Amy Torrez on creating safe spaces for healing: The story behind Amy’s Place

Tasha: [00:00:00] Good morning. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Amy: Sure. Good morning. My name is Amy Torres. I am the founder of Amy’s Place. I actually had one in Indiana and that one, it’s the same concept.

We provide temporary housing for adult patients when they travel for medical treatment. And it really came about when I, myself and my father had to stay in temporary housing for six months in Houston, Texas. I had just graduated college in Austin, Texas and he was living in the Rio Grande Valley and he had to go up to Houston when he was sick.

And basically there he was diagnosed and treated for lymphoma. And so since we were both out of town, the ICU nurses there found a church that provided fully furnished departments for families in our situation. So we actually went through two different apartments. And so that was kinda like my home away from home while I was helping my dad get through the chemotherapy treatment.

Three days a week, or three days of intense, chemotherapy and then three weeks of recovery. [00:01:00] So we did that for five months. Wow. Yeah, it was really intense. So most of the time I was there, to. 12 hours a day, a few times I had to stay overnight. Just he had, bad reactions, of course with the chemo.

And then, after two or three months, he was well enough to be released, but he couldn’t go far, he couldn’t go back home to Houston, couldn’t go back to my place in Austin. So that was also now became his home away from home, in between treatments and good news is he actually beat the lymphoma.

There was no more lymphoma in the scans. They were gonna do one more. Unfortunately, right before that last treatment, he passed away of a heart attack right as I was moving into my own apartment that day. Very tragic, very traumatic of, oh my God, I’ve just spent the last six months literally like taking care of my father, getting him through this, being in the hospital and now what?

And so I went back home to Indiana and life went on, got married, had a few kids, and then came in. Yeah. October, 2015, I realized, wow, six months without a mortgage, [00:02:00] utilities, alls I had was my own phone bill, my own grocery bill, or our own grocery bill, that was a huge expense I didn’t have to pay,

basically, I decided to pay it forward there. And Indiana, where I was at in Fort Wayne, it’s a second largest city in Indiana, so there’s a lot of smaller towns outside of that where they came for work, they came for school, they came for entertainment restaurants, and only made sense that they were gonna come for their major medical treatment.

And so that’s what happened there. So I billed it and they came. We actually had a waiting list a lot of times. I remember one week I had to turn away seven families because we were full. I didn’t have any other housing options. And so that’s how it started there.

And then I had to move out here to Southern California and I saw that it was, an even bigger need out here. And so I started in June of 2024 and got our five oh. October and, working on funding to get our first housing unit. So there’s three [00:03:00] major hospitals in the San Gabriel Valley area, which is just east of, LA Metro.

And so the big goal is to have three housing spaces, units, basically on the west side of San Gabriel Valley, which is like Pasadena, area. And then there’s a small town called DTE where they have a huge hospital, city of Hope. And then on the east side on Pomona of the San Gabriel Valley area, there’s camp cancer centers and especially hospitals there we will house families.

So that’s how it started and where it’s going. My goodness,

Tasha: This is why I love these conversations, Amy, and I just feel like people in nonprofit have the coolest origin stories of how they get in and they’re. Usually deeply personal, right? Like, why you get into this?

Because the work is challenging and it’s very tough. There’s so many barriers. But I think, change makers see something and they go, I think I can do something about that. And so it’s so cool that you’re like, I was here before and I did it, and then now I’m gonna move over here and I see the same need again.

And stepping up to the plate all over [00:04:00] again and start over again. Yeah, starting all over. So I guess this leads naturally into one of my questions, which is always, what are some of the biggest challenges in nonprofit and maybe what are some unique challenges you’re seeing starting over again with a second nonprofit?

Amy: Let’s see. Challenge with nonprofits in general, I think is, legitimacy. Especially if it’s a smaller, grassroots type of nonprofit where, you don’t have this large franchise umbrella under where you’re gonna open the chapter there at a certain location.

People wanna see, investors are gonna wanna see, or donors are gonna wanna see, is it a good cause? Is it overlapping with something else? What do you do exactly? Are you gonna stick around? Am I just gonna give you money here now and then next year you’re gonna fold?

That’s a really big thing here, especially in the Southern California area. I’ve noticed that it’s a little bit tougher, a little bit more, I wouldn’t say negative perspective on nonprofits. ‘Cause there’s the bigger ones that take a lot of money and then paying [00:05:00] most of that to salaries and everything like that.

It’s generally just legitimacy is in general, I think is the unique challenge in nonprofits for me, specifically for Amy’s place. It’s a lot of education because there’s no organization that does this specifically for adult patients. There’s the Ronald McDonald House and they do a great job with pediatric patients, and so some people have heard of that, but they don’t really know what they do.

