Help locals affected by the Venice flooding

Help Venetians recover from the 2nd worst acqua alta "high tide" in history.

On the 12th of November, Venice declared a state of emergency.  The worst flood in the past 50 years hit the city, damaging people's houses, and businesses. We all have to rebuild and you can help!

Our goal: To raise 80 000 euros to help local businesses recover from the flood. 

Why?
1/ Local businesses have been heavily touched by the flood as they are usually located on the ground floor.
2/ Local businesses are already struggling and more often than not when one of them closes it is a few families having to leave their city 
3/ By helping local businesses with this crisis, we are helping the community as a whole


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A few words from people who support this campaign: 

"The best way to help Venetians is to help them directly. Venezia Autentica is raising money to help Venice artisans get back on their feet. I've been following them for nearly three years - they're doing brilliant work. Please donate, if you can "
- Julia Buckley, Journalist, currently at CNN Travel. 

"I donated because Sebastian and Valeria are totally trustworthy!! The funds will go to local Venetians in need"
- Cy TODD, Venice Lover and Visitor

"I love Venice and follow Valeria and Sebastian on fb. This is a cause close to my heart. I know they will spend it wisely."
- Lynne Whitworth, Venice Lover and Visitor

"Valeria et Sebastian, je vous souhaite de tout cœur de réussir dans tous les projets que vous formez, pour vous et pour Venise. Vous êtes un exemple pour tous. Je pense très fort à vous, "
- Fabienne Trombetta, Venice Lover and Visitor


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Read more below!

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Aiutiamo Venezia a riprendersi dalla seconda acqua alta peggiore della storia!


Il 12 Novembre, la peggiore inondazione degli ultimi 50 anni ha messo in ginocchio la città, devastando case e i negozi: Venezia è in stato d'emergenza.

Ciò di cui i Veneziani hanno un disperato bisogno ora, è un contributo diretto e immediato per riparare alle perdite e poter tornare alla propria vita il prima possibile.

Il primo passo per aiutare Venezia e i Veneziani è aiutare le piccole imprese locali a rimettersi al lavoro.

Ci puoi aiutare!

Maggiori Informazioni di seguito 



★Who are we?

We are a social enterprise committed to supporting locals in Venice since 2015.
You can trust us: we've been featured on top tier media such as Forbes, CNN, BBC, and more, recognized by awards in social innovation and called to address government and industry leaders.

★What is the crisis we are addressing?

On November 12, Venice was hit by the worst flooding in over 50 years.

With winds blowing at over 100km/h, a tide peaked at +187 cm over the sea level, flooding over 80% of the city, and creating an unprecedented wave of devastation for most residents affected.


★How did it affect the people of Venice?

Almost everyone who lives on the ground floor or owns a shop in Venice has lost belongings, some even losing their life's work.

The night of the event, we saw people with tears in their eyes, people unable to mutter a word,
and people cursing madly. All of them relentlessly working to limit the damages caused by this beyond exceptional and devastating flooding.

Many shop owners had their merchandise irreparably damaged, and most of us lost furnitures and appliances.
And we're not even counting in the damage caused by the water on doors, walls and on the general condition of houses and shops.



When the water came into our home office, it ruined our bed and at least some of our appliances.

We can't say yet how much damage we suffered as more high waters are expected this week and we are therefore waiting for the end of this terrible period to assess the damages fully.

What we can say is when one of our door gates broke under the pressure of the water, the tide violently entered our home, reaching our appliances and sockets and causing a short circuit.

This caused us to be left in the dark, without electricity and unable to use our biggest ally against the flood, our water pumps, as they had stopped working.

This short circuit happened to many others in Venice. Many were left powerless in front of the rising water.

★Why are we doing this?

As Italian residents, we have had proof over the decades that we can not count on help from the local nor from the national government.

As we need to immediately act, we thought we should mobilize and come together.

We hope we can count on people, people like you and us, to quickly overcome this moment and get back to our work and our lives as fast as possible.


★What is needed now?

Money. Not in 1 year from now, not in 2 months from now.

People need money quickly to fix their homes and work and get back on their feet as soon as possible.

We are hard workers, we just need to be in the condition to do so.

★How much money is needed?

It's too soon to make an estimate and no one will probably ever be able to estimate just how much was lost.

We believe than anything significant would make a difference and this is why we have set a target of 1000 euros per local business.

★Who are we?

We are Valeria and Sebastian, co-founders of Venezia Autentica.

Venezia Autentica was created to prevent the impoverishment and displacement of Venetian residents.

We make it easier for people to keep on living in their city by empowering local businesses and visitors who care.

At the moment we have 150+ local businesses that we have digitized and featured on our website, free of charge.  We estimate that our work brought them 3 million euros.

