South Florida volunteers work through night to gather supplies for Venezuela in wake of deadly earthquakes
The response in South Florida was immediate to get much-needed aid to Venezuela after hundreds of people were killed in powerful back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday with volunteers across the region working through the night to gather supplies and ship them to the devastated South American country.
Supplies for victims of the earthquakes in Venezuela are being accepted at several locations, as well as much-needed monetary donations.
At Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) in Doral, volunteers have been working non-stop to get supplies to those who need it most, with some of that aid already arriving in Venezuela as of Friday morning.
GEM's warehouse is filled with non-perishable food and other supplies, like hygiene products and medical necessities.
And those volunteers have been busy boxing them up and shipping them off for delivers to Venezuela.
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Antonio Torrealba said he is having trouble getting ahold of some of his friends and family in Venezuela since the deadly earthquakes.
"Actually they are good, but I have friends that are inside the buildings right now and that is the reason why I'm here," he said.
He's part of a growing number of volunteers who are helping to collect a growing number of donations at GEM.
They initiated a rapid response when the back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday.
"For us it's one of the first times I've seen lines of cars for donations that long," said Billy Richardson of GEM "I mean, I left here after 8 p.m. and I still had cars pulling up being like, 'Can you take donations?'"
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the county is partnering with GEM and United Way Miami to help collect supplies.
And she says Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is ready to go to Venezuela to assist with recovery.
"This is the expertise that our USAR team has," she said. "We are eager to deploy them. They are ready. Everything is loaded – their passports, their visas," cava said
GEM says their cash donations have already eclipsed over $1 million.
Doral Mayor Christi Fraga says that cash donations are vital along with consumables.
"It does cost to get this stuff to Venezuela. Once they have cash donations they can purchase things there that they need," she said. "And sometimes there are things that are difficult to get into the country so they'll just need to purchase it there anyway."