Help Rescue Our Family In Venezuela

Alessandra Pino is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of RENATO PINO.

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My name is Alessandra. I was born in Boston but spent most of my adult life in California so I consider myself Californian. My dad is from New York and my mom is from Venezuela. I live with my husband Ray, our daughter Ella and our puppy Rex, in the amazing Blue Ridge Mountains of SW Virginia where we are homesteaders. We are lucky to be surrounded by amazing people, and to live so close to the great town of Floyd. Everything in our lives is going well, except for the fact that my mom, stepdad (the amazing man who raised me), and baby sister (who has a husband and a newborn baby boy) are all in Venezuela, and they are in dire straits.
See, Venezuelans are going through hell. A country with the biggest oil reserve on the planet which was once rich and properous has been completely crippled by 18 years of a communist regime. The government has become a full blown dictatorship with the highest inflation in the world, and the country is now the most dangerous country that is not currently at war. Hundreds of people are murdered each day for their phones, cars or for food and medicines.

Things in Venezuela have been bad for years but at least our family could still find food, and since they live in the mountains, they have been able to stay safe from the incredible dangers of the cities.
Unfortunately, as things continue to deteriorate, they are no longer safe. This week, the government banned its own money and the chaos has reached an all time high, millions of people, including our family, have lost what little money they had and the country has reached the point of no return.
As of right now, our family is struggling to find food, their power goes out for longer and longer periods of time each day, leaving them without electricity or internet, virtually isolated from the rest of the world.
I cannot describe what it feels like to not be able to hear from our family for 24-48 hours at a time, knowing the daily dangers they face, wondering if something happened to them.
They cannot find propane to cook; my dad was in line for 12 hours last week in order to refill his propane tank and when he got to the cash register, all the propane was gone and he had to go home empty handed.
And there are absolutely no medicines. Anything medically serious happens to any of them and they will just die.
My sister Annie is a doctor and she just had her first baby three months ago. You would think as a doctor she would be able to provide for her family but unfortunately the scarcity and inflation is affecting everyone equally. Annie was not able to breastfeed and is having the hardest time finding formula for her baby Sammy, to the point that she is very close to having only coconut water left to feed him.
People are losing it and chaos is all that's left, people are killing each other for food, looting every bakery, grocery store and pharmacy. The desperation is so great that they have had to start killing pigeons in order to have something to eat, as well as rummage through the trash. A friend of my husband's that's still in Venezuela just saw a man on the streets eating a dog. It is just horrible.

It is now impossible for us to sit idly by and not do whatever we can to help our family flee their country, and we wish that we had all the money in the world to do so but unfortunately we don't, which is why we are asking for your help.
With the monetary help we will buy my mom and dad plane tickets so they can come here to be with us. They will need starting money to rent a place to live and get clothing, etc. We will also use the money to file all the pertinent immigration paperwork so they can become residents here in the US. For my sister we wish nothing more than to be able to raise the money so she can come to Texas to live with some family members, on a student visa, and take the necessary classes and exams to get her medical practicing license and get a job at a hospital somewhere within the US, with her family of course. If this dream is not a possibility right now due to funds then we want to at least raise enough money for her and her family to relocate to another, more stable Latin American country such as Costa Rica or Peru; as long as they get to flee Venezuela.
Our biggest fear is that as things get worse and worse each day, the Venezuelan government will decide to close the borders and our family will be trapped, unable to flee, so we want to get them out as soon as possible!!!
When we stop to reflect on the current state of the world, it is ever so clear to us that family is everything and we must stick together and love one another.
We want nothing more for our little baby Ella than to grow up with her grandparents by her side <3
Please donate if you can, and share our campaign, help us spread the word. We will be forever grateful to all of you. This holiday season there would be no better gift than to bring our family and be together, safe, and full of love because no matter what, at the end of the day, love is all we need <3