You can read more about us, here : https://veneziaautentica.com/about-us/
And check out our Impact Report, here: https://veneziaautentica.com/impact-report/ 

★Why we support local businesses?

What we do is important as, contrary to what most people believe, the ever-increasing number of visitors coming to Venice is making people in Venice poorer, not richer.

In particular, local businesses are dying at an alarming speed.

In fact, a big part of the revenue coming from tourism does not enter the local economy.
This phenomenon is known and tourism "leakage".

The popularity of the destinations increases the cost of living, while locals make less money than before.

As a consequence, local communities are impoverished and, then, displaced. 

In the case of Venice, tourism leakage pushed 70% of the local population out of their city in the past 70 years. From 175.000 inhabitants in 1951 to less than 53.000 today.

One of the only ways for Venetians to survive this pressure is to hold on to their artisans' shops and family-run businesses and try and make enough money to pay their bills and continue living in their city. 

What happened on the 12th of November, however, has put local businesses even more on their knees and locals are desperate to start working again and continue their daily fight to stay in their city.

All they need now is a bit of help to replace what they have lost. 


★What are the 80.000 euros we are asking for?

We will distribute the money between all small local businesses we know that have suffered damages.

We will prioritize the 80 businesses that we have already vetted and certified as being locally owned and offering only quality crafts and services. Our aim to raise 80.000 euros would allow us, together, to contribute up to 1.000 euros per business.

These are the "Values" that are shared by the local businesses we selected and certified:
* Artisans' Charter of Values: https://veneziaautentica.com/venezia-autenticas-artisans-charter-values/
* Food & Beverage Charter of Values: https://veneziaautentica.com/venezia-autenticas-food-beverage-charter-values/

If we go beyond our target, we will help other local businesses after having checked their credentials (i.e: being locally owned) and the damages they suffered.

Should there still be money available, we will distribute small grants amongst locals who suffered losses in their homes to help them replace their appliances and furniture.


If, thanks to your generosity, we are left with money available, we will use it to keep on supporting local businesses

All transactions will be performed via online banking and made public on our website.

★When would we ideally need the money?

Now.

The earlier we manage to raise money, the more chances Venetian local businesses have to get back on their feet and Venetians to go back to their daily life and work.

If you can help, even with just 5 euros, it will make a difference.  


★How else can you help?

There are two ways for you to help.

1) You can share this campaign with all the people you know
2) You can make sure that when you will be coming to Venice, you will spend your time and money in a way that guarantees you to be spending for quality and authenticity while making a positive impact on the local community. The easiest way to do so is to use our website https://veneziaautentica.com and find all local businesses that we have certified and vetted

We want to thank in advance every person that will help us by donating and/or spreading our message and campaign.

Every contribution matters! We are grateful for your help! Nothing would be possible without you!

Valeria & Sebastian

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ITALIANO:

Aiutiamo Venezia a riprendersi dalla seconda acqua alta peggiore della storia!


Il 12 Novembre, la peggiore inondazione degli ultimi 50 anni ha messo in ginocchio la città, devastando case e i negozi: Venezia è in stato d'emergenza.


I venti a 100km/h e una marea che ha raggiunto i +187cm sul livello medio del mare, hanno sommerso oltre l'80% della città. Alcune persone hanno perso molto, altre hanno perso tutto. 


Ciò di cui i Veneziani hanno un disperato bisogno ora, è un contributo diretto e immediato per riparare alle perdite e poter tornare alla propria vita il prima possibile.


La maniera più efficace per farlo è aiutando i piccoli business locali a rimettersi in piedi e ripartire. Essi sono infatti l'ultima speranza che la popolazione Veneziana ha per rimanere nella propria città. 



★Perchè le piccole attività locali sono così cruciali?

Pochi sanno che Venezia ha perso oltre il 70% della propria popolazione negli ultimi 70 anni.

Una delle cause è il "tourism leakage", ovvero il f⁴atto che una gran parte della spesa turistica non entra nell'economia locale ma finisce, invece, nelle casse di imprese con sede all'estero o lontana dalla città.

Allo stesso tempo, però, la popolarità di Venezia offre opportunità di investimento alle grandi compagnie. Il risultato è un aumento del costo della vita e un impoverimento del residente.

In queste condizioni, la maggior parte delle persone sono costrette ad abbandonare la propria città.

Al contrario, i piccoli business locali e i business a conduzione famigliare permettono alla popolazione di continuare a vivere a Venezia.

Le difficoltà causate dalla crisi finanziaria del 2008 e il cambiamento delle modalità in cui il turismo avviene, hanno costretto numerose attività a chiudere.

Quelle ancora attive lottano ogni giorno per non dover chiudere e, di li a poco, costringere altre persone a lasciare la propria città.

Il primo passo per aiutare Venezia e i Veneziani è aiutare le piccole imprese locali a rimettersi al lavoro.