Love in Action.
On November 2nd, 2025 an intimate group of friends, family, & loved ones gathered together to remember Dominic’s free spirit as this day marked the 1 year anniversary of his passing. There was no better place to commemorate his sweet, yet restless soul than a park he once resided in frequently during the roaming era of his life. I have to say, Lion’s Park in Costa Mesa, CA is a beautiful place to be. I understand why folks without a traditional home hang out there. The park is only several blocks up from the ocean. A modern public library sits right in the middle of the park. There’s public restrooms, a big green field, trees, benches, sinks, even a public pool. This suburban slice of paradise sits right in the middle of the bustling city and is a short walk’s distance from a soup kitchen and church whom both take care of their neighbors in need.
We picked a park bench as our temporary home base for the day and unloaded all the care packages from my car. Weeks prior to this event, my younger son helped me put together 48 bags full of snacks and goods that so many generous people donated to us. Our original goal was to make up 24 bags, but we ended up doubling our goal! We still have a decent amount of goods left to get us started on the next round of care packages too. What a blessing, right? It’s a bold testament to how much love Dominic weaved into this world, although he may have not realized it while he was here in physical form. I’m confident to say, I believe his soul knows now.
For context, allow me to back track in this record for a moment. When Dom successfully completed a 60 - day round of treatment from substance use disorder in August of 2023, he moved home with us. We were overjoyed to have our boy back. We all knew at that point he had to continue on in his recovery, so he enrolled himself in a local outpatient program near our home. Being fairly new to sobriety and recovery myself, both Dominic and I were learning that being of service to others is a big part of recovery along with maintaining a healthy, humble outlook on life. This is when the bright idea of homeless outreach work trickled down from that higher God consciousness into my mind and poured into my heart space. After all Dominic had experienced during his time on the streets, I knew he would be the greatest spear head of this mission. At that time, I thought it would be on this Earth side of life though. :/
I brought the idea to the table with him, ironically the same spot I’m sitting in while I type this. He jumped right on board with the idea of handing out care packages and postcards with recovery resources listed on them. My mom hands went to work on my laptop, while he went to work on a few gigs with my husband. I showed him the postcard artwork and asked him, “if someone handed you this postcard while you were in the park, would you have thought it was condescending?” He read it over, then said, “it looks good.” He then threw one of his idea’s on the table, “why don’t we put these care packages in our car’s because we never know when we’re going to see a homeless person.” I told him I loved that idea too.
Life continued for the both of us from that day on. He was working part time, going to outpatient groups, reconciling relationships, building new relationships, traveling with his girlfriend. I was also going to my recovery meetings, trying to be a healthy mom, wife, home maker, attending church, and working full time too. Our lives were very full of fruits; this service project took a back seat for a little while.
After Dominic passed over, life stopped for us. I suddenly understood what sitting Shiva meant. I didn’t want to leave our home. I only wore Dominic’s clothes for several days. There was a lot of weeping. Thank God for the family and friends that came in and nourished us during that time. They were all feeling the depths of grief too, and we just wanted to be together. November 2024 was our own personal shutdown. We went back to the basics of living. Family, home, water, fresh air, food, showers, minimal work. We remembered what mattered most…our loving connection to one another and the experiences we share.
The sun continued to rise and set, and the following months came around. The seasons changed again; it seemed brutal that the world continued on without Dominic living in it. I found an empty box inside myself, labeled it sorrow & grief, stuffed all my feelings in there, and continued walking through life. To this day, when I am alone, or feel I’m in the company of someone who can bare to look inside this box with me, I open it. All the feelings wash over me, often with many tears, and I continuously try to make sense of it all.
During these dark times, the light continued to shine in ways I can’t describe with words. Perhaps the only words that can try to capture the feeling are from the book of John, chapter 1, verse 5 in the Holy Bible, written thousands of years ago…
“The light shines in darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”
As 2025 came to pass, that idea Dom and I had talked about in the fall of 2023 sent a flare up into my head and heart again. As I was sitting in the mud puddle of my own sorrows, that flare caught my attention and pulled my perspective to a place with greener pastures. When scrolling through some photos and screenshots, I came across a poster that a bunch of Dominic’s friends had signed during a skate boarding memorial they had put together in Long Beach. I didn’t attend the event, because hanging with a bunch of twenty something skater punks just isn’t my scene anymore. I did appreciate viewing the gathering through the eyes of his friends on Instagram stories. I took some screenshots of the occasion to remember how many people loved Dom; most of whom I never met. One of the messages written on this particular poster said, “love is free”. That struck me. I thought to myself, “perhaps those were words Dominic once spoke to this friend?” As the days went on from there, I was reading through old Instagram DM’s between Dominic and I. In a very long amends message I had sent to him in the spring of 2023, I also used the phrase, “love is free”. It struck me again. Two times in a matter of weeks those words made their way to my eyes. The synchronicity spoke to me profoundly.
My oldest sister and a life long friend of ours came to visit Tehachapi in the early spring of 2025. We hiked to the top of the Mountain Park trail. It’s like 7,000 feet high up there! With that kind of fresh mountain air pumping through my lungs, I literally breathed this idea back into life with them. I simply started talking about it. About 10 years prior, we all had done some service work slangin’ vegan tacos to bar goers on the corner of 7th st. and Junipero in Long Beach, CA. All the funds collected from that event were donated to the Whole Kids Foundation. What can I say, we are do-gooder types underneath all of our sass. The two of them loved the idea of spreading love to our neighbors; with that communal momentum my hands went to work again. This time, I started sorting through photos, making mood boards, playing with color pallet’s, writing, praying, and ushering this spark of hope into existence. All the emotions in my grief box had a place to air out. I started to gain focus on the light again.
There you have it folks, the Genesis story of Love is Free Foundation. I really went way back there, wasn’t expecting to do that. How about we get back to the park on November 2nd, 2025? ;)
We circled up in the park awaiting all that RSVP’d to arrive. As each person arrived, introductions were made, and we all organically started sharing stories about Dominic, along with Devin, another young man who had passed over a few months before Dominic. His mom came to the park to show her support. We were connected on Instagram through the podcast she and another bereaved mother started called the DK805 podcast. The synchronicities between Dominic’s and Devin’s stories are mind blowing. It seems there has been a divine hand in connecting us grieving moms together. We handed out a few bags right away as we were unloading and sharing; we definitely were in the right place at the right time to fulfill the first expression of this mission.
From there we partnered up with a few bags in each hand and walked around the park and surrounding area’s introducing ourselves and asking people if they’d like a care package. A few folks were open to conversations and gave us some insight on where we could find more people who would enjoy a bag. Just about everyone we met was genuinely thankful to receive a bag of necessities. As we were walking away from one gentleman, he shouted, “make sure you say hello to me in heaven”. My heart melted with all the feelings.
After a couple hours passed by, we walked back to the park to recollect our experience and say our good bye’s. To honor Dominic’s idea, some of us divided up the remaining few bags between us and have them in our car’s to hand out when we see someone out there who could use a little love. <3
With all that was going on, I forgot to take many pictures. Thankfully some of the women who came snapped some memorable photos to share.
We are making plans for our next hand out session. Save the date for February 28th, 2026. We’ll be meeting in Pasadena, CA. The specific location is yet to be pinned down, but we will be sure to give ample notice as the date approaches.
A big shout out to everyone who donated goods, showed up to the park, shared our mission on their Instagram accounts, or have been following along in spirit. <3
Much love,
Kristen XoxoXO
