Love & serve

Getting Started

The first step to getting plugged in as a volunteer is to fill out our online volunteer application to let us know your contact information, availability, skills, interests, and preferences (after you click on the Next button, be sure to click Submit). Please review the Volunteer Handbook before submitting the waiver at the end of the application. Once you have submitted your application, we will contact you about next steps.

Please also review our statement of faith and vision statement. We appreciate your interest in helping the Lexington Rescue Mission accomplish our mission: To glorify God through a Christ-centered ministry that meets the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of hurting people in the greater Lexington area.

Questions? Contact Zea Shipman, our Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, and she will help you get started and let you know of specific opportunities.

Serve a Meal

These volunteers help dish food, serve meals, wash and dry dishes, and clean the dining room. Breakfast volunteers help from 8:45am - 10:00am and lunch volunteers help from 11:45am - 1:00pm. We serve breakfast and lunch Monday - Saturday.

clean & organize

Volunteers help create a welcoming space for our guests at The Outreach Center by cleaning the building and the property. Volunteers also help ensure clothing, hygiene, and supplies get distributed to our guests by keeping our resource room and storage space organized.

pick up food

We rely on volunteers to pick up food donations from local restaurants and grocery stores on a weekly basis to help reduce waste and feed our hungry neighbors.

Help Job-Seekers

These volunteers help lead Jobs for Life, a class that teaches men and women the soft skills needed to find, secure, and keep lasting employment. Volunteers serve as both teachers and mentors in the classroom, helping job-seekers prepare to succeed in the workplace. In addition, we need business professionals who will do mock interviews with class participants.

drive residents

Volunteers help our residents get to appointments (medical, job interviews, probation and parole, etc.). These car rides are the perfect opportunity to meet their practical needs and get to know our residents.

Street outreach

Join our street outreach team in ministering to people who are living in homeless encampments, parks, and cars. We will go out in small groups to help meet their physical needs, offer prayer, and encourage them.

deliver furniture

Help make a house a home! We need volunteers to move donated furniture from the mission to homes of clients who have moved out of homelessness and into housing.

Lead bible study

Lead residents in our men's homes in studying scripture and help them apply it to their lives.

Be a Mentor

Mentors guide residents living at our transitional living houses, people recently released from jail or prison, and families who are moving out of homelessness. These mentors meet individually with a client once a week to offer support and guidance. Mentors listen to their mentees' struggles, offer them emotional support, and encourage them in their spiritual walk. Meetings may take place in a variety of settings. As a mentor, you will meet a critical role for a person who is learning what it looks like to walk with Christ.

support recovery

Lead small groups of residents in The Genesis Process, a curriculum that gets to the root of destructive behaviors and helps participants find healing and lasting freedom.

Go Inside

Our Breaking Chains ministry needs volunteers willing to go inside jails and detention centers to be mentors or instructors in Jobs for Life classes and Genesis Process classes. This is a unique opportunity to minister to the poor in spirit. Our goal is to prepare these men and women for their re-entry back into the community. We are building small teams of volunteers to go into Fayette County Detention Center, Jessamine County Detention Center, Madison County Detention Center, Woodford County Detention Center, Northpoint Training Center, and Blackburn Correctional Complex to teach these classes to men and women who are incarcerated.