If They Are Lucky They Will Eat One Meal a Day
Donation protected
I never thought I'd have to create a fundraising campaign like this, but now I have no choice.
You know that I grew up in a small village in Venezuela. And you've seen and heard about the devastation and upheaval that is going on there. It tears my heart out every day to see the people I know and love suffering so badly.
Because of the recent blackouts, there are times that I can't reach my 77-year old mother, my brothers, my nieces or nephews for days and I fear the worst. Sometimes when I do they say the words that kill me..."I'm so hungry."
Can you imagine hearing that?
Joseph and I are blessed. We are surrounded by loved ones, good friends, health, freedom, and prosperity. We have sent so much money over the years to get food and necessities to my village. And for a long time, we were able to help.
But things have gotten so much worse. Items are confiscated by officials, stolen by others, and it can even be dangerous for people to have food and goods as they can be attacked.
There is one church in my village and the priest is trying to get food so that the 50 children he cares for can eat just ONE meal a day.
I grew up up in the village El Pilar and used to go as a little girl to the church La Vrgin de Pilar that is feeding the children. So I now want to try and help feed these children from my village.
Sometimes store owners will give them a small bag of old rice so at least the children will have something in their stomachs. It is rare for these children to have protein, a glass of milk, or real nourishment to keep their hunger pains at bay.
But as I said, now it's not as easy as just sending money to my village anymore. We have had to resort to getting food through back channels, which is dependable, but extortionately expensive. But we have no choice. Without this they will literally starve.
To give you an idea of how far money goes:
A dozen eggs cost us $10
($10 is the average monthly wage of a Venezuelan by the way)
12 jars of this tuna cost us $150.
This is cornmeal, flour, 2 packages of spaghetti and one sauce, oil, salt, one pack of powdered milk, some sugar and some rice.
This few basic items cost $400.
Now that you know the enormous expense of getting even a few items of nourishment I am hoping that you will consider donating. Although we are grateful for whatever you can give we pray you will give as generously as you're able.
We need to get these children some food so they can eat just one meal a day and I'm hoping to raise at least $7500. Every 2 weeks I will take $400 - $600 dollars from your generous donations to send money to Venezuela to help feed the children. I will accomplish this by moving the money that folks have so graciously donated into a Bank of America bank account in my name Carmen Imperato that I use to send money to Venezuela. I then will send the money to Venezuela to buy food for the children. I do this by transferring money from my bank account to the bank account of the church Nuestra Señora la Virgen del Pilar and Father Robert Acosta will use the money to buy food. If he knows that it will be difficult to find any food for sale in our village, I will instead deposit the money in the bank account of Signor Gervacio who will buy the type of food I have described above, Tuna fish, Corn meal, eggs etc. and bring it to Father Robert Acosta to feed the children. I will have a record of every time I deposit money and my mother Carmen Farias and Father Acosta will get a receipt every time they get the food for the children.
I'm looking to you, my friends, to please help us help the church provide food for these children.
In the United States we are all so blessed and would do anything to spare our children an ounce of pain. I am asking for your generosity to try and help these children.
They are so sweet, but they are suffering terribly. And they need our help.
I thank you with all the love in my heart for any amount you can give.
Please share this GoFundMe page or link through facebook, twitter, email or however you can get the word out. I will send you updates of how things are going so you can see the difference you're kindness has made.
God Bless You,
Bernice Imperato
PS: GoFundMe takes 2.9% transaction fee plus .30¢ for every donation.
You know that I grew up in a small village in Venezuela. And you've seen and heard about the devastation and upheaval that is going on there. It tears my heart out every day to see the people I know and love suffering so badly.
Because of the recent blackouts, there are times that I can't reach my 77-year old mother, my brothers, my nieces or nephews for days and I fear the worst. Sometimes when I do they say the words that kill me..."I'm so hungry."
Can you imagine hearing that?
Joseph and I are blessed. We are surrounded by loved ones, good friends, health, freedom, and prosperity. We have sent so much money over the years to get food and necessities to my village. And for a long time, we were able to help.
But things have gotten so much worse. Items are confiscated by officials, stolen by others, and it can even be dangerous for people to have food and goods as they can be attacked.
There is one church in my village and the priest is trying to get food so that the 50 children he cares for can eat just ONE meal a day.
I grew up up in the village El Pilar and used to go as a little girl to the church La Vrgin de Pilar that is feeding the children. So I now want to try and help feed these children from my village.
Sometimes store owners will give them a small bag of old rice so at least the children will have something in their stomachs. It is rare for these children to have protein, a glass of milk, or real nourishment to keep their hunger pains at bay.
But as I said, now it's not as easy as just sending money to my village anymore. We have had to resort to getting food through back channels, which is dependable, but extortionately expensive. But we have no choice. Without this they will literally starve.
To give you an idea of how far money goes:
A dozen eggs cost us $10
($10 is the average monthly wage of a Venezuelan by the way)
12 jars of this tuna cost us $150.
This is cornmeal, flour, 2 packages of spaghetti and one sauce, oil, salt, one pack of powdered milk, some sugar and some rice.
This few basic items cost $400.
Now that you know the enormous expense of getting even a few items of nourishment I am hoping that you will consider donating. Although we are grateful for whatever you can give we pray you will give as generously as you're able.
We need to get these children some food so they can eat just one meal a day and I'm hoping to raise at least $7500. Every 2 weeks I will take $400 - $600 dollars from your generous donations to send money to Venezuela to help feed the children. I will accomplish this by moving the money that folks have so graciously donated into a Bank of America bank account in my name Carmen Imperato that I use to send money to Venezuela. I then will send the money to Venezuela to buy food for the children. I do this by transferring money from my bank account to the bank account of the church Nuestra Señora la Virgen del Pilar and Father Robert Acosta will use the money to buy food. If he knows that it will be difficult to find any food for sale in our village, I will instead deposit the money in the bank account of Signor Gervacio who will buy the type of food I have described above, Tuna fish, Corn meal, eggs etc. and bring it to Father Robert Acosta to feed the children. I will have a record of every time I deposit money and my mother Carmen Farias and Father Acosta will get a receipt every time they get the food for the children.
I'm looking to you, my friends, to please help us help the church provide food for these children.
In the United States we are all so blessed and would do anything to spare our children an ounce of pain. I am asking for your generosity to try and help these children.
They are so sweet, but they are suffering terribly. And they need our help.
I thank you with all the love in my heart for any amount you can give.
Please share this GoFundMe page or link through facebook, twitter, email or however you can get the word out. I will send you updates of how things are going so you can see the difference you're kindness has made.
God Bless You,
Bernice Imperato
PS: GoFundMe takes 2.9% transaction fee plus .30¢ for every donation.
Organizer
Berenice Imperato
Organizer
Scarsdale, NY