Stay Tranquilo - Living A Life of Service with the Founders of The Non Profit - Corazones De Servicio

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

In the latest episode of the Stay Tranquilo Podcast, powered by Stay Tranquilo, we are joined by the Founders of the non profit, Corazones De Servicio. Founders Chloe Labrada, Elena Consuegra, and Ariana Rubio, speak on their love for service after doing many mission trip with Blue Missions and how it help drive the idea of Corazones. Check out the full episode and let us know your thoughts in the comments! #staytranquilo Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We all met each other so deep into like what we thought was our life past and like we have no idea where we're going from now. And it's just like every time someone asks me, I'm like the one word I can use describe is like this is like insane. It's insane. Like one day you wake up and she'll like texting our group chat every once in a while and she's like, can you guys, we're co-founder. Yeah. Yeah. That's a damee. You guys too crazy text in me a week. I can't believe that we co-founded a nonprofit and the second one is like a four a.m., like guys I have an idea.

That is the scariest time. It can go both of one ways. The late night talks about. Yes. You're like, exactly. I'll add on to like the shower ideas and all these things. And it's like it comes from so much experience. Like when you have, it's just you and your heart in one amazing,

beautiful place, like surrounded by amazingly beautiful people. All right. What is going on? Everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Stay Tranquilo podcast. We are here with the Corazon team, a long over. Overdue conversation, but very happy that we were able to make this happen and have everybody here. So we'll go down everybody and have you guys do your introduction and then we'll get into a little bit about

Khorazone. Hello everyone. My name's Elena Consoagra. Hi, my name's Chloe Laudada. And I'm Ariana Rubio. So Khorazone is obviously something that you three all started. But before we talk about Khorazone, I want to kind of get each one of you's perspective on how Kourazone started. and kind of what Coraeson means to each one of you.

Sort of my time. Okay. So Corsone's sort of origin story is kind of a long one. We got here after a lot of years of service work and friendship and just thinking what we could do with the things that we love to do and with like the objectives that we've set for ourselves in the service world. So I actually, we met in the D.R. all three of us. Oh, okay.

Yeah. I met Chloe in 2018. I had to double check this with her, but 2018, I was leading a trip where she was a volunteer in the DR. And Elena was also involved with that same nonprofit that we used to be volunteers for. And I had served with both of her sisters. I had never really met her, but I knew who she was, and I knew that she was going to eventually join us in the DR. And so we obviously all shared that love for service. We shared that love for the DR specifically.

We all met the same people, love the same people. And then in 2021, Chloe and I were co-leading a trip. And on that trip was the master of construction of this group. His name is Lingo. And we've all known him since we were 15, 16 years old. He's like a father to us. And that was the first time in 2021 that we saw him post-pandemic, which is when he had actually a really bad accident.

So he was working and a big tree bench hit his head. and he had a massive brain injury, was in a coma for a ton of days. We didn't know if he was going to make it. We didn't know what his condition would be like if he did make it. And thank God he did. And, you know, the following year,

he was back at work with us. And on that trip, I remember one day the group was settling down for dinner and we were sitting on the floor with him, just chatting. And that was the first end that he really told us about his experience with the injury

and the recovery and all that. And he shared with us this recurring dream that he had while he was in the coma. And I got emotional thinking about it. But it was a recurring dream of him being in the middle of a circle of children. He said that most of the children he recognized from his community, but there were just a bunch of children surrounding him and lifting him up. And so when he woke up, or before he woke up,

He says that he, you know, sort of prayed to God and said, you know, I don't know if I'm going to get a second chance. But if I do, I promise that for the rest of my life, I'm going to make sure that these kids, you know, are safe and that I do the best that I can to provide them a good, safe, healthy childhood. And he's always been really sort of anywhere we go, the children are attracted to him. He's the one handing out candy and playing games with them and all that stuff. But so he wakes up And the first thing that he tells his daughter Who was in the room with him Was to get his wallet and get everything that he had in there

And just buy candy for kids And to just go out on the street And just hand out the candy Wow I mean and this is a man that again Had just woken up Very close to death And that's his first thought

And he's sharing this with myself and Chloe And we're of course a mess Just crying Like I want you to just walk you to Like, imagine. Crying, sweaty. After a full day of work, we're like super disheveled and tired, and we're like tears. And so is he.

I mean, it's a super emotional story, right? And so as part of that conversation, he told us, you know, I really have this dream of doing some sort of like Christmas activity, some sort of toy drive for the kids in my community and the surrounding communities. And I'm pretty sure Chloe and I looked at us like immediately where we were like, We got this. We're doing that. And that was before, you know, like,

Corazones was even a thought or, you know, establishing a nonprofit was even a thought. We just said, you know, we're going to do this for him. So we set that up. I think we went, I went to the DR the following year in December, so December 2020. And so for the whole year prior, we fundraised, we bought the gifts, we shipped them to the DR,

it was a whole production. I mean, thinking back now, it was like, Honestly, I don't even know how you pulled it up. It was a craziness. Yeah. We were just kind of fundraising with our friends and just asking people for money for these toys and sharing with everybody the story of why we were doing it. And we had a massive support.

I mean, we had a bunch of people that fundraised for us or did toy drives. And I don't remember the numbers anymore, but it was over 500 kids, I'm pretty sure. That had been in the first round. Yeah. The first toy drive. And so I think like a couple of things happened in that year preparing for that toy drive. that started to open up our minds to think, you know, maybe like we can't do something and, like, what would that look like and just having those conversations?

And then when I came back, they went to the DR that summer. And I remember getting a text from her WhatsApp group chat. I think it was from Chloe and she was like, we're going to do it. We're starting the nonprofit and the name is Corazones de Servicio. Like that? Just like that. It wasn't, because you see, when you go through it, Like the name, it's like, guys, let's think about their name.

Like, let's write down something. It's like, no. It's because of, like, one of those things that, like, creeped up on you. Yeah. We used to have a whole spiel about, like, certain hearts, which we can get into. But so it made sense. I mean, but I remember getting the text on what time and being like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Make sense.

Okay. I was waiting for this. Yeah. And so I guess that was summer. That was like August, September of 2023. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

And then we just fundraised for the rest of the year. We filed. We filed our 5013. Which, I know that process is. Thank you. It was an in-house square. Yes. It was an insane process, right?

