DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) – Volunteers in South Florida continue working on their mission to help victims of the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela.
Inside of the Global Empowerment Mission warehouse in Doral, volunteers were hard at work on Friday.
According to GEM officials, over 200,000 Venezuelans have been helped so far and their relief efforts are not stopping any time soon.
7News cameras captured volunteers taping dozens of boxes and placing them on a pallet at the end of an assembly line.
For many volunteers, the act has become almost muscle memory.
Friday marked one month since twin earthquakes hit Venezuela causing deadly damage and leaving those who survived without food, water or homes.
For the last month, GEM has mobilized alongside their partners, reaching historic milestones in the amount of life saving aid provided.
“We’ve brought over 2,400 pallets so far, about just over $12 million in aid and we’ve done a 1,440 metric tons of aid across 25 planes, five military crafts and 55 containers have gone so far,” said GEM Director of U.S. Logistics Billy Richardson.
The three pilots who flew the first plane of aid from GEM to Venezuela said they saw firsthand just how badly basic needs are needed.
“When we touched down, it was a really hard feeling because we’re experiencing it for the first time, none of us did that before, so seeing what people need and all the devastation, people underneath the scrubs, it’s very hard, but at the same time, like I said, it’s been a blessing because we were able to help,” said Denilson Del-Cid.
Back in Doral, the community has come out in droves in ways GEM has never seen.
“Seeing all the people that came, especially those first days, we had people from Venezuela, from Argentina, from all over the community, people that didn’t even speak Spanish, they didn’t even know where Venezuela was, and they came here and they donated their time and their efforts, were carrying stuff, were sweating a lot. It’s not an easy job and people still come,” said Ori Calcano.
Many volunteers like Ori have been at the warehouse the entire month helping out and says she has no intentions to stop.
“So since the earthquake, pretty much the day after, somebody called me and they were like, ‘Oh, we’re going to build boxes for Venezuela,’ and I just came and I never stopped,” said Ori.
Over the past 30 days, on any given day, the GEM warehouse is full of volunteers packing supplies to send to Venezuela.
“They’re very grateful because, you know, they’re still in phase one and that phase one is still that survival mode where they’re just trying to get all of the basic needs to just live,” said Richardson.
Officials said it remains a long road to recovery, with pain that can’t be measured, but they promise that they won’t stop sending help until the Southern American country is rebuilt completely.
“We’re out here helping as much as we can,” said Richardson.
Richardson said the three items needed most are canned protein, canned fruits and canned vegetables.
Volunteers are urged to pass by the warehouse and help out if they can with donations or their hard work.
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