The resident story program that runs itself.
Porchlight gives every enrolled resident a friendly 15 minute phone call each week. The call is a real conversation about their life: growing up, first jobs, raising a family, the things they are proud of. After each call, the conversation is written up as a polished memoir chapter and published to a private page that their family can read. The page grows every week, and by the end of a year it reads like a book.
What it asks of your team
Enrollment takes about ten minutes per resident. You share the resident’s name, their phone number, and a good time to call, and you confirm that the consent form is signed. After that the program runs on its own. Nobody on your staff joins the calls, sets up a device, or manages a schedule. There is nothing to charge, update, or troubleshoot.
Why communities run Porchlight
Families see something new every week.
A daughter two states away reads a story from her father’s childhood every Friday. Each chapter is a concrete reminder that your community cares for who residents are, not just what they need.
Residents get a dedicated listener.
A weekly conversation about their own life becomes a standing appointment many residents genuinely look forward to.
It gives your tours a sentence people remember.
Every resident here is writing a memoir.
It fits the calendar you already run.
Porchlight slots into your activities program as a weekly line item that requires no room, no supplies, and no staffing.
Privacy, plainly stated
Every resident signs a consent form before their first call. Stories are published only to an unlisted private page shared with people the family chooses, and any story can be removed at any time with a single request. Porchlight never asks about health, medications, or care.
Why I built this
I’m David Li, a Caltech student. I built Porchlight after my grandpa passed away. He always wanted to write his memoir, but between his day to day life and me being buried in schoolwork, we never actually sat down and did it. After he was gone, I kept thinking about everything I never got to ask him. Porchlight is the tool I wish had existed then, so the residents in your community don’t lose their stories the way I lost his.
The pilot
We are enrolling two pilot communities in Clark County, Washington right now. A pilot runs 90 days for up to ten residents at no cost, and we handle the enrollment paperwork with you. At the end you will have ten families who have been reading new chapters for three months, and we will have earned the right to talk about continuing.
Ask us for the two minute demo. You will hear a short excerpt of a real interview call and then read the chapter it became.