying to help. Now, do you do you have to be a Christian to get repair services done in your home?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely not. Um, we serve seniors, veterans, those with physical challenges or disabilities, and then those who need a helping hand, which then actually, if you put that all together, it means we serve anybody. Um, our focus is on seniors, and you do not have to be of any faith to be served.

SPEAKER_01

That's absolutely terrific. So um, what are your biggest needs now within the organization?

SPEAKER_00

Volunteers. Um, that will probably be a need of any nonprofit, honestly, is the need is so high that the volunteers, you know, we can't we can't help everybody, unfortunately. It's it's really hard to do, but we would always need volunteers. And with volunteers, there's so many different areas that you can work in that you don't have to be handy to help us. We have our office here in Taylor, Michigan, where we have staff that come in once a week and serve by answering telephones. We have out in the field where they do the handy repairs, and then there's handy helpers, which isn't a title, but the helpers that go with are handy volunteers, and they provide companionship to the clients while they're there as well. So they make them feel safe and secure with us being there. And there's a lot of other there's a lot of other uh areas that you could work in too.

SPEAKER_01

And 98% of the folks that do the work are volunteers, right? I mean, I'm I'm just throwing out a percentage, but it's you have a very uh small paid staff, right, that handles the administration and the organization and what have you, but you have an army of volunteers that come and help out. And uh tell me a little bit about Julie's List.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So Julie Kennedy Carpenter is my assistant director. She was in social work as well, and uh a paper that she had done in school while she was going to get her degree was she built this website called Julie's List. And that was back in 2011. It was geared towards social workers and case managers that needed to find people resources out in the community because a lot of people that are within the community don't know about resources that are free. You know, not everybody is able to get on the computer because there's a lot of illiteracy around. So getting that website up and running, Julie's list, in 2011, she was able to get these people more help. And Julie started with us over two years ago and has graciously given us Julie's List to continue her legacy as we also grow and expand.

SPEAKER_01

So that's just been rolled into the St. Joseph's as part of the help that you offer, this Julie's list. Now, um, what about um do you help folks with any behavior health services or do you refer them if they need more than just a couple social work visits? They actually need some counseling. Do you refer to a network of counselors or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00

So all of the organizations within Julie's list, we can refer to other organizations. These are not paid-for services, they're usually free or very low cost for low-income people. So as long as there's a resource for that, we can refer to other people.

SPEAKER_01

That's just so outstanding. So your Julie's list has a list of all these service providers. I think we're on that list too, if I'm not mistaken, right? So so um, Raina, what has been your greatest success story at St. Joseph's Helpers?

SPEAKER_00

Wow, I I I seriously, I don't think I can find just one because every day is a new success for us. Um from the beginning of time when we just started, we were in a in a convent at St. Mary Rockwood. We've I think our biggest success is how our growth has also grown with us. Um our office now in Taylor, we're able to have more people to be able to serve more people. It's a central location. I there's so many successes that it's just it's hard to pinpoint one, but the growth I think is the biggest. Our our board of directors, our first year, we only wanted to be able to serve a hundred or so people, and we were able to serve over 300 our first full year of this program. So just the capacity building and being able to help more people, I think, is the biggest reward as well.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. I I couldn't agree with you more, but as I as I look at this outstanding organization or ministry, and whichever way you want to look at it, you've got uh Catholics working next to the Lutherans, working next to the Baptists, maybe there's some non-denominational folks there, and it's all about serving the underserved. Sounds to me a little bit like the kingdom of God that was described. I mean, just just throwing that out there. Maybe it's you know, um, no one really caring about uh the intricacies of their religion, but how can we serve others? How can we love our neighbors as ourselves? We don't care what color you are, we don't care where you go to church, or if you do go to church, but we're gonna support you so that gosh, that lock works on that back door, or what or that that the problem with the furnaces fixed, or whatever folks actually need. Now, that is just so exciting, and I know that's got to keep your whole team excited and focused and and plugging away because there's not a lot of paid services that you're providing. You're not you're not paying your carpenters or your electricians, they are they're donating their time, and this becomes their ministry and helpers of Saint Joseph, and going back 2,000 years ago to the work that Saint Joseph did, and it's just so exciting to see this in Michigan. I just love the work that you're doing. And uh, so what about uh financial support? We've got folks that are listening to this podcast all over the country. Uh they can go on your website and make donations if they'd like.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. If they go to our main sjhelpers.org website, there's a donation button on there. Right now we're actually doing our spring appeal for the Feast of St. Joseph, which was yesterday. So there's also abilities to donate for other other ways.

