A woman smiling, wearing a white knit cap and a white T-shirt with black text and graphics, standing indoors. The T-shirt features a snowboarder silhouette, and phrases like "Make Meals," "25 Years Strong," "Gobbler Gobble Give 2022," and "Not War!". There is a pink and white sign reading "HELLO I VOLUNTEERED. YOU SHOULD TOO." in front of her. 
VOLUNTEER

It’s Giving Detroit is run 100% on volunteers like you. We literally could not do this without you and our community.

Whether you can help for an hour or two, or all day, we appreciate your help.

Can’t come on Thanksgiving Day? We have plenty of volunteer opportunities leading up to the event and throughout the year.

Have a teen who needs volunteer hours? Contact us!

EVENT DAY VOLUNTEER POSITIONS

SET UP

People gather around tables with food and drinks in a large indoor space with high ceilings and chandeliers.

For the early birds: Donations start coming in very early in the morning as people get on the road for their Thanksgiving plans, so we need volunteers there as early as 6 am for set up. Getting all the tables ready for the food assembly line, the clothing and toiletries sorting, grills and sternos fired up, signs hung for directions and donation drop offs, we need all hands on deck.

Warm clothing comes in droves and needs to be sorted! There will be large tables set and you can sort clothing according to Men & Women, then Coats, Sweaters/Sweatshirts Pants Etc. Then clothing can be sorted by size and placed in bags with an outfit, including a coat for each community member.

CLOTHING SORT

A large pile of folded clothes and t-shirts on a white table, including jeans, t-shirts, and other apparel.

After the food has been lined up and reheated to perfection it’s time to assemble! We need all hands on deck to plate all the turkey, sides, and desserts, along with bottled water into takeaway containers, and handled grocery bags to get out into the community for those in need.

People serving and browsing food at an indoor food event or market with tables, boxes, and trays of food, including desserts, in a spacious, industrial-style venue.

FOOD

ASSEMBLY

Cars pull through the side alley to drop off donations of hot food, clothing and toiletries. We need volunteers at the door ready to take donations and get them to the proper place for distribution. When all the bags are packed, you’ll load them into the cars of volunteers and send them on their way.

People organizing and distributing supplies in an outdoor area next to a mural painted on a building wall, with table and tires in the background.

DONATION RETRIEVAL & LOADING

While we do not cook any food at our event, we have grills donated every year to make sure all the food is reheated to perfection if needed, we need (wo)manpower on the grills!

Charcoal and glowing red embers on a grill, ready for cooking food for Gobble Gobble Give Detroit to feed those in need.

GRILL

Every person in need gets a bag full of travel size toiletries. We have items sorted and labeled on tables. Grab a drawstring backpack or bag and grab one of each item. This is a great job for the little ones!

TOILETRY BAGS

A display of various dental hygiene products donated and delivered to those in need by Gobble Gobble Give Detroit hosted by It’s Giving Detroit, Emily Stocker
Car trunk filled with donations from Gobble Gobble Give Detroit hosted by It’s Giving Detroit by Emily Stocker

We will give you a map of locations for either organizations that we will be delivering to, or known locations around the city where we know there are those in need.

DRIVERS

It may not be a glamorous job, but we are committed to making sure Bert’s Warehouse is immaculate when we leave. We could not do the is event without the donation of his space for us every year, and we appreciate him so much.

CLEAN UP

Bert's Warehouse Theater the annual host for Gobble Gobble Give Detroit by It’s Giving Detroit by Emily Stocker