44 | JULY 14 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

R

epair the World 
Detroit and The 
Well both nominat-
ed Lindsay Ottersen, 38, of 
Detroit as Volunteer of the 
Week for her active dedication 
to giving back throughout the 
community. 
“Lindsay came to a Detroit 
Community Fridge cooking 
event this past winter having 
not heard of the community 
aid project before and now 
routinely drops off food for 
the fridges out of the kind-
ness of her heart,” said Rachel 
Wasserman, a senior fellow 
with Repair the World Detroit. 
Ottersen says she has had a 
passion to volunteer since she 
was a teen and continues to 
give back when she can. 

Ottersen, a Michigan native, 
briefly moved to Texas and 
then returned to Gross Pointe. 
She now calls Detroit her 
home. 
“When I moved into the 
city, I thought it was super 

important to try to engage in 
the community and make an 
effort to volunteer with a few 
different organizations,” she 
said.
Covenant House, which 
offers support services to 

young people in need, is one 
of the organizations. Ottersen 
had been on the board of the 
nonprofit for the last three 
years and recently stepped 
down to focus on exams for 
her career. 
“These are young adults, 
between the ages of 18 to 24, 
who are kind of in limbo as 
far as trying to get on their 
feet after being released into 
the community from foster 
care or whatever they were 
in,” she said.
One of the organizations 
biggest fundraisers is Sleep 
Out, where once a year in 
the middle of winter they 
sleep out in solidarity to 
raise funds for the organi-
zation.

Meet Lindsay Ottersen, the volunteer who keeps on giving.
Helping the Community Grow 

RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR

VOLUNTEER OF THE WEEK

TOP: Group photo during 
Covenant House’s annual 
Sleep Out.

LEFT: Lindsay Ottersen.

RIGHT: Polar Plunge – 
Lindsay Ottersen after the 
Polar Plunge, a fundrais-
er for Special Olympics 
Michigan, in 2022.

continued on page 46

