Stories

As a neuroscience student finishing his first year at Wayne State University, Quentin Todd knew it would be essential for him to build up volunteer experience in order to pursue his eventual goal of applying to medical school. Enter: SHARE Detroit. Quentin first learned about SHARE Detroit a few months earlier, so he already knew the perfect place to start looking for his summer plans. Due to the simplicity of our website, Quentin was able to sort through a variety of volunteer options in order to find the opportunity that was best for him.

Quentin spent the summer of 2024 volunteering with Crossroads, a nonprofit devoted to delivering resources such as food, clothing items, and hygiene products to those in need. Much of Quentin’s time at Crossroads was spent as a client impact associate where he would have one-on-one discussions with clients about their needs. In this position, Quentin was trained on how to communicate with clients, specifically in terms of what questions needed to be asked to serve them better. This volunteer experience helped Quentin develop the skills essential for a student on the pre-medical track.

Bill Sullivan, Crossroads’ Executive Director, described the organization’s philosophy on volunteering as such: “Volunteering at Crossroads is different. It is never about us or the jobs we need help with. It is purely about the volunteer and our role in helping them find the personal purpose they seek within themselves through service. We call this their ‘caring power’ and it is an honor to serve our volunteers by being intentional with their gift, as they serve our clients.  We become consistently better in our work this way because we’ve gotten clear on our role in the world. Volunteering at Crossroads is different.” At Crossroads, volunteers like Quentin can serve their community while finding their own sense of enrichment.

Quentin also volunteered at Crossroads’ weekly soup kitchen, a service made possible by another SHARE Detroit partner: Forgotten Harvest. Forgotten Harvest donates food to Crossroads and from there, in Quentin’s words, “over a hundred individuals [a week] are provided foods from fruits and vegetables, meats, and even many baked sweet treats!” This program has inspired Quentin to continue volunteering with Crossroads: “Seeing the countless smiles of clients of all ages with full bags of goods time after time kept bringing me back to Crossroads, and even now as school has begun again, I will make every effort to continue to support this organization.”

Quentin’s experience exemplifies what the mission of SHARE Detroit is all about: connecting community members to organizations that satisfy their need to do good. It is this goal that led Crossroads to partner with SHARE Detroit in the first place. Of our partnership, Bill commented, “When we realized that SHARE Detroit and Crossroads share an important role in our community, we knew we found the best possible partner for finding the highest quality of volunteers. And they prove us right every day.” Bill further summarized our complementary aims: “We see ourselves as facilitators of love, between those who have it to give, and those who need it.”

When Quentin came to SHARE Detroit, he was in need of volunteer experience and during his time at Crossroads, he gained a greater appreciation for community service. Quentin reflects, “None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the reliability of SHARE Detroit and the simplicity of the website. I would not have known where to start in my volunteer search, but SHARE made this all possible and sped up the search process greatly!” 

You, too, can start your volunteer journey at SHARE Detroit by finding nonprofits, volunteer opportunities, events, and wish lists. Doing good is just a few clicks away!