And like we're doing it. We didn't really have people to sort of guide us. It was a lot of us and Google and just prayer and work and, you know, but we got it done. No problem to you guys. I've always wanted to start a nonprofit of my own. I mean, even when I started statement on, I thought about making it a nonprofit and not a for-profit business. And one of the reasons why I ended up making it a for-profit business was, you know,

obviously I've always been like very entrepreneurial and I just do like the component of business in general. But everything always was about how can I give back at some capacity. And at the time when I was, I guess like a concept of Stay Tranquilo was like being born, I worked for kind bars, like kind snacks. Yeah. And the mentality, they're a for-profit business. he had this mentality of like the and versus or mentality like it doesn't have to be this or that it could be this and that like you could have a business that you could be a profitable business and you can do things to help the community so i remember hearing that and being like okay like i can do that i don't have to do one or the other i can i could do both right so i just say that story because i remember going down that rabbit hole of trying to start a five on one c three yeah and doing the whole youtube

Google and it was so overwhelming to me. I'm just like, I don't even know where to begin. Yeah. Like, it was a crazy process. I remember even calling Danny Rod from Blue and being like, this is what I'm thinking about doing. Like, what do I do? And then he gave me like a list of things.

I'm like, oh my God. I mean, not only is it overwhelming. I would say it's also super intimidating. Yes. Because obviously this was like a huge idea, a huge passion of ours. But the commitment of really, I mean, first of all, the commitment. commitment of putting your name on an IRS paper is already pregnant. Every time I saw her like, I had to put you as like some agent or whatever,

he's like, okay, but am I going to get arrested? She was like, what does that mean? To me it's like always so frightening. They're big and scary and I mean, it's just a lot. But it's intimidating because the nonprofit world, especially in Miami, is extremely saturated. And there are a lot of stereotypes. It's hard to kind of like break the mold of what people think a nonprofit is. so a lot of our battle was more of like we need to have this faith over fear component that we

we can't act out of fear we need to continue like we know our mission is so unique our approach with the projects is so unique and not only was it lingo story and our passion for serving in the DR it was really the amount of support that we received from everyone whether it's our family our friends like the community at large in the DR here in Miami is the most random people that are just so inspired by the concept of having a Corazon de Servi or like a servant heart is what showed us. We're like, okay, we're really on to something. People believe in us and we need to amplify this mission across every platform.

And obviously, nonprofit was our golden ticket. Of course. So the nonprofit that you guys mentioned was Blue Missions, right? Yeah. Of where you guys started. So I've done two Blue Trips as a chaperone. I never did it when I was in high school. It was something I always wanted to do, but unfortunately just never really had the opportunity to do it.

But it was always something that I wanted to do. Obviously, you see the social media and you're like, this looks awesome. And I want you guys to speak on this. I know obviously you've been extremely involved with blue as well. But when you're out there, there's a magic to the campo, you know? And it's pretty hard to describe in words. But when you're out there, you truly do feel it. One, you obviously come back with a very different perspective on things.

But you also just appreciate what the people out there and how they kind of perceive, how they live off the land, how they're very happy with very little. Yet you come back to, you know, the capitalistic America, and it's a hustle culture, and it's a very greedy culture. And just. Yeah. The dog eats dog. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

100%. And you come back and we're like, damn, we live in this mentality where it's always like, I want more. And I want more. doggy world. I want it now. Instant gratification and all these things. And then yet you see these people and they're living in a shack, you know, made out of palm trees and metal that wood, whatever they're able to basically get their hands on, but they have a smile on their face 24-7 and they're willing to get. And you're like, you have nothing. You, I should be giving everything to you. You should not be giving anything to me. So I want to hear your guys perspective on one, also,

how was that Blue Mission Strip? And then two, how obviously that helped inspire. I know you spoke a little bit on that, but you come back and realize that there's so much more to be done there. Blue obviously does all that for providing clean water to the communities, and that is essential to living and just everyday life. But house infrastructure is something that needs a ton of help. You know, their facilities, their schools, food, right?

I mean, it's endless when you go out there. So we'd love to hear your guys' perspective on it. So at least for us, we are first. trip started when we were in high school, so like 15, 16 years old. My first trip was actually with, like, I guess you can say, like, Blue's grandparent organization, which is founded by my father and basically one of my other, like, second dads. And basically the same ordeal in terms of the water and Sanitation crisis. They started building aqueducts since they were fresh out of high school, started their own nonprofit, out came out blue a couple years later.

and I'm being up by a couple, I mean like a good 15. 15. So, yeah, LIFO missions. And from a young age, LIFO stands for living instruments for others. And that was like a huge thing for my parents that they instilled in us when we were super young. And I was, I'm number four of five. So I were a huge family. And I grew up like just listening and like to them talking, bringing home pictures from all these mission trips.

So I like, part of me and I used to say leading all these trips, And I told them, like, from one of the first days, I met them that this was something that, like, was in my blood, like, kind of serving others, being in the D.R. Like, there was just something that would come out very similar to what one would describe as Campo Magic. And at least for us, it was like, I kind of like lost my train of thought there. But yeah, so these trips are completely, completely life-changing. And it's like, for some kids, it's the culture shock when you get there. And I think after going so many times and having such experience over the years, for us, and especially, I mean, we still. live it to this day, it's like the reverse culture shock. It's like, what do I do here now after living

like this for so long? So true. And it's like you're no longer in the bubble of happy, go lucky, like I have everything I need and like that attitude that you want to emulate always. So it's like, and I take this not, I mean, I wasn't going to say with a grain of salt, but like

my brother used to love to say this and it was like that you can't, an experience is only an experience if you don't let it change the life you live at home. And that is one thing that I think a lot of us try to remind ourselves daily and kind of just remembering what we're on earth for and just constantly reminding ourselves, putting us in communities and situations and starting organizations like Khorasone is for us to inspire other people to find their life's purpose in every single day. And that's kind of a little bit of what I wrote

about when you were asking the question of like what Khorasones means to us. And it's basically just like it's something that we were given at a young age, but but also, like, learned to appreciate as the years go on. Like, this journey started from such a young age, and we didn't even know what was going on. Like, we all met each other so deep into, like, what we thought was our life path, and, like, we have no idea where we're going from now.

