Father Joe’s Villages Manages 78,000 Volunteer Hours a Year with VolunteerHub
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Father Joe’s Villages is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive homeless services provider in San Diego. With a mission to prevent and end homelessness one life at a time, the organization delivers a wide range of services, including housing, healthcare, behavioral health recovery, food services, workforce training, and more.
Our Director of Marketing, Eric Burger, sat down with Liza Heredia, Manager of Volunteer Services at Father Joe’s Villages, to discuss the organization’s holistic approach to care, the critical role volunteers play in supporting thousands of neighbors each year, and how VolunteerHub helps their team manage more than 6,000 volunteers efficiently while strengthening engagement and retention.
Can You Share a Little Bit About Your Role at Father Joe’s Villages?
Liza: As the Manager of Volunteer Services, I oversee volunteer engagement, the daily operations of our volunteer program, and the overall strategy behind our work. My role really sits at the intersection of community engagement and direct service.
Daily, I collaborate with program managers and leaders across the organization to address volunteer needs, coordinate volunteers across departments, manage VolunteerHub, oversee volunteer data, and ensure our volunteers feel welcomed and connected to our mission.
I also serve as the liaison to our Ladies Guild, which has a long-standing history with Father Joe’s Villages. Supporting their fundraising and volunteer efforts — and making sure everything aligns with our mission — is an important and meaningful part of my role.
What Is Father Joe’s Villages’ Mission, and What Services Do You Provide?
Liza: Father Joe’s Villages is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive homeless services provider in our region. Our mission is to prevent and end homelessness one life at a time.
We provide healthcare, shelter, permanent housing, behavioral health recovery programs, workforce training, food services, and more to individuals, families, veterans, seniors, and others in need. What makes our organization unique is our holistic approach — we don’t just address one issue, but support people through all stages of their journey toward stability.
What Does Your Impact Look Like at a High Level?
Liza: Each year, we serve thousands of neighbors in need across San Diego. In 2025 alone, we welcomed more than 2,100 men, women, and children into housing. We served 9,000 hungry neighbors meals, supported 407 families through our programs, engaged with over 36,000 patients at our Village Health Center, and provided more than 20,000 showers through our San Diego Day Center.
Across the year, we serve up to one million meals.
How Many Volunteers Support Father Joe’s Villages Each Year?
Liza: Last year, we engaged more than 6,300 volunteers who contributed over 78,000 hours of service. Volunteers are essential to our work — we wouldn’t be able to provide the level of care and services we do without them.
What Were the Flaws with Your Volunteer Management Process Before VolunteerHub?
Liza: Before implementing VolunteerHub, we relied on an outdated system along with manual processes like spreadsheets, emails, and paper sign-in sheets.
Managing scheduling, tracking hours, and maintaining consistent communication at that scale was extremely challenging. We weren’t always able to send reminders, follow up after shifts, or stay connected with volunteers in a meaningful way.
There was a gap in engagement and retention — not because we didn’t care, but because we simply didn’t have the capacity or tools to keep up. As our organization continued to grow, it became clear that our process wasn’t built to scale.
What Feedback Do You Hear Most Often from Volunteers About VolunteerHub?
Liza: The most consistent feedback we hear is how easy it is to use — and that comes from volunteers of all ages, including many senior volunteers. Accessibility is incredibly important, especially since so many volunteers are signing up on their mobile devices.
When volunteers tell us it’s easy to browse opportunities and sign up for multiple dates, that’s a win. A positive first experience is a big part of retention.
How Important Is Mobile Access for Your Volunteers?
Liza: It’s extremely important. The majority of our volunteers are browsing and signing up on their phones or tablets, so having a user-friendly, mobile-accessible platform is critical.
How Does VolunteerHub Support Your Team Day to Day?
Liza: VolunteerHub is something we open every day alongside our email. It helps with communication and allows department leads across the organization to see who’s coming in, identify regular volunteers or corporate groups, and prepare for the day.
It also helps us learn and improve. If someone doesn’t show up for a shift, we can follow up and have those conversations. That level of visibility helps us stay connected and show care for our volunteers.
What Was It Like Learning and Implementing VolunteerHub?
Liza: It was overwhelming at first because we were moving from something very manual to something modern, and we wanted to make sure everything was set up correctly. We manage thousands of volunteers and more than 20 programs, so there was a lot of responsibility.
The training videos were incredibly helpful because we could pause, practice, and build our site step by step. The flexibility of VolunteerHub made a huge difference, and the support team was essential throughout the process — and still is today.
What Has Your Experience Been with VolunteerHub Support?
Liza: The support has been incredibly important. Even now, we still reach out when we have questions or need guidance. Knowing that someone is there to help and walk us through things has made a huge difference and helped us feel confident using the system.
Where Do You See the Most Value from VolunteerHub?
Liza: One of the biggest areas of value is how volunteers can independently browse and filter events. Once they realize they can find opportunities that fit their interests and availability, we get fewer questions and less back-and-forth.
Volunteers really like having control over what they sign up for, and that independence has been incredibly successful for us.
How Would You Describe Your Overall Return on Investment?
Liza: VolunteerHub has strengthened our engagement with volunteers, improved retention, and allowed us to manage all of our opportunities in one place. It provides measurable data and helps demonstrate our community impact.
People’s time has value — including our team’s time — and VolunteerHub has absolutely delivered a return on that investment by connecting our community more effectively to our mission.
If Someone in San Diego Wants to Volunteer, How Do They Get Started?
Liza: The best place to start is our website at my.neighbor.org. There’s a volunteer tab where people can explore opportunities, learn more about our mission, and submit an interest form. One of our coordinators follows up quickly to help them get connected.
