Dear Andy,

“The building outside my window collapsed as soon as the earthquake began.”

For years, Sylvia Mizrahi helped provide nutritious meals to vulnerable Jews in her home city of Caracas, Venezuela. Then, two weeks ago today, catastrophic twin 7.5- and 7.2-magnitude earthquakes literally tore through her community, killing at least 3,535 people, injuring 16,740 more, and leaving 1.8 million in dire need of aid, including 680,000 children.

Disaster survivors like Sylvia are looking to you. Please give generously today.

After the shaking stopped, Sylvia ran outside with nothing but the clothes on her back. She was desperate to check in on her mother-in-law, 90, who lived homebound and alone in a high-rise apartment block. Fearing aftershocks at any moment, Sylvia and her husband carried their elderly relative down 11 flights of stairs “step by step.”

When they touched ground, they found life-saving care — and a greater sense of purpose — in the Jewish community they'd called home for decades. Sylvia threw herself into volunteer work and became a part of JDC and the Venezuelan Jewish community’s rapid and robust humanitarian response.

More than two weeks later, our work continues. The Hebraica JCC, our longtime partner on the ground, is providing shelter for people with nowhere else to go, along with food packets and hygiene kits. They have also opened a soup kitchen that serves healthy, nutritious meals to community members who are hungry.

Together with the local Jewish community, we are also providing desperately needed aid to the wider population and will be expanding that work in the coming days and weeks.

Venezuelans in need still require urgent assistance, and our work is nowhere near finished. Give now to help earthquake survivors.

“If I didn't have the support of my community and JDC, I wouldn't be functional,” Sylvia told us. “Thank God I'm able to focus on something. Thank God I'm able to help others.”

You make this possible. For Sylvia and so many others, I hope you will join us in keeping our promise to Venezuelans and other vulnerable people all around the world.

Let's save lives together,

The JDC Disaster Response Team

P.S. We hope you’ll be inspired by Sylvia’s commitment to people in need with this short video: Watch her powerful story.