Some look for opportunities to give back while others create their own opportunities to make a difference. Longtime Southlake resident Doricelys Martinez Navarro falls in the latter category.
Doricelys has lived in town for 16 years with her family – all three of her kids are Carroll Senior High School alumni. But her desire to help others draws back to her own childhood experience.
In the summer of 1981, Doricelys moved to Texas from Puerto Rico with her family. Her brother needed kidney surgery and his pediatrician recommended the Children’s Hospital of Dallas for treatment. So their mother saved money to make the trip, and they came to the area with no place to stay and $20. Her family stayed in a local church for two weeks until they found a place, but they got by thanks to locals’ generosity and assistance.
“It has been in my heart for a long time,” Doricelys says. “This was a hard time for all of us, adjusting to a new environment and sometimes her figuring out what we would eat. That stuck in my heart for all these years.”
So years later when a friend told her she fed the homeless at a shelter in Fort Worth, she asked if she could tag along and help. So Doricelys and her daughter ventured out with grapes, bananas, water, sandwiches and chips and hand excited to do their part. After running out of food in 20 minutes, and making a quick Walmart run to purchase more times, the two were hooked and knew they wanted to keep coming back.
That was three years ago. Now, Doricelys does the same thing and invites her friends to come out and help contribute. While the shelter is no longer in that area, Doricelys and her group still go out to downtown Fort Worth to give out food. And she’s grown her volunteer group from 2 to 12-16 people.
“The journey started with two of us, then friends would join us. The word got out and more people would ask if they could go with us to volunteer,” Doricelys says.
So when Doricelys was getting ready for her next trip out to Fort Worth (the group goes out once a month to serve), she took to the Moms of Southlake Facebook page to see if any other locals were interested in contributing to their cause.
“We are just a group of friends, not part of an organization,” Doricelys says in her original Facebook post. Rather, she describes her group as “regular people just blessing people.”
In that post, she let group members know they were taking 200 chicken-based meals to the area to give out as well as other snacks, fruits and drinks. While they were still focusing on food, Doricelys needed baby wipes and hand sanitizer to help make the day a success.
Then on July 21, Doricelys and her group went to the Lancaster area in Fort Worth and started making a difference – one meal at a time. Doricelys thanked those in the group who donated, and she also let locals know that she was planning on going out again the last Sunday of August.
In order to make that event a success, she said her group was in need of baby wipes, tents for two, canopy tents and bath towels.
Doricelys eventually wants to expand her group so they can also serve in Dallas, but they currently are working on doing all they can for the homeless in Fort Worth.
Those interested in donating can contact Doricelys at doris@medicahealth.com.