South Florida volunteers continue to help send droves of aid to Venezuela amid deadly earthquakes

Volunteers gathered at the Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) warehouse in Doral on Saturday to pack supplies for relief efforts in Venezuela, working until 6 p.m. to process a surge of donations that forced coordinators to turn away additional help at the end of the day.

Among the volunteers is Kristine Villarroel, who is working to keep her mind occupied while she waits for word on her family, who remain trapped in the rubble of an apartment building in La Guaira.

"They've been trapped in there since Wednesday afternoon," Villarroel said. "It is 10 floors, and it collapsed completely, and the rubble's like two stories tall, so you can imagine 10 stories condensed to two. It is terrifying".

Villarroel noted that while she finds purpose in helping others, the difficulty of the situation is mounting. "I am trying to stay hopeful, but that hope diminishes every hour," she said.

Donors waited as long as two and a half hours to drop off supplies, creating what appeared to be an organized, human assembly line.

"It makes me super proud as a Venezuelan and emotional," said volunteer Claudia Aponte. "Through tough times, and we are here together".

While the community effort is significant, volunteers emphasized that more specialized support is required to address the scale of the crisis. "We do not have the medical staff that we need," said volunteer Anna Galaviz. "We need support in helicopters. We need, we don't have an air ambulance."

The first air shipment is scheduled to depart Sunday morning for Valencia, located about three hours from Caracas. Donations will be accepted on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Global Empowerment Mission in Doral.