Detour Detroit is all about community — which is why I am so thrilled to announce the launch of our new event series, Detour DoGooders.

As we reflect on all that has haunted us over the last 18 months — pandemic terror, racial and ethnic injustices, political strife and turmoil — and as we listened to our readers — we realized how much we all need a collective way to give back, and move forward, together.

With the DoGooders event series, we’ll roll up our sleeves, get a little dirty and make our city better — together. Afterwards, we’ll celebrate with free food and drinks served up by local Detroit vendors. We call it “social service.” We’re kicking things off us Oct. 2 with a members-only social at Detroit Abloom, a farm that’s been growing in Detroit’s Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood since 2015 and is a beacon for the east side community. (Members can RSVP here.)

We’re excited to welcome Detour members to the flower farm, where we will spend a couple hours getting dirty, restoring and rebuilding flower beds, before enjoying an unforgettable afterglow on Detroit Abloom’s campus with a delicious outdoor farm-to-table meal, beverages and live music from bassist and beatmaker stephn-b.

Not a Detour member yet? When you contribute a few bucks a month to join the Detour crew, you’re showing up for community-focused local news — and you’ll score an invite to all of our DoGooders events. (Not to mention the local biz discounts and coming soon… tote bags!) Talk about a membership that truly matters.

Detour readers have often told me — and shown us — that they are passionate about staying active in Detroit by getting involved with the people and orgs that make the city thrive. Simply put, you really care. When you join Detour, you’re showing you care about sustaining local journalism, and we’ll work together to pay it forward with you, in part by supporting places like Detroit Abloom.

If you’re ready to do some good — or you’re eager to join in on the volunteering fun at the first DoGooders event — join Detour today.

In the next few months, we’ll be pitching in to help out at a couple other nonprofits that make Detroit a better place (and were recommended by Detour readers), and keeping the “social” part going strong with afterglows at our favorite venues. I hope I’ll see you at one of the upcoming DoGooders events — or better yet, all of them.

Thank you so much for your support.

Detour DoGooders is funded in part by the Facebook Journalism Project.