Live. Work. Play. Lead. Give. The five pillars of Challenge Detroit help guide the fellows in interacting with the city via multiple platforms. We live here everyday, the play part is easy enough given all the events that go on in the city, we work with our host companies, and we lead every Friday through challenges; so then when do we give?

The Saturday before Thanksgiving the fellows donated their time and driving abilities to the long standing non-profit Focus: Hope. Focus: Hope has been working in Detroit for close to 50 years in a multitude of avenues, one of their main services provides food for families in need and home-bound seniors. As the holiday of abundance approached, the fellows decided to give back to those who might not always find this time of year rich in food and family. At Focus: Hope there is a variety of activities for volunteers to do, lots of individuals, families, and corporations work in the warehouse sorting donations and creating boxes of non-perishable food items for those in need. Fellows took up the mantel of delivering those boxes and meals to home-bound seniors in the community. We were able to meet so many people and connect individually to those in need, who were extremely grateful for Focus: Hope and our help.

Giving back to Detroit and the various communities within it is a central pillar in Challenge Detroit; giving is at the forefront of every fellow’s minds and
efforts. Each individual fellow volunteers at least four hours a month to various organizations where they can lend their specific talents and passions. Even though all the fellows have a wide variety of interests it’s important that we still come together as a group to create larger impact, which we were able to do at Focus: Hope. Together the
fellows provided a week’s worth of food for over 30 families in all of the seven districts of Detroit. The fellows loved being able to give back to Detroit communities together, and we look forward to more events where we can compound our impact by combining our efforts and talents. Our giving has just begun!