TULSA, Okla. — A group of Venezuelans living in Tulsa is collecting items to ship to the country, which continues to be under a shortage of food, medicine and basic necessities.
Last month, Venezuela experienced a large power outage that left millions without electricity.
Lorena Garcia, the founder of “Soy Venezuela” nonprofit organization, is behind this movement to help her country. She says she came as an asylum-seeker to Tulsa last year and has been very active in gathering community resources to make shipments back home.
This will be the fourth shipment to Venezuela since the beginning of 2018.
Last Sunday, she and a team of volunteers collected items, such as nonperishable food, baby formula and clothes at St. Thomas More Catholic Church. Garcia says they have boxed up the majority of the items.
They are still collecting donations and money is also welcome. She says each box can cost up to $100 to ship. They have about 450 boxes in a warehouse.
Garcia says the last time she went to Venezuela about three months ago, the situation was dire. She says many families are living with little to eat, and some mothers are having a hard time breast-feeding because they're malnourished.
She is asking for people to donate more baby formula with iron and medicine is also needed.
If you'd like to help, you can contact Valeria Soto at (918) 671-9551 or Lorena Garcia at (918) 902-8933.
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