MONROE COUNTY — Eighteen months after forming, St. Joseph’s Helpers is expanding.

Soon, the local non-profit will be in Kentucky and other parts of Michigan.

It also just started a ramp program.

Tony Rosati, a retired engineer, started St. Joseph’s Helpers at his church, St. Mary in Rockwood, to assist senior citizens and others in need of minor home repairs, like leaky faucets, clogged drains and yardwork. Work is done for free, although donations are accepted.

Soon, other volunteers joined Rosati. Today, St. Joseph’s Helpers has 160 volunteers who’ve served more than 1,500 clients so far.

“Monroe is probably our biggest area right now. Monroe County Opportunity Program gave us a grant this year for $2,500,” Rosati said. “We’re in seven counties in southeast Michigan, including Monroe, and are opening our first satellite office in Lexington, Kentucky by the end of June. Someone in Kentucky saw an article on us. He’s retiring from high school teaching, and asked if he could start a branch down there. I met with him in April, and we did the legal stuff together.”

The Kentucky site already has five volunteers.

A call last year from a woman in need in St. Louis, Missouri inspired Rosati and his board to think nationally.

“It’s our dream of wanting to be a national organization, to serve everyone in need,” Rosati said.

St. Joseph’s Helpers’ biggest initiative of 2024 is a ramp program. The organization is buying one $1,000 portable ramp each week.

“There is such a huge need for ramps. We want to do 34 this calendar year. That’s a pretty aggressive prospect. Most organizations stopped providing them,” Rosati said. “We did our first one in Monroe. It made such a difference for the couple to get in and out of their home.”

The aluminum ramps are 12-feet long and serve a variety of clients.

Previous Coverage: Helping those in need: St. Joseph’s Helpers serving area seniors, veterans

“People in wheelchairs and the homebound who haven’t been able to find or afford one. Some are coming out of rehab. There are elderly who can no longer navigate three or four steps,” Rosati said. “They all are in need of it, and $1,000 is out of the price range for most people.”

Once a recipient no longer needs the ramp or has died, Rosati is hoping the ramp will be returned to St. Joseph’s Helpers.

“We can pick them up and take them to the next person on the list,” he said.

Recently, St. Joseph’s Helpers also simplified its website, which is helping clients get assistance quicker. In the past, staff hand-paired a person in need with a volunteer. Now, volunteers can go online and find clients where they want to help. All volunteers must pass a background check.

“With the sheer volume of calls, hooking up volunteers with clients was an impossible task. Now, volunteers can log-in, see outstanding cases we have and see what needs to be done,” Rosati said. “It has streamlined the whole process.”

Volunteers also are now working from several satellite offices, including the main location in Taylor.

“Four volunteer are from the Monroe office. We’re looking to work with churches we’re in. Give us a 10 x 10 area,” he said.

The top client need continues to be grab bars for bathrooms. Handrails for porches are the second most-requested service.

“The need is still great,” Rosati said.

Other clients call about plumbing emergencies and problems with garbage disposals and sump pumps.

“Most of the volunteers have the same basic handyman skills. They can put in a grab bar, fix a porch, replace boards on wooden porches,” Rosati said. “A lot of calls from people exceed our ability, like furnace work. There are programs out there, but they are not readily available. We’ve worked with Sieb Plumbing (and others), who go and put in ignitors for furnaces for a fraction of the cost. We did a couple dozen over the winter for people who had no heat. We do the same thing with several plumbing and electrical partners.”

Clients can be any age and don’t have to meet any income requirements.

“We’ve had younger people. We had a young lady, a single mom. She needed help putting a crib together,” Rosati said. “The aged population are more requiring of help, but we still will help anyone who calls us. There is no income-related criteria. We’ve shied away from grants that require income requirements. We don’t define need by income solely.”

St. Joseph’s Helpers continues to visit a different church each weekend, to find volunteers and people in need and to accept donations. Those in need also can call the office or sign up online. Area organizations and churches continue to refer clients and to assist the ministry.

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“A group from Ava Marie Radio, a Catholic radio station, heard about us and gave us a commercial a day for free,” Roasati said. “You just never know where the next connection will come from. We’re getting more and more calls and getting the word out.”

To learn more, visit sjhelpers.org or St Joseph’s Helpers on Facebook. The office can be reached at 313-900-5232 or SJH@SJHelpers.org.

— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@monroenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: St. Joseph’s Helpers adding ramp program, expanding into Kentucky