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Challenge Detroit had the opportunity to host an amazing game night for the gentleman of Mariner’s Inn. Mariner’s Inn serves as a safe haven for men battling homelessness and substance abuse. “I have never won anything in life and today I won twice” is the quote one of the Mariner’s Inn gentlemen told me after game night that seems to resonate with me still to this day. I feel that we often take for granted what we do have and what others don’t; making us become less sensitive to people and their situations. Where I was thinking, “he only won a pair of socks and a Subway card”, he was thinking this was one of the coolest days of his life because he actually WON. I feel from this simple experience I learned not only the power of giving back to someone but to also never take what I have for granted because my situation could be different.

Seeing the smiles on the faces of the gentleman will be something that I never forget. Not because of the impact I made on them but the impact they made on me. We laughed, played games and even had some great conversations about how life is while being at Mariner’s Inn. No matter what the current situation was, that night, everybody had a great time and loved the company of one another. This was so impactful because out of everything that those men go through and have been through, Challenge Detroit was able to be that escape for those few hours. To be honest I wasn’t so optimistic about going in there at first but once experiencing and being inside it literally changed my perspective in the matter of minutes. I had a great time with the gentleman of Mariner’s Inn and plan on going back to volunteer at a later date.