Two women are smiling and hugging each other, with their faces close together. The woman on the left has dark hair with blonde highlights and is wearing a red top. The woman on the right has reddish-brown hair and is wearing a striped shirt with red, orange, and blue colors. They are outdoors, with green foliage and outdoor furniture visible in the background.

Our Story

Hello and thank you for taking the time to learn more about our foundation and what we strive to accomplish. My name is Sabrina Speckman, I am the founder of Positive Potential and this is our story.

In 2021, I decided to volunteer at the Red Cross in Maicao, Colombia, a border town between Colombia and Venezuela. Due to this, the majority of the patients I saw were Venezuelan refugees seeking medical attention and vaccines for COVID-19. I specifically worked in the pediatric department where we would take part in “abrigadas”, traveling to nearby communities that didn’t have transportation access to the hospital.

A woman in a white jacket and medical mask hands a small item to an older woman wearing a colorful patterned dress and medical mask at a health outreach event with tables of supplies, posters, and other people in masks in the background.
Group of medical volunteers and children wearing masks, some with Red Cross shirts, taking a selfie outdoors.

At these communities I was in charge of annotating the children’s basic personal information as well as the medications and vaccines they needed. Throughout this process I met Maikelis, a mother of 5 who had left Venezuela in order to receive better opportunities and medical attention for her 6 year old daughter Yerismari, who had a growing tumor on her back. Maikelis had been working as a recyclist during this time making around $2 USD a week which made it extremely difficult to save for the tumor removal surgery when also needing to buy food and water.

I reached out to the Red Cross for support, but unfortunately, their funds were running so low that they had to shut down the pediatric center shortly afterward. I wanted to do more for Maikelis and her daughter, but as a 17-year-old high school student, I simply didn’t have the financial resources to help pay for the surgery myself.

Two women wearing face masks, standing side by side against a brick wall. One woman is in casual clothes giving a thumbs-up, and the other is in a white uniform with aRed Cross patch.

I decided to return and visit Maikelis’s family, and that was when I truly realized the severity of the conditions this community was living in. The houses were built from wooden planks, cardboard, and plastic sheets. These living conditions made it extremely easy for water to enter whenever it rained, leading to property damage and worsening health conditions.

A woman wearing a red dress with butterfly and floral patterns and a blue face mask standing next to plastic chairs and makeshift shelter made of cardboard and fabric in an outdoor setting.
A makeshift shelter made of wood and plastic sheets, with children standing nearby, in a rural area with trees and a partly cloudy sky.
Children playing in a flooded area with muddy water, smiling and wet.

Within this community, there were over 300 people living within 60 of these homes with the majority being children. While some families were fortunate enough to sleep together on a mattress, others had nothing more than a hammock or a piece of cardboard on the dirt floor. During this time I didn’t have a social media presence but knew I needed additional help. So, with the permission of those who felt comfortable being filmed, I started to upload videos on Tik Tok, and to my surprise, so many people (those just like you!) came together and helped change the life of so many families.

A woman with long hair smiling and pointing at a young boy lying on a hospital bed, who is wearing a hospital gown and has an IV in his arm, in a hospital room.

The story of Maikelis and other families helped raise over $4,000 USD which allowed us to not only pay for Yerismari’s tumor removal surgery but also buy 90 beds, 300 shoes, over 100 schools backpacks with supplies and basic necessities such as food, water, toys, and clothes.

A woman crouching on sandy ground helping a boy put on Crocs shoes, with other women standing around and watching. The boy and woman are wearing face masks, and the boy is wearing a red shirt. The women are wearing colorful, floral maxi dresses.
A large group of smiling people, including children and adults, gathered outdoors on a dirt ground under a blue sky, some holding plastic water bags, with some wearing face masks and colorful clothing.
Group of five people, all wearing masks, standing outdoors during daytime. One person on the left is holding a phone, another in a striped shirt is holding a plastic bag. A woman in a blue tank top and another in a black T-shirt stand near a table with a floral tablecloth. There are three model houses and a dog visible in the background. Trees and power lines are also in the scene.
A group of children wearing face masks and colorful clothing, standing outdoors in front of a woman in a white shirt and face mask, with a cloudy sky overhead.

From this point forward, Positive Potential was founded with a mission to help individuals and families gain access to the resources, opportunities, and support they need to build a more self-sustainable and independent future. We believe that meaningful change goes beyond providing temporary assistance, it means creating the foundation for people to grow, thrive, and ultimately create opportunities for themselves and their communities.

Through our work, we strive to remove the barriers that prevent families from reaching their full potential by supporting initiatives such as small-business development, rent-free housing, educational opportunities, and financial assistance for critical medical needs. By investing in people and their potential, we hope to create lasting change that extends far beyond a single act of support.

A group of smiling children standing outdoors on a sunny day, some making peace signs, with a dirt ground and structures in the background.

At Positive Potential, we believe every person deserves the opportunity to grow, regardless of the circumstances they were born into. Just as a seed needs the right resources, care, and foundation to grow, we work to provide families with the tools and opportunities they need to build brighter, more independent futures.

We invite you to become part of this mission. Whether through giving, volunteering, sharing our work, or connecting us with new opportunities, your support can help plant the seeds of change and empower individuals and communities to reach their full potential.