And it's just, like, every time someone asks me, I'm like, the one word I can use to describe is, like, this is, like, insane. It's insane. Like, one day you wake up and she'll, like, texting our group chat every once in a while, and she's like, can you guys believe that we're co-founders of a nonprofit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's insane me.

You guys too crazy texture me a week. I can't believe that we co-founded a nonprofit and the second one is like a four a-am like guys I have an idea that is the scariest

it can go both of one ways and it's like the late night thoughts you're like exactly I'll add on to like the shower ideas and all these things

and it's like it comes from so much experience like when you have it's just you and your heart in one amazing beautiful place like surrounded by amazingly beautiful people

and you look you get looks like if you have five heads on. And it's like, please, this is normal. What do you mean? You don't understand what I'm talking about. And we kind of had a lot of like, I guess, like frustration in the beginning because it was like you had to go on a blue trip to understand what this Campo Magic was. And we knew that that wasn't something that everybody can do, whether it was a monetary

issue, whether it was they weren't in high school or their school didn't have a sponsored trip or they just, you know, like it wasn't in their summer schedule or family vacation, like those kinds of things and it was like how can we make this something bigger than the water and sanitation crisis because there's there's so much more in in that country specifically and across the board like there's so much more need and there a lot of these communities and I know that koi will probably elaborate on this more it's like we take pride on our mission being like okay like how can we help you today like what best like how can we best serve you and that I think is just like something that we like I say like like like like like you like like to remind ourselves daily and just how we kind of run, run the thing, run the damn thing every single day. It's kind of just being like, okay, like, how can I help you? What do you need most help in? And just that's very much an ode to all of those mission trips.

And I mean, we are in our 20s now and we've been doing this for like five plus years, seven plus years. I haven't gone on 11. You. I know, I was trying to make you feel a little younger. I was trying to be a little younger. I'm a little bit older than they are. Yes. Yes.

So you've done a trip every summer for 11 years? Every summer, the only summer that none of us got to go was 2020. Yeah. COVID. I mean, Adiana's major year. My second trip as a volunteer, Adiana was my leader. Yeah. And I always say to people, like the first trip that I ever went on to the Dominican Republic,

it opened my eyes to what we were talking about, right? The idea that, you know, so often in the world that we live in, we're fed this idea of poverty that's very rooted in materialism. Yeah, right? It's like just give them and the problems done. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Sure. Yeah. You know, the newest, the newest car, the newest, you don't go to this place or you don't have this jewelry or so on and so forth. I mean, we can name it. But poverty is given to us. It's fed to us as this idea of a very materialistic surface level, you know, problem. Right. And then you're suddenly immersed into this community that you realize has so much beauty.

whether it's natural beauty, whether it's human beauty, the level of interaction you're having, it's just you realize that their quality of life is teaching you more about your impover spirit. I remember, like, I would sit in my cot at night as a 15, 16 year old girl, and I'm like, really like thinking about the questions. And I'm like, wow, like, I've been told my whole life, like, you, you know, you're in a good place. You're, you know, you're stable. Your family has worked so hard to get you where you are. which is amazing and I'm so thankful that my parents and my grandparents worked so hard to get there.

But when I looked at myself spiritually as a human, as a person, I realized that my spirit was super poor. So in a way, the Campo and the Campo magic teaches you that a lot of what you think life is is really upside down. And I think that that's what keeps people going back because it's that moment to stop, to take a breath, to realize that you need to look in the mirror in order to do that work. And the reason that these people are so joyful and they're so happy and they're so dedicated to the idea of service is because for them it's not, they don't, there's no other option. For them it's their life duty to serve, right? And there's a famous quote in the DR that we always talk about, which is, Elke no vive to serve, no serve it, which is like if you don't live to serve, then you don't serve to live. Obviously, it's a little dramatic.

The Republicans can get a little bit of translation and superintend. I mean, there's also, I'm going to butcher this quote, like, extremely bad. But, you know, it's along the same lines. And I think it's from, I think it's from Gandhi or Mother Teresa. One of the kind of the, one of the two really, they're kind of good. But I'm telling you, I'm going to butcher. I'm going to butcher it. But it's along the lines, like, you know, basically service is life, right?

And like, you live to serve. And when you really kind of sit down and you digest what that is, it's not like you don't do anything for yourself or you're not taking care of yourself. But you really. really got to put your ego aside and just really think about like we're all in this together, right? It's not like me against you. It's like me and you, right? And I think us as a society completely forget about that. Right. Like there is so much need in the world. And it all comes from like a very similar place. Like they're suffering and there's hate and there's all these other things. But in between the lines like we are like humans of love and we all can really

be an asset to each other. Right. And. And like to your point, Chloe, like, you go out there and that's all you want to think about is like, how can I come back home and help more? You know, I have so much at home. It's like, you know, there's the extreme. I'm going to sell my car. I'm going to do it. You're like, I don't want to take a hot shower. Exactly.

It's hot, fresh shower and you're like sobbing in the shower. I'm going outside. I'm getting a bugging out of shower. Yeah. And that's a thing. You're like, you have, it's crazy. It's crazy. And it's like, it really does.

take an experience like that to just click immediately and that's the thing it doesn't happen like like that for everybody right but it's like which i kind of want to i want to get into that right so the two trips i've done were chaper i don't want you to think you have to go on 85 trips either no no no no no trust me it's after trip one one one big thing that i quickly wanted to have was obviously the the campo super impactful because of the communities that you're serving and the people that you're there with but a huge huge component and i think we can all agree here is also your leader leadership. And I think the way that your trip is led really dictates the experience you're going to have. So freaking true.

So to the point, right, like I was saying, my first trip opened my eyes to this, you know, this perspective of what is it, what does it truly mean to be poor? And my second trip, which Roob's led, was the trip that fully, like, cemented in me. My life's vocation is to serve. And it's because I had incredible leaders, like Roob's that they make the experience challenging for you. Right. Not, okay, let's go take a 10 mile hike. Right. It's challenging your mind, challenging your spirit, really asking these questions that's

like, hey, what, like, let's get to something here, right? Not why am I doing this, but what is this for? How is this going to benefit? You know, a lot of times as a chaperone, I'm sure you saw this, it can get very difficult with younger kids, like high school kids, you know, they're like, my parents send me here. I need the service hour. I want, that's what I want to get in.

