{"id":323622,"date":"2026-06-29T18:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/323622\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:31:14","slug":"helping-venezuela-nfl-star-joins-global-empowerment-mission-team-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/323622\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Venezuela: NFL star joins Global Empowerment Mission team"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL star Andr\u00e9s Borregales, who was born in Caracas and moved to South Florida in 2004, joined the Global Empowerment Mission\u2019s team to help send aid to northern Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old New England Patriots player \u2014 who made NFL history on Feb. 8 as the first Venezuelan-born player to make it to a Super Bowl \u2014 didn\u2019t just hand over money and donations. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe physically can\u2019t be there right now … which sucks … but we are still helping out in any way that we can. That\u2019s why we are here helping out,\u201d he said while volunteering at GEM\u2019s warehouse in Doral. <\/p>\n

The former University of Miami standout, known as \u201cAutomatic Andy,\u201d and his wife, Stephanie Borregales, a Florida State University graduate, wore the GEM neon green vest with pride. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have my sister over there,\u201d the NFL football kicker said. \u201cThank God, she is OK, but a lot of families aren\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n

There was urgency after a 4.6-magnitude aftershock struck on Monday amid the devastation of Wednesday\u2019s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira.<\/p>\n

As the death toll continued to increase, the United Nations estimated<\/a> on Monday that there were some 680,000 children among the 1.8 million Venezuelans who need assistance after the quakes.<\/p>\n

There are other Venezuelan professional athletes in pain in the U.S. MLB catcher William Contreras, who was born in Puerto Cabello and plays for the Milwaukee Brewers, was in tears after a victory on Friday<\/a> and apologized for not being able to join the search and rescue effort. <\/p>\n

Andy Borregales, who graduated from Champagnat Catholic School in Hialeah in 2021, felt the same pain, but as a Venezuelan American from South Florida, he had a massive effort to join. <\/p>\n

Moving boxes at the warehouse, at 1850 NW 84th Ave, was helping Andy Borregales, who also played football as a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami\u2019s Overtown and Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School in Hollywood. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just amazing to see just everyone come together,\u201d said Stephanie Borregales, a Cuban American who wed the NFL player last year in Boca Raton and who believes in the healing power of giving.<\/p>\n

For more information about how to become a GEM volunteer, visit this page<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Related list: Drop-off locations in South Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

More HELPING VENEZUELA<\/a> coverage <\/p>\n

\"\"VENEZUELA A helicopter flies over a search and rescue team at work on Saturday in Catia La Mar, Venezuela. (AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) \"\"AMS-GEN VENEZUELA-SISMOS Residentes y rescatistas buscan entre los escombros dos d\u00edas despu\u00e9s de los sismos que sacudieron La Guaira, Venezuela, el 26 de junio de 2026. (AP Foto\/Mat\u00edas Delacroix) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Matias Delacroix\/AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix) \"\"APTOPIX Venezuela Earthquake Rescue workers search through the rubble three days after earthquakes struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) \"\"Venezuela Earthquake Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble two days after an earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Juan Pablo Arraez) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Juan Pablo Arraez\/AP Photo\/Juan Pablo Arraez) \"\"Venezuela Survivors walk on Friday near a toy that was abandoned in the rubble of an apartment building in Catia La Mar, Venezuela. (AP Foto\/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) \"\"APTOPIX Venezuela Earthquake Rescue workers aid Daniel Cordero after pulling him from the rubble two days after an earthquake struck Catia la Mar, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) \"\"Venezuela Earthquake Venezuelan Police searches through the rubble two days after earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Ariana Cubillos\/AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos) \"\"APTOPIX Venezuela Earthquake Rescue workers place Daniel Cordero on a stretcher after pulling him from the rubble two days after an earthquake struck Catia la Mar, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Fernando Vergara\/AP Photo\/Fernando Vergara) \"\"Venezuela Earthquake Members of a religious organization distribute food to people affected two days after an earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos) (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) (Ariana Cubillos\/AP Photo\/Ariana Cubillos) <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL star Andr\u00e9s Borregales, who was born in Caracas and moved to South Florida in 2004, joined the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-323622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}