Golden Valley Nonprofit Help At Your Door Receives ‘Business of the Year’ Award
Some household tasks are best performed with a helping hand.
Or when you have a massive yard that’s covered with leaves, it’s nice to have several helping hands.
“The fall cleanup is happening around this time of year, so it’s not something we do that often,” said Jason Grom, a volunteer with Help At Your Door. “But it’s something when there’s an opportunity, we can bring a crew together to help out.”
Grom serves as the vice chair for Help At Your Door, a Golden Valley-based nonprofit. This week, Grom joined family members and colleagues to help perform yard work for a Maplewood senior who couldn’t do the tasks on her own.
“I have to laugh, I think of all the years that I did it myself,” said Joli Gilbertson, a senior from Maplewood who was the recipient of the volunteers’ assistance.
This act of kindness is just one of the many services offered by Help At Your Door as they work to achieve its mission of keeping seniors living independently in their own homes.
Jason Grom, a volunteer with Help At Your Door, rakes leaves at a senior’s home in Maplewood.
‘A Huge Need’
“We see a huge need for seniors, particularly in the winter months,” said Karen Cotch, executive director of Help At Your Door.
Cotch says the organization serves about 1,000 seniors around the metro with various tasks.
“When you see the impact that you have on peoples’ lives, and you realize the impact. I think one thing about aging is everyone’s getting old it’s pretty universal regardless of any other background influences,” said Cotch. “It’s the one thing that everybody can relate to.”
The nonprofit’s impact on the senior population caught the eye of the Golden Valley Rotary Club, which honored Help At Your Door this week with its “Business of the Year” award.
“It’s really a great feeling to see that we’re being recognized,” Cotch said.
That recognition is only possible thanks to the people who volunteer their time. Gilbertson has used the service for four years now and is grateful for all they do.
“It makes such a difference to have somebody you can count on that shows up,” Gilbertson said.
Meanwhile, this is Grom’s first time coming to help Gilbertson with her yard work and it likely won’t be his last.
“She was so thankful, so appreciative,” Grom said. “It just makes it so easy for us to want to help her out, and I’d like to come back cause I actually live here in Maplewood and I think this is something I can do every year.”
There is a small fee to help pay for the various services provided, services that also include transportation and grocery pickup.
And the nonprofit is always looking for more volunteers. If you’d like to sign up, you can visit the Help At Your Door website.
Help at Your Door Executive Director Karen Cotch (center) joined by past Rotary presidents Betsy Anderson, Bryan Palmer, Mary Timmons, Chris Chambs, and Bryan Rossi.
