Love Living at Home: Growing a community village with 500 programs a year 

“At my job interview, one of our board members jokingly said that one of the benefits of the role was a dozen new grandparents,”said Thena Lindhorst, executive director of Love Living at Home, recently at the Danby Community Church. “So I could not refuse that offer.”

Since she was hired in 2023, Lindhorst has been making the rounds promoting everything her organization has to offer. At the monthly dish-to-pass meal hosted by the Danby Seniors in October, she informed the crowd of about 65 seniors about the background of Love Living at Home, let them know about the services it provides, and encouraged them to become involved as members and/or volunteers. 

“Love Living at Home was created with support from the Tompkins County Office for the Aging, and it was actually built specifically for Tompkins County,” Lindhorst began.  

Co-founders Jim and Leslie Quest, along with Kathy Garner, founded the organization in 2016. They spent about two years serving the area, talking to different community groups and other local leaders to see what the needs really were in the community.

“So that was between 2014 and 2016, and Love Living at Home has been open for going on nine years,” Lindhorst said.

“We do recognize that the needs in the community have certainly changed and are going to continue to change, so we are really looking ahead and trying to focus on a strategic plan, figuring out what has changed in the past decade and how we can better support our community,” she added, “and we do very much appreciate feedback from the community members as well as our members.”

Lindhorst is Love Living at Home’s only fulltime employee. She said the organization also has a part-time services coordinator and a 10-hour-a-week communications position.

“So, we rely heavily on the use of volunteers,” Lindhorst explained.

She acknowledged that the crowd was probably wondering why is the leader of the organization, given her relatively young age compared to the typical person the organization serves.

She has a two-year-old daughter, Iv, who was born with a rare genetic condition that causes a lifetime of physical and developmental delays.

“Ivy is an incredible child,” Lindhorst said. “She is the smiliest, sweetest little girl, but she looks probably about eight months old, and she is a little over two.”

With her genetic condition, luckily, came an amazing support system, Lindhorst said. Since Ivy’s diagnosis, she has met hundreds of families that have children with the same disorder, despite the fact that there has been only about one thousand documented cases.

“So, I found my village, and along with that came navigating the medical system and hospitalizations, and a lot of things that others — older adults, especially — have to navigate,” she told the group of seniors, adding that a big part of her passion for her role is an appreciation of the concept of a village, but also wanting to learn all of the supports that Tompkins County has to offer for people with disabilities of any age.

Each year, Love Living at Home hosts about 500 events, both virtual and in-person.

“We have attempted a few hybrid options as well,” Lindhorst said.

Programs are designed by members, for members, so all ideas are welcome and encouraged.

“We do say, you know, if anyone is interested in giving a presentation or a talk to our members, that you are welcome to contact the office,” said Lindhorst.

Specialty programs include presentations on art, health, local history, and other areas of interest.

“We recently had a pomegranate opening presentation in our conference room,” Lindhorst said, “so you kind of never know what to expect there.”

Love Living at Home also has an educational series; an astronomy series called Imagining the Universe First is starting this fall with Dr. Martha Haynes. This is an example of their short-term programming.

Regular, ongoing programs include current events, walking groups (both men’s and women’s walking), sharing life stories, reading scripts from plays, a book club, a film group, history discussions, happy hours, lunch groups, and more.

There is also a group that meets quarterly called the Food Insecurity of Tompkins County Group, and they have done local food drives and coordinated and collaborated with other local nonprofits that are working on food insecurity.

Love Living at Home has started a “neighborhoods” function as well; people who live in close proximity are grouped together so they can be in contact and rely on each other for support.

The organization also has an add-on with CSP Management. “For a small monthly fee, you can become a regular customer of CSP and have some home professionals, like an electrician or plumber, come to our home, and they offer discounts for services,” Lindhorst explained.

Love Living at Home offers assistance in many other areas of life as well. Whatever one of its members needs help with, whether it’s gardening, keeping up with a healthy lifestyle, household tasks, technology help, friendly visits and phone calls, or transportation, it is the organization’s mission to meet those needs.

The organization has completed over 1,200 services this year, and over 10,000 to date.

There are currently 209 active members, 70 of which are volunteers. Love Living at Home has about 100 volunteers total right now, Lindhorst said.

In addition to seeking volunteers to provide assistance, time and knowledge for programming, Love Living at Home is looking for people who would like to serve on one of several boards, including the Board of Directors, the Program Committee, Membership Committee, Marketing Committee, Finance and Operations Committee and Development Committee. Those interested do not have to be a member of Love Living at Home to serve on one of its boards.

Love Living at Home offers a free three-month trial membership. The membership fee is $43 per month for individuals and $54 for households.

There is also a sponsorship program that provides memberships free of charge if financials are a barrier.

Membership dues make up for 30% of the organization’s annual operating budget.

“We do rely heavily on individuals’ donations as well as grant funding,” Lindhorst said.

Lindhorst said Love Living at Home is hoping to reach more people from areas outside of Ithaca, such as Trumansburg and Danby.

“It is harder to get volunteers to go and provide transportation for [members in those areas],” she said. “So we are hoping to fill those gaps.”