Sometimes, Only a 'Daughter' Will Do

Volunteers Take Family Role for Seniors' Errands

Faye Harris stepped out of her car in front of a house in Northeast Washington and pulled on a red smock with her name stitched across the left pocket.

"I am not sure which way she's going to come out," Harris said as she opened the gate. "I believe she has a walker."

Harris, a government worker on her lunch break, didn't know Angela Turner, the 87-year-old woman she was visiting that day. They had spoken only by phone. But Turner beamed when she opened the door: "I'm glad to see my daughter. God bless you."

This was no Maury Povich episode uniting long-lost families. This was Daughter for the Day, a nonprofit organization started by Tonja Lark of White Plains to connect volunteers with senior citizens who need a friend to accompany them to medical appointments, the grocery store or other places to take care of their business.

The organization, based in Temple Hills, has grown quickly over the past two years to include about 200 volunteers -- including the recent addition of some sons -- and serves more than 500 seniors in the District, Virginia and Maryland. Volunteers must go through checks of their personal backgrounds and driving histories.

Seniors age 70 and older -- and people older than 60 who are terminally ill -- qualify for the service. To schedule an outing, a senior must complete an application and give the organization 48 hours' notice.

Lark recently opened a second office in Baltimore. "The service is so needed," she said.

To the seniors who have no relatives available for help when they need it, the volunteers from Daughter for the Day become like surrogate family.

"You're like my natural children," Turner said after Harris carefully helped her into the car and folded the walker into the trunk.

Harris said she began volunteering for the program about a year ago.

"It's almost like we're their physical daughters," she said. "I think they really need this as they get older. . . . They've given so much of their lives to us as young women."

At the store, the two women didn't start shopping right away. Instead, Turner sat down to tell her "daughter" a story. When the two finally began shopping, Turner was all smiles.