Jamie Sanchez first felt a divine call to serve at 10 years old.
The Denver product tells the story of noticing a homeless man outside of a 7-Eleven as he walked in with his mother. He went inside, bought a sandwich, and handed to the man. The older man’s reaction of gratitude was the first spark toward a life centered on serving others.
Sanchez describes a turbulent childhood marked by separation from his father because of his gang involvement in California, living in a women’s shelter with his mom and three siblings, and a “rebellious” adolescence of crime and worldly vices.
But in those times of need, he remembers being served and loved by those who truly cared.
“There are those things that are just implanted in me from growing up,” Sanchez said. “My mom was always an example of being able to help people who have less, even though we weren’t this rich family.”
Hear how God molded Jamie Sanchez to serve Denver in the face of suffering in our full conversation:
As a young father at the age of 21, Sanchez recalls God convicting him to save him from “my path of destruction.” And in the early days of his new walk, a truth from 1 John 4 propelled him and his late wife Carolyn to serve in a larger capacity.
“It’s not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins,” Sanchez said. “And if God so loved us, then we must love one another.”
And so, the circle that began on that brisk day years ago at the 7-Eleven closed as the pair scraped together 20 sandwiches and handed them out in downtown Denver. Recycle God's Love was eventually born out of this effort. Today, it serves as many as 400 homeless individuals in the city of Denver on an annual basis.
“We use [feeding the hungry] as a way to initiate contact so that we can share God’s love with them, because God’s love is what’s going to have power over their life.”
The aim is lasting transformation for Recycle God’s Love. Sanchez would go on to recognize a pressing need for more than just meals in order to make the impact a lasting one.
The path that Sanchez took to get where he is today is exactly what informed his passion to go beyond the care already being provided.
“The difference between you and a homeless person is one large life event,” Sanchez explained. “I 100% believe that without Christ’s power in my life, I would’ve been homeless easily.”
The life event for Sanchez was losing Carolyn to cancer in 2018. But even in and through the searing pain of loss, he was eventually driven back to serving as many as he could.
Project Revive was formed under Recycle God’s Love in 2022, an effort to address the root causes of homelessness by providing housing, jobs, and discipleship to those who otherwise would not have access to such opportunity. The Drip Cafe, a coffee shop where homeless people can find gainful employment and Christian discipleship, was opened in 2023.
The larger-scale, holistic effort was informed by studying the results of both secular and Gospel-oriented organizations doing similar work with homeless people. Sanchez said he and his team found that stories of long-term success were rare without being informed by Christian values and hope.
“I believe it’s because of the Holy Spirit – because of Christ,” Sanchez said of the difference in success rates. “He’s the one who breaks chains. [Secular social services] aren’t changing people’s lives. The truth is Christ has the power. Christ has the authority over sin.”
The second-hardest trial of Sanchez’s life, as he describes it, came almost immediately after The Drip Cafe opened its doors in Denver’s Art District on Sante Fe Drive.
Anti-Christian protestors had discovered that the coffee shop was run by a faith-based organization. They quickly made their disapproval known, forming protests at the store’s front.
For six months, Sanchez and his team worked through a long list of potential solutions, such as serving food to the angry protestors and bringing crowds of Christian supporters to converse with the detractors – even simply ignoring them. Nothing worked.
“The first six months of being there were very challenging,” Sanchez recounts. “I had to escape to my secret place with God constantly in the middle of the day. I would go out to the back patio and just isolate myself with God.”
Then, a decision was made to add a joyful noise to the cacophony of hatred. Regular worship nights began happening at the cafe in an effort to give God glory even as the world pushed against the organization’s efforts to serve the community.
Light began to shine through. More and more began to attend the worship events. More and more began to visit the shop simply because of the attention the protests garnered. The Gospel was preached, the business flourished, and a growing host of lives began to be changed.
“God says I’m going to make you fishers of men, but then here we are in our boat and he’s bringing the fish right to the side of the boat,” Sanchez says of what God has done through the protests. “We just have to keep changing the lure.”
“The biggest part for me is we’ve gotten to share the Gospel with people we never would have. That’s a win.”
The story has gained national attention, allowing Sanchez even grander platforms to share eternal hope on.
Protests still occur in front of The Drip Cafe every month, while serving the less fortunate is hardly an easy thing by itself. But Sanchez thinks that’s part of the point.
“It should be difficult. If it was easy, it wouldn't actually require any faith.”
In fact, his message to other believers who wonder how to serve, or only see reasons not to, is exactly that. It will be difficult, but it should be done nonetheless. Because God loves first, to the point of taking on human flesh and surrendering life itself, we are to love in the midst of suffering, lack, and darkness.
“It’s not about you,” Sanchez said. “That’s what I have to remind myself. Imagine if you were to just help one person the rest of your life, and imagine if that one person was you. You are your whole world, right? Helping one person is the whole world to that person. Focus on helping the one person, whoever’s in front of you.”
Learn more about the work being done through Recycle God’s Love and The Drip Cafe.