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Metro Atlanta's Venezuelan community rallies to send aid after devastating earthquakes

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Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Metro Atlanta’s Venezuelan community rallies to send aid after devastating earthquakes Atlanta's Venezuelan community, one of the largest in the U.S., is gathering aid for earthquake victims. National Metro Atlanta's Venezuelan community rallies to send aid after devastating earthquakes July 4, 20267:43 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday By Lily Oppenheimer Metro Atlanta’s Venezuelan community rallies to send aid after devastating earthquakes Listen &middot; 3:18 3:18 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5877776/nx-s1-9836245" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Atlanta's Venezuelan community, one of the largest in the U.S., is gathering aid for earthquake victims.
− Sponsor Message SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Aid groups across the country are organizing to try to help Venezuelans after last month's twin devastating earthquakes.
+ Sponsor Message Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Aid groups across the country are organizing to try to help Venezuelans after last month's twin devastating earthquakes.
That includes people in Atlanta, which is home to one of the largest populations of Venezuelan immigrants. Member station WABE's Lily Oppenheimer reports. UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: (Speaking Spanish). UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #2: (Speaking Spanish). UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER #1: (Speaking Spanish). (SOUNDBITE OF PACKING TAPE UNROLLING) LILY OPPENHEIMER, BYLINE: Volunteers in Atlanta's Venezuelan store have spent days packing boxes with emergency supplies. (SOUNDBITE OF PACKING TAPE UNROLLING) OPPENHEIMER: It's usually a bodega/restaurant stocked with Venezuelan cooking essentials, but now half the store is dedicated to the donations. (SOUNDBITE OF PACKING TAPE UNROLLING) OPPENHEIMER: Store owner Laurinda Pestana still has family in Caracas. Many of the regular customers do too. She says because of its faltering economy, Venezuela already had little resources. Now the earthquakes have left many people with nothing. LAURINDA PESTANA: We have suffering so much stuff before, and now with the terremoto, it's worse. Like, the people cannot find anything at the pharmacy. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish). OPPENHEIMER: She says one of the most important donations people can make - medications. PESTANA: You know, Venezuela is not, like, a regular country. Like, it's very hard for us to find medicines there - and right now, of course, worse. Tylenol, ibuprofen, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, hygiene, (speaking Spanish). OPPENHEIMER: Julio Camargo (ph) stopped by the Venezuelan Store to make a donation. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish). JULIO CAMARGO: (Speaking Spanish). OPPENHEIMER: He has family in one of the hardest-hit areas in the northern states of La Guaira. CAMARGO: (Speaking Spanish). OPPENHEIMER: He says, "thanks to God, they're OK. They were trapped for a while in a collapsed building with their little dogs." CAMARGO: (Speaking Spanish). OPPENHEIMER: Camargo talks about the moment of total anguish for him and his family waiting for news from his brother. He says he didn't sleep, and witnessing the aftermath of the disaster is difficult for him. CAMARGO: (Speaking Spanish). OPPENHEIMER: Like both Camargo and Pestana, most Venezuelans have moved to metro Atlanta within the last decade. Pestana says now the area is a major hub for relief efforts. PESTANA: We already send around, like, 85 boxes just for our store. Imagine another - other stores and other communities. OPPENHEIMER: They are coordinating with Global Empowerment Mission, a disaster relief nonprofit out of Miami that was established after the Haiti earthquake in 2010. She says it's been a surreal year. Just months ago, the U.S. military captured former President Nicolás Maduro. But now, despite the country's vast oil reserves, Venezuelans are still dependent on foreign aid to survive this humanitarian crisis. PESTANA: So thank God. Thank God we have a - like, a lot of community outside in Venezuela. OPPENHEIMER: And she says it's not just Venezuelans who are organizing. She's seeing all kinds of people - Americans and immigrants - trickling into her shop and dropping off donations. For NPR News, I'm Lily Oppenheimer in Atlanta. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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