So really as a leader being on both sides of the coin, it's trying to find that middle ground and trying to find that midpoint between the volunteer and yourself and the community. Using all of those things to kind of leverage and find this perfect intersection to teach them that it's like, you know, this isn't supposed to be like a torture trip, but it's not supposed to like service can be fine. Like service is fun. Like these kids are like, why would my parents send me here? Like I'm not a bad kid.

I'm like, this isn't a punishment. This is like, you should be so grateful for this opportunity. And of course, you know, the first three days are buffer days. Like, get ready, get uncomfortable. And even for us. I mean, it's a huge shock, right? It is. Yeah.

She has like one good day where everyone's in good spirits and then. I remember there was one volunteer. You go self-bast. That first night. No, three. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And she, like, comes up to me, she's like, well, how many trips have you done? And I think it was like my 19th or whatever. She looks at me and she goes, so you're like a superhero. And I looked at me and I was like actually far from it. The first night is still the toughest for us. Yeah. It's still super, you know, uncomfortable.

You're not used to it. It's out of your, I guess, your natural occurrence of whatever you do in your day. It makes them feel better too. When you're like, you've done this. Yeah. Exactly. Ten times. Like, does it get better?

And you're like, yes. You don't even feel them. When they look at them and they're like, why do you look at the six heads? They're like. You do this for fun? They're like, wait, you've been here for you.

They're like, why would you do this yourself? And you're like, I'm like, you have no idea. I would go, if you really want me to answer the question, get comfortable.

Like, why ain't? We'll talk about it. So I'm very curious, right? Because I, I've only chaperones, right? I've never been on the other side

of having a chaperone, I guess. I mean, the first trip I did, obviously Blue had a leader and she did a very good job like going to your point of really leading the group,

keeping the guys It was a Columbus group. Those are tough. They were tough. And my second Columbus group. Yeah, I'm always the one that gets them. I'm always the one that gets them. But this past one I did this summer was tough.

Yeah. They were a tough group. And he was with me. And Miami, it was this for a ship. So I had to, I had to shrub into the chase too. Please, you know, please. This is fun. This guy, the first night, there's like a noise going on outside.

And he's like, bro, there's somebody outside. There's somebody outside. I'm like, Pooch, bro. There's nobody outside. It's the wind. I'm like, don't be like then. Ghost, you're like, please. You're like, please.

You're talking to the girl that got her feet eaten by a cow. Yeah, there's a worse story. Like, we had to sleep in an open field and I woke up at 4 a.m. Oh, wow. At my, like, at my feet. And I was like, oh. Just munching. Lunch in breakfast.

Chloe's feet for breakfast. On our last trip, like, this past December, I remember. I was in my cot and my head was like in the corner of a house. There's a donkey outside snoring the entire time. It's, I mean, you really don't know what you're going to run into when you're out there. No. Ever, but I'd rather take a big animal any day over the bugs. Me too.

The tarantulas or the crazy. Tarantulas are not cool. Don't even say the word around me. Don't even say. Don't even say it. We had to like, spell it. We were, we were one of the nights for showering and, you know, you're, doing the bucket and I'm always the last one to shower because I want to be as cool as possible

before before bed. That's the hack. That's the hack. That's the hack. They're like, please, please, please. Let me shower first. I'm like, okay. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Get the water while it's cold. I'm like, I'm chaperon. You guys go. You guys go and I'll shower at night. I mean, it's a pig black eye dark. You bring your little light and you're good. Yeah.

But I'm in there and then they're like, I hear like murmuring outside. I'm like, I peek my head outside. I'm like, what's going on out here? Like what's going to do something? Like thinking like they're going to do something to me. Right. And I look outside and on the wall right there, there's just a tarantia like like this big. And I'm like, oh, hell not.

Like I have no idea what's going on out there. I'm like, I got the guys and I'm like, I'm going to shower. You guys are going to stand there and make sure that thing doesn't crawl in there. Guard me. They were watching. Protect me. The watching man. He's not a hilarious.

But the big thing is like, and I'm just curious to get your perspective because it's something that I'm just genuinely curious about. A lot of private school kids, right, that do some of these strips, their perspective on it, how you guys were kind of mentioning is pretty shitty, you know, like my parents sent me here, and then they're all worried about the pictures and, you know, how they look, and they're very diluted on how they're supposed to be really thinking about the strip. And yes, some of them after day three really embrace it, right? but others just don't embrace it at all.

How do you guys like handle that? Yeah, that's a toughie. I mean, to be fair, like I probably led over 25 trips and I very seldom found kids that wouldn't click at some point and very seldom found kids that were just super stubborn about it. Super stubborn about it. Like, just weren't going to, no matter what you did or what you said, they weren't going to even admit it, you know?

Yeah. But I think it's how you set the tone like from night. one, right? So I had my spiel memorized at that point, but, and I'm sure you guys did too at some point, and it's, you know, we're here, we can have fun, like service is fun, we're going to explore, we're going to hike, we're going to do all these things, and there's going to be opportunity to do other things that we might encounter, but we're here to work, right? And also, you know, instilling in them and explaining to them the significance of the project that they're there to, like, construct, if it's an aqueduct, or the latrines, whatever it is, you know, like for water trips.

I mean, water is the essence of life, right? I mean, it's, you drink it, you cook with it, you bathe with it, everything. I mean, it's literally in every single, like, facet of life. And so if you really explain it to them from the beginning, you know, these, like, people in these communities, they don't have water. You have women and girls mostly walking many kilometers a day, their end back multiple times a day, you know, with heavy buckets, you see a seven-year-old girl with two heavy buckets. I mean, that's a reality that you don't see in, like, where we're from, right?

But if you sort of really paint the picture of what it is that their reality is, it starts to set in. And then, you know, you can sort of also frame it in the sense of when this is done, their lives are going to change, you know, like for them, for these communities, an aqueduct is a historic moment, you know, it's, there's a before and there's an after. And that's not just in like the time commitment, but also in things like, you know, there's a lot of preventable diseases or treatable diseases that are fostering there because of the lack of clean water. So you have children, the elderly, people with different like immune problems and whatnot that are dying from diarrhea. They're dying from cholera.

