Sometimes, Only a 'Daughter' Will Do
Volunteers Take Family Role for Seniors' Errands

By Moira E. McLaughlin
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, July 5, 2007

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.

"Every time you all come, I just have a ball," she said. "It's just been so much fun doing what you need to do and having fun."

Lark, 41, who works full time as a grants writer, said the idea to start the program came to her more than two years ago after a trip to a Temple Hills grocery store. When Lark walked into the store, she noticed an elderly woman sitting alone outside. No one was helping her. No one was talking to her. It was as if the woman were invisible.

"I observed how many people walked by her," Lark said. When Lark finished shopping, the woman was still there.

"Are you waiting for someone?" Lark said she asked her. "If you don't mind, I'd really like to see you get home safely."

Something clicked, Lark said, and that's when she decided: "I have got to do something for my seniors."

Six months later, Lark secured nonprofit status for Daughter for the Day and began the organization in the basement of her home. Lark moved the office to Temple Hills in July 2005.

Sitting in her office, Lark fought back tears as she remembered the woman who inspired the program -- a woman she helped home and then never saw again.

In some ways, Lark said, Daughter for the Day is a tribute to her grandmother, Elizabeth L. Lark, who died about 11 years ago. The red rose, the group's symbol, was her grandmother's favorite flower.

The service to the seniors is free, so Lark has had to generate financing in other ways. Much of the money still comes out of her pocket, as it did in the beginning. But small fundraisers have helped out. She also hopes to get a grant or find sponsors to cover the rising costs of background checks and contractors who fill in at the last minute when a volunteer can't make it to an appointment.

The program, Lark said, is her true passion. She said she wants to open 10 more offices in the next five years. She has filed the paperwork to open in Hendersonville, Tenn., where she has family, and is planning for an office in Pennsylvania.

"I believe everybody needs somebody," Lark said.

To contact the program, call 301-316-1206 or visit its Web site athttp://www.daughterfortheday.org.