Educating on what you know. A couple quick sentences on what they do and then relate it to what we do. It’s the same thing except we just do it for adult patients. Terminology is different when I say it’s, for the adult patient and their caregiver, it could be.

A lot of times they think it’s, a paid caregiver that’s giving them care within the house. And I use caregiver as more of a general term, usually it’s their spouse, like I was with my father or, me, like an adult child with their father or their parent, driving ’em back and forth or being there for them while they’re going through their medical trauma.

We’ve seen different areas where it’s, a husband and wife. I’ve seen patients just themselves and sometimes, once a [00:06:00] week someone would come in and, a aunt or a relative or somebody, an extended family come in. So I kind of use caregivers a general term of who their loved one is coming in to do that.

Learning to, speak their language and to help them understand exactly what we do is a little bit more challenging. I’m doing a lot more talking about. What it is that we do. Given that not too many places do this type of, service

for families, it’s not permanent housing, it’s not medical housing where, there’s a nurse coming in, they’re doing treatment there, or we don’t, do any kind of medical treatment in the house. It’s just a lot of education on my work. It’s just a soft.

Tasha: Space to land, right.

For a family that’s going through so much. And having the ability for your family to come with you. Yeah. So during that time, it’s overwhelming.

Amy: There’s so much, it is a small space, to land, while they’re doing that.

But it’s so much more than that when you’re actually in it. Yeah. You don’t have to worry about [00:07:00] where, how you’re gonna cook. We’ll have a washer and dryer, so you don’t have to search for a laundromat. , We’ve got utensils and everything that’s gonna be there. So someone can cook for you, or we’ll have volunteers come in at this point, to cook for the families that are there.

Once you have, just one of those basic needs of housing taken care of at a very cost effective route, it just alleviates so much financial and emotional stress. Really within it.

Tasha: And the mental burden too, just like you noted the instant you said, laundromat, I’ve been there trying to figure out where the heck to go to a la.

Like it sucks, right? Like corners or it’s just, especially for a caregiver who probably already has their brain full of treatment plans and appointments and all of those additional things. Just incredible service. I can see so clearly how it’s important, Amy,

Amy: right? Like that. And that just really goes back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

The seven things. Once you have those seven basic principles, housing, food, just any type [00:08:00] of comfort environment, your body’s gonna function normally. So we get them into this comfortable, safe space where now they can focus on, healing and getting better and getting through their medical journey, their trauma, what’s going, whatever’s going on with them.

It just relieves that burden and helps them heal better overall in the long run. Really. That’s incredible.

Tasha: Favorite part of the work that you’ve done? What do you love about being in this sector?

Amy: Favorite part is really just meeting the people and I’m sorry, I’m tearing up. That’s beautiful.

Every time I, checked in a family into the housing unit, they have just tears of relief and joy and gratitude. Now they have that safe space, that thing that they didn’t have, that one less thing to worry about while they’re trying to fight for their life, literally sometimes.

And so just seeing their shoulders literally just like, ugh, I can rest, I can relax now. I just love that aspect and knowing that I’m giving them that safe, comfortable feeling.

Tasha: Amy, [00:09:00] you’re making me all teared up on

a freaking Monday morning, early Monday morning.

Amy: Right, right.

Tasha: And honestly, not that I expected to go down the road to all my dad is going through chemo right now, so this is all very like, sorry, in my, you know.

I think this is the beautiful part that I love about nonprofits so much. People actually feel seen sometimes in this sector, right?

Yeah. At their most vulnerable spot. Nonprofits is a space for people to be seen and understood and cared for. In a world that doesn’t feel like it cares a lot right?

Amy: Yes. Especially now in just today’s climate, it’s just crazy. Oh my goodness.

Tasha: I love this so much. Oh my goodness.

It’s warming my heart this morning. I love it so much. So you’ve been a member and we talked at the beginning, met through a random impact up, and I just, loved what you were talking about and it was, after hours kind of thing. But, you’ve participated in chats and, we’re all focused on this idea of peer support in the sector as well,

How have you found your journey, in nonprofit and how does peer support factor into your success as [00:10:00] you’re building?

Amy: I’ve actually had, a couple great chats. I know there was one that, cadence had sponsored and , I talked with that gentleman and, later on we met up again and, having that, AI space research and work on the grant sector, that just really helped me out as far as like I’ve got, in nonprofits, everyone, the executive director or the founder does everything. So something to help tweak it or to streamline it, to make it a little bit easier, I think that was very beneficial for us.

Then I met wonderful lady in San Diego County or San Diego area, and she’s like, oh, you need to start one here. I’m like, well, lemme get mine started first. It definitely helps. Talking and working with peers and having them understand, your mission and see why it’s so needed, but there’s nothing there, really an uphill battle.