They're dying from other bacteria because they might have clean water that they fetch or purchase to drink, but then they're cooking or, you know, they're cleaning the veggies or whatever with dirty water. feeding it to the children and so that's what you see them with like the distended bellies and all that and the reality is that they are dying and or they're suffering and or they're sick all the time

so when you really explain to them what were there to do in the significance of the project same thing with sanitation you know even the kids that really don't want to be there if they have a heart and they usually do they'll understand like eventually I might not be enjoying it and I might not ever

come back and I actually want to get the hell out of here right now. But, you know, I think again, it goes back to leadership. And like when she was saying, at least one of my, like, one of the most impactful moments in the Campo that I had had with a group was this past summer. And then I had the privilege of going to a community with LIFO, which was that parent organization that we were talking about. And obviously throughout many years, you see lots of different communities. You've encountered lots of different projects.

a part of you is like oh like am I getting you know desensitized to this am the experience like getting dull and I remember I had mentioned in one of our reunions I was like I am a history teacher I am a history nerd like I I love it and it's so crazy to me that this project whether it's a water project whether it's a sanitation project whether it's the projects that we are now constructing these communities you know we in essence alongside of the community are making history, right? If they had a textbook, this community, not when La Colonia, had a textbook,

and they opened up that page to the water crisis, the first people that they would see, the first pictures, the first names that they would read would be all of ours. That's a great way to put it. Bringing it like that to these kids and where it's like, you literally sit in your chair

and you're like, oh my God. The whole dynamic of like a community. That's literally history. Everybody chose every single time she tells the story and in the exact moment where it's like And you put yourself in your high school shoes and you picture it and you're like that it's, it's just that one phrase that you just need them. You catch them like off guard and my mom would take total credit for this because she would always do when we were kids. You just needed to like throw them a huge curveball that they were not expecting to like literally stop them in their tracks.

And like turn around and you're like, wait a second. Like she's not only does she have a point, but like that's a really good point. Yeah. And then it's like that what I like we like to call it what Ignatius. and whether they know it or not, their korezegro de the campo is the perfect definition of the power of one. Like, all it takes is one moment, one nailing of a four-inch hammer, or one hammering of a four-inch hammering or one interaction with the campersino,

one interaction with volunteer, one, whatever it may be, the power of one, right? So often we're like all about numbers and it has to be big and it has to be this and has to be done. The beauty of service is that you can do it on such a micro level. And that's really the message that Corazon and Servicio is sharing with the world, which is every day, your daily routine, right? You don't, yes, we invite you to come and serve with us. I would love for you to come and serve with us.

But our message is truly to inspire you to serving your daily life, whether it's holding the door open for someone, buying the coffee for the person in front of you, being kinder to your parents, investing more time in your relationships, investing more time in yourself, right? Finding your gifts, finding your talents,

and sharing them with the world. Because that is what we are called to do. That is the difference between a human being and being human, right? The ability to share, the ability to serve to invest in this ecosystem of giving like we call. And I always tell people, I'm like, you know, we talk about investments all the time and your ROI, right? I can promise you that your ROI is not going to be in dollars, right? It's not. When you serve, you're not going to get, you know, 5% back.

You're not going to get 10% back. You're going to get something that money doesn't buy, which is joy. you're going to get something that many people in their lifetime, right? People that are 80 plus, 100 plus, they never have the opportunity to discover, which is their purpose. And that's truly, I think, the message of Khorasone is the message that we had picked up on from the camp, which is everybody. It doesn't matter if you come from the most resource challenged communities or if you come from the most private of private schools with the wealthiest lifestyle. you each have the opportunity to serve using your gifts, using the talents that you've been given.

And if they're not meant in service of others, then why not? If you're telling me no, but why? El who no vive to serve, pardon, but no serve for me. Well, it's really also something that we've, like, built into the CDS model. We always joke around that we're service brokers.

Literally. I like that. You know, obviously, like, we have much, Yeah, charity rogers. Matchmaker love charity. We obviously have these, you know, projects that we're setting up, that we, you know, have these goals and we're going to meet them. But, and we're, you know, welcome arms to anybody that wants to help us reach those goals. But if you want to serve in a different capacity, you know, then we welcome you to, you know, reach out to us.

And if that's not something that we're doing right now, we'd love to do it with you or we'd love to help you get there on your own. and something else, speaking of quotes, that has really sort of informed the CDS model, and I whip that one out all the time, it's that there's no, like the amount of good that you can do is endless if you don't care who takes the credit, right? So it doesn't have to be through us,

it doesn't have to involve us, although it always can, and we're happy to help you go on your way and serve in the way that you want to. But, you know, that's something that we really want to like try to achieve and like really become a part of the community here and the DR and hopefully elsewhere. Exactly.

And just, you know, like inspire others to do their things, serving whatever capacity they can and they want. And, you know, the impact is going to be exponential that way. Yeah. I mean, you guys hit on a ton of amazing points there. I mean, I. He's so, he's over a lot. No, no, not even.

Like, I'm just like digesting it all, honestly. Like, like, absolutely amazing. I just say to least. But one of the things that I'm a big. believer in and obviously you guys are a big believer in as well is like that purpose driven life right and i think you guys have identified that through korezone i to me stay tranquil is like my purpose and life and it came in a time of you know i guess like a low point in my life right and just like a lot of like self-reflection and self-identity and and really realizing like what is it that i want to do with my life

but also know that I want to serve at some capacity, right? And that's ultimately why I wanted to build this, was to build a platform to help people tell stories, share stories, get perspective to help people in their lowest points, right? Whether that's through service or whether that's through consuming something that, you know,

you read somebody's story and you're like, damn, I never really thought about it that way, right? Because it goes to your point, like that community aspect, you learn from each other, you kind of rally off of each other's highs and lows. and I think more of us really need to really spend time trying to identify what our purpose is, right?

It's not just your 9 to 5 and all those things are extremely important. And that is a component of your purpose. But if you want to really go deeper and find that fulfillment in life and find that true joy, like, dig a little bit deeper, you know. Yes, you might be the most talented teacher. You might be the most talented doctor. You might be, and these are service-based jobs, right? if you still think like you're lacking a little bit of fulfillment in your life, dig deeper.

