Volunteering on homelessness in and near Palo Alto

Homelessness services near Palo Alto have changed a lot since 2025. Downtown Streets Team, which put unhoused people to work cleaning downtown sidewalks for two decades, closed. Hotel de Zink, the rotating church shelter run with congregation volunteers, is now being written about in the past tense. What remains is a smaller set of organizations that take volunteers in specific, well-defined roles.

This guide lists those groups and what they asked of volunteers in fall 2026. If you need help yourself, or want to point someone to it, use our homelessness services guide instead. It has the shelter hotline, meal times and safe parking contacts.

LifeMoves

LifeMoves runs interim housing and services for people experiencing homelessness across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. In Palo Alto it runs the Opportunity Services Center at 33 Encina Avenue near Town and Country Village, a weekday drop-in center for single adults with food, clothing, showers, laundry and case management. Other sites near Palo Alto include LifeMoves Mountain View, an interim housing community for families, couples and individuals.

Meal service

LifeMoves says more than 1,500 unhoused families and individuals in its programs rely on its meals. Volunteer groups can provide a full meal, serve it or both. Its rules:

1. Come as a group of at least three. Families, friends, coworkers, companies, community and faith groups are all welcome.
2. Check the minimum age for the site you pick. It varies by location.
3. If you provide food, plan to feed the whole site. Each location lists how many meals it needs.
4. Bring homemade food cooked off site, catered food or a mix, following LifeMoves' nutrition policy and food safety guidelines.

Choose a site and date on the LifeMoves meals page, which covers sites in both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Seasonal drives

• Thanksgiving: provide a meal, build Holiday Dinner Baskets, decorate a site or volunteer your time.
• Winter holidays: organize a gift drive, decorate a site or host a holiday event.
• Summer: student volunteers and in-kind donations support a summer camp for children experiencing homelessness.

Other openings appear on the LifeMoves volunteering page.

WeHOPE in East Palo Alto

WeHOPE runs a shelter and services at 1854 Bay Road in East Palo Alto. Its volunteer page lists hands-on roles that suit people who want to work at the shelter itself:

WeHOPE does not post age rules on the page. Apply through the WeHOPE volunteer page or call (650) 330-8000. Client engagement is a good fit if you can teach a practical skill, such as resume writing or budgeting.

Ecumenical Hunger Program

The Ecumenical Hunger Program on Pulgas Avenue in East Palo Alto serves low-income families with food, clothing and household goods. Volunteers sort clothing and household goods in its community closet, pack food boxes and help at the front desk. Email volunteers@ehpcares.org or call (650) 323-7781, extension 1200. Our guide to volunteering against hunger lists its roles in full.

What happened to Downtown Streets Team

Downtown Streets Team was founded in Palo Alto in 2005. Its members, many of them unhoused, cleaned streets and creeks in exchange for basic needs stipends and help finding work and housing. The organization announced it would close all operations effective October 31, 2025. Old directory listings that still show its volunteer sign-ups are out of date.

Hotel de Zink

Hotel de Zink was a rotating shelter for homeless adults set up by Palo Alto churches and run by the nonprofit InnVision, which later became LifeMoves. A 2007 Almanac report described a host congregation housing 15 guests at a time. A 2024 congregation listing asked members to cover dinner for guests each night. In June 2026 LifeMoves shared an opinion piece titled "Honoring the legacy of Hotel de Zink," describing more than three decades of volunteer work inside local congregations. We found no 2026 volunteer listing for the shelter. If your congregation took part, ask its outreach committee what replaced it.

Community meals run by churches

The city's resource lists include several free community meals hosted by local congregations and ministries. They include a Sunday evening meal at Peninsula Bible Church on Middlefield Road, Streetlife Ministries dinners in Palo Alto and Menlo Park and St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room in Menlo Park, which the city lists as serving lunch Monday to Saturday. We did not find current volunteer pages for these programs, so contact them directly and ask whether they take outside volunteers or only their own members. Times are in our food assistance guide.

Before your first shift

Volunteering in homeless services is closer to hospitality than charity. Guests are adults with their own routines. The best volunteers follow the staff's lead and treat each guest the way they would treat a neighbor. A few habits help:

• Attend the orientation if one is offered. Ask what to do if a guest becomes upset or unwell.
• Keep conversations friendly and light. Let guests decide what they share about their situation.
• Do not give money or personal contact details. Point people to staff for requests you cannot handle.
• Show up as promised. Meal service is planned around the number of volunteers who signed up.

Bringing family or a group

Group meals are the most common way families help. LifeMoves meal service welcomes families in groups of three or more, with age limits set by each site. Youth Community Service in Palo Alto runs all-ages Service Pop Ups with partner organizations. Past events have supported LifeMoves Mountain View's interim housing community and the Ecumenical Hunger Program. Watch its Do Service calendar for dates. Our family volunteering guide has more ideas.

Other ways to help

• Learn the system. Santa Clara County's Here4You line, (408) 385-2400, handles shelter placement. Knowing the number lets you help someone on the spot.
• Support mental health. Many unhoused people also need mental health care. Our mental health resources guide lists local services.
• Give items that are asked for. Check each group's wish list before collecting. LifeMoves and EHP both describe drives they welcome, such as hygiene kits and school backpacks.
• Ask your congregation. Several Palo Alto churches serve meals listed on the city's resource pages and recruit from their own members.

Frequently asked questions