Today we’d like to introduce you to DiMarq Smith.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As long as I can remember my mom always instilled in me that I am no better or lesser than anyone else and should respect everyone the same regardless of their situation. She would get me involved in different volunteering programs every month, and I fell in love with them almost instantly. It was always a dream of mine to be able to be the person who gets others to fall in love with being kind to others and carry this positivity beyond anything I could imagine.
H.O.M.E. was originally named something else about 2 years ago when I took my first jab at making the dream a reality. For unfortunate reasons, I couldn’t push it past what I had done and it was shelved for a long time. I finally returned to the goal in January of 2025 with the assistance of the people around me.
What has gotten us this far is the community that surrounds us as well as the sacrifice and drive to achieve things for others before ourselves. The biggest goal for H.O.M.E. is for it to grow so large that it lives far longer than we do.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say that our journey has been a lot smoother than many people would have anticipated since most of our “struggles” are things we were aware of going into this journey. Time management and date planning is the tallest task we have faced thankfully. I believe this lack of struggle can be directly attributed to the support system behind us that helps us in all other fields. This isn’t to say it has been perfect but the levels of adversity aren’t anything we weren’t able to solve before they became a notable issue.
Adversity is the greatest teacher as it has gotten us to adapt and grow at a very fast rate when it comes to assisting the community in all the ways we can.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Here at H.O.M.E., we do all sorts of volunteer work. Anywhere we are needed we will find a way to get involved and assist that community. I would say I am most proud of the way it has gotten more of the youth/young adults involved in the community even when it isn’t through us directly. I feel the thing that sets us apart is that we were made by the youth for the youth. The majority of community service groups are operated by older people and I feel that sometimes makes the youth hesitant to show up because they feel they will be judged or just that they won’t have as much fun since they might not be able to relate to the operators as much. With us, the youth and people of all ages can expect to relate to us and feel that lack of judgment as well as that youthful high positive energy.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I think the most important lesson I’ve learned so far is to not expect anything. I feel that when I was having lots of expectations set on me by myself and others I would lose motivation to keep going as well as discrediting all the other great progress that was made if I didn’t meet those expectations. Eliminating expectations has allowed me to enjoy every step of growth we make no matter how small since I know at the end of the day we’re still moving forward regardless of the pace. Although hypocritical I must admit I do still have 1 expectation of myself and that is to keep moving forward towards the ultimate goal, having H.O.M.E. outgrow everyone currently involved.
Pricing:
- Kids S- Adult XL shirts for $20
- Adult XXL+ $25
- Both available on our instagram and all proceeds go back into H.O.M.E. and the community
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @h.o.m.e._official
Image Credits
Jacob Topete, 4KJesus, Adara Fernandez
