Address

36 Four Seasons Center Suite 293
St. Louis, MO 63017

Website

www.extrahands.org

Description

The mission of Extra Hands for ALS is to instill the importance of community service and develop leadership qualities in young adults by uniting them with people who have ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and their families.

Extra Hands for ALS sends pairs of students age 16 to 21 into the homes of people with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) each week for two hours to assist with household chores and provide companionship for the homebound. They are supervised and coached by adult volunteers we call Mentors, whose responsibility is to ensure a positive, emotionally supportive experience for the students and ALS families. Then each semester the students organize and participate in ALS public awareness initiatives, usually of their own design. As a result, Extra Hands is a charitable “two-fer,” a program with two sets of direct beneficiaries. The students grow, mature, and develop leadership skills through their experiences while the ALS families get help they desperately need.