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah, that's pretty and what about uh if if you if you have these skills, you know, to uh do the the the actually the hands-on work to become one of St. Joseph's helpers, how do they sign up to be a volunteer?

SPEAKER_00

And that would be the same thing through our website. We have a link to the volunteer application. Once you fill out the application, you will get a notification for a background check, because we background check a nationwide background check for all of our volunteers, such as any other ministry you work with.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Um, then from there you'll get an orientation packet with your shirt with our logo on it that you wear to the pro to the projects. And um just also so you are aware we are insured. So if anything happens, we want to make sure that you and our clients are protected. Um, you are willing to serve any time, any day. That's the the beauty of it. It's not a a specific date and time that you have to do these projects or repairs as well.

SPEAKER_01

So so, but there's someone at the Taylor office that kind of coordinates the maybe quarterbacks the projects. You know, we we but maybe there's one in Taylor and there's another one in uh uh Ferndale, perhaps, or Royal Oak. I mean you cover Oakland County, Monroe County, Livingston County, Wayne County. I mean, you got a pretty good footprint here. So you you you need to have some organizational wizards keeping this all focused, right?

SPEAKER_00

I I have a great staff in my office. We do everything internally from the office here in Taylor. This is our central office, this is where everything comes from. Um, as far as outside in the field volunteers, we do have leads um in each territory that help lead different groups, new people, we call them mentors as well. So they may mentor a new volunteer on how to install grab bars to make sure they're doing it, you know, by the ADA recommendation standards. Um there's other potential for growth as well. And if let's say we're trying to expand this this year into four different territories that we have not been into yet, that's our goal for the end of the year. It could be in any state uh within the United States, it could be in Michigan and the North region. And what a regional director is, is it is uh a volunteer position that helps us with the initial outreach to that area. So just getting us connected just so we could get that base going, and it it usually flourishes and blooms on its own after that.

SPEAKER_01

So it did you you don't have a huge advertising budget, I would imagine. So the the expansion in a new area is pretty much word of mouth.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And and dude, let's say the Northern Kentucky group, do they still go to churches in Northern Kentucky and ask their volunteers and explain the mission and vision and and um and uh see what's uh see see who volunteers to help? Because you know, I think there's a lot of folks that would like to plug in and serve in this capacity. They just don't know how to get connected. But it's very easy if you go to your website and can you give your website address for our uh audience?

SPEAKER_00

It's sjhelpers.org. And from there you can do basically anything you need if you just want to send some questions if you had some, if you want to apply to volunteer, if you need service. Now, as we grow and our service area changes, if we're getting requests from other areas that we don't serve yet, we still try to find them resources. So we may not be able to help, but we'll find somebody else that can.

SPEAKER_01

So you may not be in Ohio, but you'll try and maybe find some folks to connect with in the Ohio area or whatever state you're talking about. That's absolutely because really you with the vision of St. Joseph's helpers, you you know no bounds. You're thinking, you know, how can we cover the country? And that's exactly right, you know, and uh um as you you want to take this wonderful mission from the sea to shining sea, as they say. And I think that is just so exciting. I want before I let you go, I want to talk about this wonderful program you have for students. Oftentimes, parents, when kids get into high school age, they're like, what can little Johnny do to keep himself busy and to uh develop this heart for others? Uh tell us about your work study program, your student work study program.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so we actually have a couple different youth programs within the organization. Um, we have a in the office, uh, we have two different organizations that we work with. One of them is for students that have graduated high school that are looking to expand into the real world, but they may have a developmental disability of some sort, maybe autism, it just depends on the student. So we have them come in and they learn real world how to work in an office. Uh, we have other student programs that we work with that is also expandable when we when we grow, is the the trades consortiums. So there's student trades programs here locally in our downriver area in Taylor. And we have our mentors, which I was just telling you about, our volunteer mentors, that take out these trade students that have already learned year one stuff on how to do basics. So then they're teaching them not only how to serve, not I'm sorry, not only how to do the projects, but how to serve people as well. So it kind of goes hand in hand with the service thing. There's a lot of other programs we have for youth as well. We have a campus ministry, which is through um the local colleges, and there's a lot of service needed for that as well. So we do spring and fall yard cleanups. That's what's going on right now, actually. In the next few weeks, we'll be we'll be gearing up for that. And those groups, whether it be a youth group at church, whether it be uh our campus ministries or other youth ministries, or even just the churches alone, um, can help with those spring cleanups because you don't have to be a volunteer to help with that.