Figure out what it is that really brings you that purpose because honestly you're going to wake up excited. You're going to wake up enthusiastic. You're going to wake up just with a different drive to it, you know, because life's not easy. That's a fact. You know, whether you live in the campo, you live here, we all kind of have our thing, you know. And sometimes, you know, I always say no problem is too big, but other people problems might seem smaller to yours than yours, but reality is the cards that you're dealt in life

were given to you for a reason. And it's what you choose to do with it, right? You could be a victim or you could be like the hero of your own story. And when you identify what that purpose is in your life, I think you really are just going to be a better person to others. And through Croson, I think you guys are, which is amazing. Like, you're not only doing it for. or the benefit of what Coraesone is about, but it's also inspiring people to be leaders of service in their everyday life, which we need more of that, right? Yeah, that's the goal.

I love how you say that because that actually reminded me, I read it in the Campo, and I think either right before or right we had just gotten back, and it was like one of my books that was like, okay, there's one thing that I'm going to be able to do right now is read because I need to think about the Campo and all this stuff. My future brother-in-law gave me this book called The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Was it about Didi?

No, future brother-in-law. though he's my current he's my current um but yeah so it's and it's a little book this big and it's a gorgeous story but basically one of the my biggest takeaways and it's like the main quote of this guy and um it's basically it says like life is not about the cards we're adult but how you play the hand and i have it written on the board that i look at the first board i look at which is my calendar and it's like to do and like that's what's written on to do it's so true the people in the campo live that way too you know that they're not, you know, they're very aware of what life is for the most part outside of,

you know, their everyday life. And they may not know everything, but they know that there's other life out there. But they're very aware of this is the cars that they're dealt. And they're perfectly okay with it. Like, this is their life. That this is their purpose and their current state of life. And it's to, you know, be a husband or, you know, be a caretaker or be a teacher or be whatever it is, it'll work on the farm. But everyone does have a purpose in this life. And there's no purpose too small or too big. It's literally what your God-given purpose is in this life. And the more you're willing to accept what that is, you're just, you're going to be happier.

And also to your point, I feel like in the culture that we live in, it's so often like, oh, are you getting that next big job, that next big promotion, that, you know, higher salary, this and this and that. And sometimes we forget to do our smaller assignments with greater love. Right. like at the end of the day, you know, everyone is a son or a daughter, a mother, a father, an aunt and an uncle friend, a boyfriend, girlfriend, so on and so forth. And it's really these relationships and these responsibilities that form you into who you are.

And that's when you go to the communities in the DR in our experience, you see the beauty in these people taking those small assignments, whether it's like completely embrace, like, Sembrando, cafe, like whatever it makes. like whatever it may be, something that you would be like, how is this person, you know, happy as can be going into a field for eight hours and working? And it's, they are so prideful. And it is like the biggest dichotomy in my head because it's like you're so prideful yet you're so humble at the same time that it's like, it's beautiful. Again, it's the reason that we want to share the experience that we have with Khorazone is like we are in no way motivated by money. We're no way motivated by competition. Like, we're very transparent.

I mean, we're very transparent. A lot of investing has been going on. But we, like, I always tell our donors and our supporters, you know, transparency is key for us. And not only transparency, like, ethical service, right? So often the nonprofit world is, like, warped into this group of, like, you know, we need to do better. We need to do it. And we are completely devoted to serving with no tier motives. This is just our passion project that we want to share with the world.

And we want to be able to facilitate that same experience for so many people. Because we know that not everyone can pick up a hammer or pick up a shovel. But if you're someone that's an artist, you can pick up a paintbrush and you have no idea, you know, the impact that you can have in painting a mural at an orphanage. Or, you know, if you're a teacher and you love to teach and it's your passion, you know, going for a week and being able to teach English at a school for inner city kids or if you're an athlete and so on and so forth, it's again finding that community that we want and then matching them to a project.

That's like one side of our mission. That's a very, that's the service broker, charity broker side of our mission. And then being able to really facilitate it while we're there, you know, boots on ground. It's like the most beautiful experience because you watch it. unraveled. It's like her dad would always say her dad and Albert would always say it's like your favorite movie watching it like on repeat. It's beautiful.

That's awesome. Yeah. So I really want to obviously now get into. And you guys have obviously touched on it. But what is Khorasons? Obviously we got into the mission, but what is some of the groundwork initiatives that that you guys are really going to get into in the Dominican Republic? Awesome. So the way that our nonprofit works, the way that Khorasone is work, logistics.

specifically speaking, is that we find communities and we approach the communities in a way that we believe is very unique. And it's, in our language, it's not cookie cutter. All right? Lots of times nonprofits approach a community and say, hey, this is what we got. This is what we can offer you. Take it or leave it. And we truly believe in dignifying the process of service and understanding that although this community is resource challenged, in a way, it doesn't put them at any form of disadvantage. Right. Right. It allows us to be more creative in our solutions.

So we come into these communities. We sit down with the leadership. We sit down with the families. We talk to the kids. And we really ask them, how can we serve you? Right? Listening before acting, which I feel like is a big thing that our society is missing nowadays. And in that, it's kind of like a fun game, right?

Because every community is unique. One community is struggling with infrastructure. Another community is struggling with their kids not being able to get to school, right? We're not saying kids that are just, oh, I don't want to go to school. We're physically talking about children who cannot make it to the classroom because their school is located on top of a hill. And that hill is at such a steep incline that kids have broken femurs. Kids have been sent to hospitals, right? So it puts all of our brains at work.

and it really allows this opportunity to work alongside the community, right, and explaining to them that we are just here to, you know, serve alongside them. This is not our project. This is their project. It's their community and, again, going into that ethical concept of service. And so to the point of some of the developments that we've done already, our first project is always the one that I love to speak about because as a teacher, it hit home.

