- October 14, 2024
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Alicia Sanchez begins every prayer with “Dear God.”
The Ormond-by-the-Sea resident has said that phrase a lot, especially in the last five years as she experienced health issues, which eventually led to her being unable to have children. It was a tough time in her life. She always wanted to have a daughter, and one day, be able to teach her how to sew.
As she was recovering from a hysterectomy, she dealt with depression. But, through that, she said she discovered the value of having someone’s time. Those connections helped her, and sparked the inspiration for her first book in 2016 about the “road trip of life.” Sanchez, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, titled the book, “Dear God Are We There Yet?”
After that, Sanchez realized she wanted to do more. So, she founded a volunteer travel community, titled after her book, with the aim to connect people with peer-to-peer volunteer opportunities across the globe. “Dear God” is an analogy Sanchez said — it can represent whomever someone speaks to about their life.
What is peer-to-peer? It’s getting to know exactly who you’re helping, Sanchez said.
“A lot of people help organizations and communities, and sometimes they don’t know where the help is going, or sometimes they don’t know what happened after the fact,” Sanchez said. “That’s what really sets us apart.”
Unfortunately, Sanchez ran into a big roadblock right from the start: COVID-19.
Knowing that a pandemic wasn’t going to stop the need for help around the world, she decided to take her community efforts virtual. Some of the opportunities on her website include tutoring children, translating services, becoming pen pals with people living in an assisted living facility and simply spending time on the phone or in a video call with someone who has had a family member recently die from COVID-19.
Everyone has felt anxiety at one point due to the pandemic, Sanchez said. On the flip side, many people have more time on their hands, and Sanchez said that when you take that time and invest it in helping people, you gain a different perspective.
“That’s how I knew that it was more than myself,” Sanchez said. “I knew that I wasn’t in this world by myself. I knew that it’s a combination of people helping me on this journey, and that’s what volunteering is.”
One time, Sanchez volunteered with ProjectElev8, a nonprofit that aims to teach skills to children in need in Haiti. Sanchez, who started off her professional journey in fashion, went over to teach girls in an orphanage how to sew. While she is a strong believer in helping people, she doesn’t approve of the groups that travel to third world countries to give money or item donations to the people that live there. Growing up in the Dominican Republic, she saw a lot of those groups
Sanchez might’ve been the girls’ teacher, but she learned a lot from the girls as well.
“That’s the experience that shaped my life,” Sanchez said. “To help someone, you’re not taking anything from them. You are adding to it.”
Another phrase Sanchez repeats a lot? You don't have to be rich or famous to help people.
Within 30 days of launching Dear God Are We There Yet?, about 50 people had registered to volunteer virtually. It was Sanchez’s hope through COVID-19, and then, she started receiving emails expressing gratitude for the effort. Once the pandemic is over, she hopes her website will be able to physically connect volunteers with causes worldwide.
Sanchez is now a mom of a one-year-old daughter, who was carried by her wife, and this is the legacy she wishes to leave behind for her.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be there tomorrow,” Sanchez said. “I don’t know if I’m going to be there the next week, and leaving that imprinted in while we raise her, but also for her, she is going to see something new in her generation that she probably would’ve never experienced.”
Visit deargodarewethereyet.com