SPEAKER_01

So if I'm a youth pastor at a uh a Baptist church in Plymouth and I'm looking to get my young people plugged into service opportunities, they can call St. Joseph's Helpers and get plugged in.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. And we can pick the dates and times that they're available to do these projects if it's a certain window, and we can get the clients in order and everything ready for them, and all they have to do is go to the project.

SPEAKER_01

I I know there's I'm hoping there's a lot of youth pastors out there that caught this because this takes so much off them. You've got you've got ready-made service projects and and your your admin team is coordinating everything. I think it's just fantastic. Yard cleanup, oh man, that is just so important. So, um, what else should we know about St. Joseph's helpers?

SPEAKER_00

So not only do we do small repairs such as grab bars and railings, we also have a ramp program, which is a very need, a very big need in the community because um just alone the population of seniors is growing to the highest it's ever been. Um and we want our seniors to be able to age in place. So we started in 24 actually. We started in 2024 a ramp program, and it has then since um expanded to we were doing 10 and 12 foot ramps, ramps only, because that's what our our organization can afford to pay. We had a funder who was helping us with this.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And then recently, this past year, there are people that are out there donating ramps that it maybe their family member had passed away and they no longer needed the ramp. So we are getting donations of ramps and and we're able to serve more people with those as well. So if you know of anybody that needs a ramp, then great, we'll put you on the list and we'll try to get that taken care of. But just if you want to donate one too, that's it's helping potentially it could help a couple people because some ramps aren't as big as others, and we can split it into two different sections and help two people at the same time.

SPEAKER_01

You know, one of our uh partners in ministry is the Faith Works Group out of northern northern Oakland County. And I know you know Dominic uh Morelli and the wonderful work that they do, but oftentimes they talk about recycling ramps, you know, where where a client may need the ramp for a year and a half, but then unfortunately the uh uh the the person using it passes away, but they don't want to just let that ramp just be thrown out. But they so they they call Faithworks and recycle it and because there is a huge expense for these ramps. I hope people realize that not only the the time and materials putting it together, but you know, the the cost of the actual ramp is quite expensive, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, so our ramps, the tens and twelves, they start at $1,000 for those small ramps. Um, so we our organization has funded up to a small ramp price, but there are um they belong to us when we give them to the clients to use the same thing as Faithworks does. So once they're finished with it, if they don't need it anymore for, you know, maybe they've healed or whatever that that might be, um, we get them back. So last I'm sorry, in 24 into 25, we gave out um over 30 ramps to people. And I would have to say a good half dozen have come back to us and we were able to use them for other clients already.

SPEAKER_01

So that just makes so much sense that uh that you can recycle those ramps, and and I'm I'm trying to think of an area that you have missed, and I can't think of it right now. Um what what what parting words would you like to share with our listeners if they want to get involved with St. Joseph's helpers?

SPEAKER_00

So I think the important part is you know, we're always looking for volunteers and as any nonprofit, and we're always looking for people to help fund these projects. We have great, great partnerships with companies, and we are encouraged to learn more companies as we grow to help us with material cost. Um, just we are 78% of all donations that we get go to the cause itself. I think that's really important to know that you know, like you said, we have a very small admin team, not many paid people here. And as we grow, we want to keep that down so we can serve more people. And and I encourage everybody that wants to be a partner or even wants to just learn more about us. To connect with us so we can see how we can partner together to serve more of our community and neighbors helping neighbors, right? That's that's what we want to do.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I can tell you it's a grand life wants to partner with you. We just love the work that you're doing. So if you can identify some grandparents that we can partner with you on to be a blessing, uh we're in. So uh um Raina Benna, thank you so much for being our guest here on It's a Grand Life. The time has flown by. Um, you are welcome here anytime, and we uh we want to continue to put a big spotlight on the work that you folks are doing, not only in our wonderful state of Michigan, but now in Kentucky, and I can't wait to hear about the other states in future episodes. So thanks so much, and we'll see you all again for another It's a Grand Life. Thank you for joining us today for It's a Grand Life. It's a Grand Life provides vital content, regulatory updates, and subject matter experts that are committed to supporting the 2.4 million kids and their caregivers from every neighborhood, every city, every tribe and territory nationwide. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcast and leave a review. Every new subscriber and review helps us reach others that need assistance. As caregivers, we are united in purpose. We are driven by hope while providing strength for today and hope for tomorrow. We are truly making a difference in while living the grand life. If you have a suggestion for a future episode, please reach out to us. But we'll see you next time for another It's a Grand Life. Thank you for joining us.