for me. There's a specific community located on the northern coast of the DR in the province called Nagua and the community is called Los Origenos. And there's a very special individual that we've all had the pleasure of meeting, Christobal, that lives in that community and he's someone that has truly changed my life. And it's what motivated us to kind of choose Los Origenos as our first, you know, Corazones project. So when we sat down with their leadership, they had explained to us the issue of kids not being able to get to school. The school was perched up on this hill with a massive incline. You know, if it would rain, there was no pavement, there was no structure. It's just mud. It's just mud. Like, just mud. Like the kind that you would go up and like

immediately start sinking in. There was no, yeah, fall trip. Pretty much completely an exobey. There was no access. No access. It's actually when it rained, which was like three quarters of the year. Exactly. Yeah. Again, the school is already added disadvantage, right? This is a community of 40 families and the school has two classrooms meaning starting at the age of four all the way up until the age of 15 you are sharing a classroom right so this is a blended facility the odds are already not in your favor add into that you have no way of getting to school safely or if you do get to the classroom safely you don't know if your teacher's going to get there because your teacher might not want to climb up the hill or from 730 to 4 o'clock in the afternoon

you are now head to toe in mud because you literally had to climb to get there. So when we first saw it guilty, when I worked in the community the first time, I fell off the hill. So I was like, we are figuring this one out. This is personal now. And I remember, you know, we were out there with our incredible, incredible Dominican team that is the life behind this organization. And instantly, it was just like that light bulb moment. they're like, we got this. So our master of consortium lingo, along with our, his right-hand man,

Gallow, and the head of kind of one of the heads of the Dominican Republic's logistics team, Haiti, all came together. They, you know, were able to draft up this kind of sketch of what the school was going to look like, the staircase that we were going to make, the entire, you know, paved ramp all the way from the baseline of the community up into the classroom. And we as, as co-leaders, and co-founders decided, you know, this is something that we want, we need to be there for. Right?

It's kind of in our promise that on all Khorasonian strips, we are there. We are actively participating. So we made our way over there in December, and we were surrounded by the most just incredibly loving community you can ever imagine. We were welcomed at like 10 o'clock at night after a six-hour journey. It was just... The kids were there with these like posters in heart shape. Oh, my God.

I remember it's like, you know, when you're a little kid and you've, go to sleep the night before Christmas and you're like so anxious. Oh my god, Santa's coming. You never want to go to sleep. That was all of us that night. I think we went to sleep at like 1 a.m. woke up 4.30. We're like, we are ready to work after your show. And so the project estimate was actually going to be three days and we're going to work on the project over the course of these three days. And literally within the first day, it is 5 o'clock in the afternoon. And we look and we're like, oh, we just finished painting the entire ramp staircases are done they're starting to paint the staircases this project is it's complete yeah we couldn't face ourselves we couldn't

pace ourselves we were assembly line going up the ramp like as he was getting yeah and i mean kids going all the way down like it was fine yeah i mean that was also like one of the most beautiful moments like seeing your dream not only your dream but these kids dream right like come to life These kids are eager to go to school. And they're there. I mean, I'm talking, this incline has you sideways. We were swinging buckets of cement sideways. 150 bags of cement were mixed by hand alongside our team, alongside the community.

Everyone was pitching in this effort. And I remember there was one moment that I turned around and I looked. We were all wearing our Corazon in the Serbizo shirt. And I just make a wave of these blue shirts, these waves of beautiful hearts, and just like, smiles. It was like pure peace. It was like the most beautiful thing. And I think in that moment, being that it was that first project, that first impact that we were making, it was like, wow, like this is really worthwhile. This is, you know, what we're called to do. And so after that, right, the success of our first project kind of has set the tone for the way that we are approaching

all of our next projects. So we work on a system of a priority list. So different members of different communities, we'll solicit, you know, a project from us and we'll go over there, do a location assessment, we'll do a community interest form where they kind of like fill out, you know, this is, you know, what we're struggling with right now. How is it that Corazon is can play a role in serving you? And so I actually had the privilege of going back in June to do a couple of different location assessments, one of them being the current project that we're working on, which is the La Cancha project. It's a super, um, close project to all of our hearts, but to put it, but simply, it's a project that's geared

towards giving access to more than 800 students from an inner city school in Santiago, the opportunity to be kids. I say it all the time. I'm like, it sounds so simple to us building a field, right? It's a multi-use state-of-the-art field, and lots of people are like, okay, what's the field going to do? Right. But some of our best members, memories as kids growing up. I mean, if you're from Miami, Kendall Boys and Girls Club, hello. They're there every single weekend. That is a classic, right? And you grow up around sports, and sports has such a big impact

on kids and their esteem. And not only that, it's just the idea of being on a team, right? Building that community, building that responsibility, that unity. And so this specific school was struggling with that. These kids are, you know, extremely vulnerable to Visi to the high levels of child abuse, high levels of drug abuse, gang violence, child mothers, the list can go on. And it's because they're not investing their time, simply because they don't have the ability to invest their time into these constructive extracurriculars, like a sports team, or like a cheerleading team, or a chess club, or a domino club that you can host within this facility.

And so to us, it's, you know, why are we building a field? We're not just building a field, right? we're literally changing the trajectory of these children's lives. You know, I remember I sent a TED talk to our group chat the other day, and this woman explained, she's like, why build a school to close a prison? And so I felt that in my heart because I was like, why are we building a field? These were changing lives, right? We're giving these kids a new opportunity, right?

Let me not go down that path. Let me not choose that, you know, vizio, let me not, let me break that cycle of poverty. that I've been in my entire life and let me try something new, let me explore, let me be a kid. And so it's really these projects that we're so passionate about, that people are so passionate about because they relate to them.

Sometimes it's hard to relate to water, sanitation, or hunger, these big global crisis, because it's not something that you can often relate to, oftentimes relate to. But when you really put it into your perspective, like, wow, I mean, I'm on a team. or my school has a field, and I played for my sports team in high school and so on and so forth,

it makes you think, wow, this is a reality for so many. Like, what if I didn't have that access? Exactly, yeah. And it's a place to keep these kids longer. They're safe there. Their teachers are awesome. Their PE coaches are awesome. And they can stay there after school now for as long as they want.

Exactly. And it's just, again, like a safe place where they can be healthy kids, doing what kids should be able to do and not have to worry about these other. external situations. Yeah, I remember the first time you showed me the plan for that. I was like, frick, yeah. That's awesome. I remember the first compo that I went to in the DR had a basketball court.