And so when you know, when I’m talking with different peer support, they just help give me that encouragement in that you go, girl, you do that, you’ve got it going on. So that definitely helps, on, on my end of it personally. And then there’s a couple things that have [00:11:00] helped, overall operational wise too.

Tasha: Yeah, I think it’s such a special space, nonprofit, but as you’ve noted, you came into it for like the passion and this purpose. It’s very purpose driven for yourself. Very personal. Right? That doesn’t mean you all of a sudden have all of the skill sets that you need, right? Do you know what I mean?

Even myself, having started this. I don’t have a tech background, I don’t know what I’m doing there. the peer piece is so important to help us go, oh wait, oh, maybe someone else knows this, or maybe they know somebody who knows somebody. And that like networking piece can really put you in connection with people who can move forward your mission.

Amy: Yes, exactly. Oddly enough, actually, in all through college, I worked through a full service. Hotel, like every department, banquets, concierge, bellhop. I was, taking people’s luggage on the carts, front desk reservations, concierge, bartender. And so I got that aspect of the [00:12:00] hospitality industry.

And then, later in life I went through. The insurance industry. So I worked in life and health, so I know none of this is ever gonna be covered in health insurance. I can kinda help them go through it or, help at least know where to direct them to a health insurance agent to help them through that.

And then I worked in property and casualty, so I set up insurance policies for new businesses. So I knew what not to have. Oh my goodness. And what to have, don’t do medical, don’t offer transportation. Just offer a list of resources that can do that and they can pick that. So it really just helped on the operational side.

And then of course I ran five Airbnbs in Indiana too. So just that journey of all of my professional experiences and even now the personal experiences have really helped me. Start this and get it rolling pretty quickly. We started in October 15, no, I’m sorry, December of 20 or 2015 in Indiana.

We got our 5 0 1 C3 in July of, in [00:13:00] 2016. And then we started housing families in 2017. So that was pretty quick for a startup nonprofit. All of it has really pushed me to do this. People in Indiana would say, why would you wanna do this? And I’m like.

Why wouldn’t I? Because I have the personal experience. I know what it’s like, and I have all the professional experience as well. Why wouldn’t I? I have a passion for it, and I have the skillset. So this is what I do.

Tasha: I love, one of our members once said to me, and it still sticks in the back of my mind all the time, but people in nonprofit are those folks who go, if not me, then who?

And they just look at it and they’re like. Yeah, and I will say Amy, you are like the Swiss Army knife of executive directors with that background. But sometimes that seems to happen, right? We look at all the skills we have. I love connecting people. It’s been like my favorite thing after I have a really weird, same thing, bartender background, weird name.

I can pick out names like, and I just am like, oh,, this. And yes, has always been really stuck in my head to what could be better than building [00:14:00] in the space that you love and doing what you love. Knowing that this is something that feeds your soul and also helps others, right?

Yes, exactly. That’s fantastic. I love this. I feel like I could talk to you all day and ask even more questions. I always love to wrap things up with these to go. Please, how can people get in touch with you? What are some of your goals for the year ahead and, what all are you imagining Amy’s place in la you’re gonna be offering the community.

Amy: They can get in touch with me basically on my website, Amys place.org. Email is amy@amysplace.org, so it’s super easy. We’re on our socials now. LinkedIn, I think that’s where we, I found the Hive, chat, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. So you can always, message there.

What we have looking for, we’ve got our first official comedy, fundraiser or first official fundraising event next month. It’s a comedy event. So I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t done a comedy event before, so it’s gonna be interesting. Then we’re working on a bigger fundraising event in the spring, [00:15:00] possibly a casino night.

So we’re working on that. Getting our fundraising ask going. You know what I see, I hope to, be able to start housing families here, by the end of the year. We’ve got some big grants, hopefully to be submitted and working on corporate sponsorship, even just working on monthly donors.

Even if it’s $10 a month , if we get 10 of those, 20 of those, that’s gonna add up, here and there. And just really building our donor base is really our main goal. We’re also slated to do a lot of fund and friend raising, so I love that.

A friend raising. Those who can’t share, who aren’t unable to donate, but love our mission. Share it with everybody, fund connect us with those that can and are gonna be just as passionate about it too, as they are. So that’s what our goal is.

Tasha: Advocates are just as special and important whether they can financially donate volunteers.

Amy: Yep. Volunteering for things, donating, volunteering trades their work, whatever they do. Hey, I’ll do this for [00:16:00] you. I’ll tweak, I’ll do your newsletters.

That’s kind of what we’re looking for too. So that’s amazing.

Thank you so

Tasha: much for doing this with me, Amy, and thanks for bringing the heart to my Monday morning

it’s a great way to start the week.

Amy: All right. Well thank you so much, Tasha. I really appreciate, enjoyed it.