Help asked plainly. Help given freely.
Ask for help. Offer help. Pitch in.
A meal, a ride, a move, a hand on a hard day. Lightwork is the free app for asking when you need help — and showing up when you can. No group required — though churches, neighborhoods, schools, and small nonprofits use it too.
Free to use. Works on iOS, Android, and the web.
How it works
Three steps from “I could use a hand” to done.
- 01
Ask plainly
Post what you need in a sentence — a meal this week, a lift to an appointment, help moving a couch. No forms, no fuss, no explaining yourself.
- 02
Neighbors see it
Share it on the public feed and anyone nearby can offer a hand — no group required — or keep it to a group you belong to: your church, your street, your school. Either way, helping is one tap.
- 03
Someone shows up
You coordinate the details in the app and the need gets met. Small acts, stacked up, are what carry a community.
A look inside
See what showing up for each other looks like.
Real screens from the app, with the kinds of asks neighbors make every day.
The feed
Every open ask, in one place.
A ride to the airport, cookies for a hospital shift, a Saturday cleanup — see what's open right now, and how many neighbors have already said yes.
Asking
Ask plainly. It takes about thirty seconds.
Say what you need in a sentence, choose who can see it, and share your name or stay anonymous. No campaign, no explaining yourself.
Showing up
Then it’s just people showing up.
Time, place, and how many hands are needed all live on the request, so nobody has to chase a thread to find out where to be.
And the rest of the day‑to‑day
A map of what’s needed
Open asks near you, pin by pin.
Sorting the details
Real-time chat on every request — who brings what, and when.
Your groups
An HOA, a church, a school parents’ group, a volunteer circle.
Who it’s for
One app for every kind of community.
Just you and a neighbor
No group to join — ask someone nearby directly, or offer to help, one on one.
Churches & faith communities
Care teams and congregations coordinating meals, rides, and visits.
Neighborhoods
The block that trades tools, watches pets, and checks on each other.
Schools & parent groups
Room parents and PTAs rallying help around families.
Mutual-aid circles
Groups pooling time and hands where they’re needed most.
Small nonprofits
Lean teams turning volunteers into shown-up, on-time help.
Somewhere we’re starting first: a free help app for Madison County, Kentucky, and organizations in Madison County that need volunteers.
Why Lightwork
You already have a way to ask. This one actually works.
Most help gets coordinated in a group text, a Facebook group, or a spreadsheet that half-works. Here’s where Lightwork is different.
| What you can do | Lightwork | Group chat | Sheet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asks stay put instead of scrolling away | Yes | No | Somewhat | Yes |
| Offer to help with a single tap | Yes | No | No | No |
| See exactly who’s coming | Yes | Somewhat | Somewhat | Yes |
| Ask privately — or anonymously | Yes | No | No | No |
| Keep an ask private to your group when you want | Yes | Yes | Somewhat | Yes |
| Free, with no ads | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
What you get
Built so asking for help feels safe.
Private by default
Ask anonymously when you need to. Your identity is never revealed unless you choose to share it — end to end.
As open or as close as you choose
Post to the public feed and anyone nearby can lend a hand — no group required — or keep it private to a group you belong to: your church, your street, your school. You choose who sees each one.
A map of what’s needed
See open asks near you at a glance, so offering a hand is as easy as noticing one.
Direct, safe messaging
Coordinate the details one-to-one. Requests you decline simply disappear — no awkwardness, no pressure.
Everywhere you are
One account across iOS, Android, and the web. Start on your phone, finish on your laptop.
Free, and built to stay kind
No ads, no selling attention. Lightwork measures help given, not time spent.
What you can count on
Trust you can check, not just take our word for.
We’re new, and we won’t pretend otherwise. Instead of borrowed logos or made-up reviews, here’s what’s true of Lightwork from day one.
Private by default
Ask anonymously whenever you need to. Your name stays hidden end to end unless you choose to share it — not with helpers, not with us.
You choose who sees it
Post to the public feed and anyone nearby can see it and help — no group required — or keep an ask private to a group you belong to: your church, your street, your school. And you can always ask anonymously.
Free forever, no ads
Asking and helping are free, and we don’t sell your attention or your data. Lightwork measures help given, not time spent.
On every device
One account across iOS, Android, and the web. Start an ask on your phone and pick it up on your laptop.
Questions
The honest answers, up front.
Is Lightwork really free?
Yes. Asking for help and offering it are free — no ads, no catch, and we don’t sell your attention or your data. Organizations that use Lightwork to coordinate volunteers pay for that. A neighbor helping a neighbor never does.
Do small groups and churches have to pay?
No. If you’re one person keeping something going — a meal train, a mowing rota, a care team — the tools for it are free, including co-managers, a repeating schedule, and coverage you can see ahead of time. You can run as many groups and as many repeating programs as you like without paying. What’s paid for is the organization layer: a verified badge on the help you sponsor, oversight across groups your staff never joined, and the volunteer-hour records your funders ask for.
Can we report volunteer hours to our funder?
Yes. From your organization dashboard, pick a date range and export a plain CSV of the hours recorded against the help you sponsor — who served, when, what they did, and whether each hour is attested. Every row is valued two ways: a narrative impact figure, and, if you enter your own labor-market rate, a federal-match figure — so hours can be verified in your own records the way a federal match requires.
Can the people we serve use it without an account?
Yes. You can ask on someone’s behalf, so the person receiving help never has to download anything or sign up. Their address, contact, and access notes stay hidden until a helper signs up for that date — and then only that helper can see them.
Who can see what I ask for?
You choose. Post to the public feed and anyone nearby can offer to help — no group required — or, if you’d rather keep it closer to home, share it privately with a group you belong to: your church, your street, your school. Either way you can ask anonymously, and your name is never shown unless you choose to share it.
Do I need to join a group?
No. Asking and helping both work without one — post to the public feed, or browse open asks nearby, and no group is required for either. Groups are there if you want to keep something closer to a specific circle, like your church, your street, or your school, but they’re never a precondition.
How is this different from a group text or a Facebook group?
In a group chat, an ask scrolls away in minutes and no one’s sure who’s got it. In Lightwork each ask stands on its own: people offer with a tap, you see who’s coming, and you sort the details privately. Nothing gets lost, and no one feels put on the spot.
What kind of help can I ask for?
Anything a neighbor could do. A meal this week, a ride to an appointment, a hand moving a couch, a check-in after a new baby or a hard stretch. If you’d ask a friend, you can ask here.
Which devices does it work on?
iPhone, Android, and the web — one account across all three. Start an ask on your phone and pick it up on your laptop.
How do I get my community started?
Sign up free and post your first ask — publicly is the fastest way to get a hand. When you want to keep things closer to a specific circle, create a group for the people around you and invite them in. Either way: small acts, stacked up, are what carry a community.
Related reading
The part nobody talks about.
Your community is one ask away from showing up.
Ask for help and see who pitches in. It’s free.