And that basketball court was where we spent all their time in between every project. I mean, I had never played that much basketball in my life. But the hoop was, I don't even know what it was made out of. It was put together barely. And the court was paved, but it had to be. and paved and God knows how long. And it was pretty much destroyed, cracked, exactly. And in my head, I'm like, damn, how cool would it be to come back here and just build a badass basketball court here?

You know? And just, again, why? Because you saw the impact that it had. All the kids came there. They were playing. And then it wasn't only the, it wasn't only the basketball, right? It was, there was tennis balls there. And the tennis balls were provided, you know, by the trip.

And they were there tossing the tennis balls. And the girls were throwing the frisbees. ZEN-HL's like, these are things that they're like, oh my God, this is amazing. Yeah, everybody there is in the community, having fun, laughing, smiling, being distracted by something good, not bad, right? And if you could do that at a larger scale, you're, like you said, you're doing something good. And I do think that there's a component to elevate that even more, right? Yeah.

Give something for the arts. Give something, you know, for education, like furthering education. Like, you know, you have a kid that's in school and you. you can realize, damn, this girl's a good writer. Like, let's get her more capabilities to do more writing because there's diamonds in the rough in these places, right? And they can be the next big thing in the global scheme of things, not like just in the community. And you see it in sports, you know, some of these kids that come out of the DR and they become major league baseball players, right? Right.

But that's people that, you know, they maybe get access to certain things that maybe some of these other kids don't have or someone finds them and says, hey, you have a lot of potential and we're going to help you kind of thing. But there's a lot more of those kids out there in the Campo. And if we could be facilitators of that and identifying that, whether that's in the Dominican Republic, that's your locally, whatever it is. Like how many of us probably have like use sports equipment or use books or use this that are just sitting in garages? We'll take it all.

And it's like, if you have any. I already told her that I wanted to do like a drive and just. be like drop everything you got here and we're going to make good use of it you know so what you guys are doing is obviously amazing I'm a huge supporter and it's something I'm extremely passionate about so first off like thank you for what you guys are doing because it is going to leave an impact I know it's only the beginning for you guys but even just by starting you're already doing more than the most and you're already creating an impact and leading in service.

So, you know, hats off to you guys. But real quick, I just want to get, like, you don't all have to answer, if you all want to collectively answer it, like your favorite gamble experience. She went in depth on that one. That was what I had. That was technically, like, my assigned question

of the, like, the ramp and that whole moment. Or funniest story. I have a funny story. Yeah. She's like our library of moments. The one that writes it down. Exactly. Super funny, super sidel.

But every community that I go to, I carry a book with me, and I write literally everything down because I feel like if you write it down, it just makes them more real. And I never want to forget those memories. So we were in Los Origenos. It was approaching the end of the trip, and we had just finished eating dinner.

We're all kind of chilling, playing dominoes, listening to music, diving. It's like 10.30. We're like, okay, we're pretty tired. We're going to go to sleep. And suddenly, I looked. And I see Lingo. getting on a motor and he's like,

me gonna buy a ptoe y'u. And I'm like, oh, okay. Like he's buying chicken for tomorrow. Comes back to chickens. Hey guys. By the head. We're having, like, like, we're having a copado night.

And I go, but we just like bring out the casuela. Like we're doing this now. No, no, like imagine like a tailgate with Dominican style. Oh, whoa. So like bring out the paila that's like,

the size of this entire, like, like, to start a bonfire in the middle, all of us, like, surrounded, just like, oh, my gosh, it was the best time in the world. It was, like, those are really the, very impromptu.

Exactly. It was those types of experiences that we want to facilitate for our volunteers in the future, right? To be able to invite people to come serve with us and to see that this is the beauty of the campo, this continuity, this beauty, this living in, living in,

living in the present moment and being aware of everything around you and just being so grateful for it. And I mean, it's a funny little side note, but I just, I really liked it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it goes to show. Like, we've said, like, service can be fun. We have the most fun. Oh, most fun.

It's a blast. It's so much fun. But we're having a blast every single second, we're cracking up. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you're talking about. You are in the year. With us with a six-pack. What is that.

Bigsback as an ab. And the American team, they're the funniest people on this planet. They're hilarious. Oh my God. They are clowns. Yeah. They like to hold it like crazy. It's not stuff.

It's insane. They don't take anything serious. Which I'm very like that. I am sarcastic as hell. I don't take anything serious. I take it serious. You have your moments? When things are like kind of serious, I'm like, fuck, I want to make a joke right now.

No way. Don't meet you there. You'll blend right in. Yes. You really find people's weird in that kind of state because you're like completely stripped to your most vulnerable state. And that is a good thing like for absolutely everybody. And you like don't realize like that's the reason why we're such best friends because we've grown up together and we've also grown up together like in our rawst form. Like it's why you get a new appreciation for this kind of thing.

Because it's like how can you not have fun to me? Yeah, exactly. So true. But before we wrap up, we love for you guys to just tell everybody where to find you guys. and anything exciting maybe that you might have coming up in the next few weeks, months. Elena's our marketing guru. So you can actually find us on, I'm pretty sure we're like on every platform except for like threads, I think. But our Instagram and our Facebook are both like findable with Corazon de Servicio.

Like you can probably like put it on screen. We have a QR code for like our donation page. If you have been inspired on this podcast to go ahead and do that. You know a website with pictures of our first. our first project. Also, yes, all of our projects and our events to date are on there with a bunch of fun pictures, a contact form if you guys are interested in wanting to get us to know more. If you are interested in facilitating a project or a drive or a fundraiser here,

you can contact me. I am your go-to girl on all things logistics and development, and I'd be happy to work with you and get as creative. You might get a 4-a-m texting, I have a good thing. but those are good and rumor has it we also feel the best happy hours in town yes i've heard that rumor yes stay tuned on our instagram hopefully we'll catch stay taranquillo's community out there and the next happy hour for a cause for sure but um you're gonna drink regardless so you might as well do it for a cause absolutely hell yeah that's a good combo one thing i want to do when i'm in the combo have a beer i still

haven't done join us i know come on over so i'm excited for that but thank you guys again for coming on. Thank you so much. I really, really did enjoy it. So I appreciate you guys and really excited for what you guys are going to do. Thank you. Thank you for having this. Of course. Thank you guys for tuning in and we will see you on the next episode.