Physical Health Venezuela Project #36048

Be a Super Friend for our children in Venezuela!

by Friends of the Children of Venezuela

Project Report | Jun 30, 2021
Friends - YTD June Report

By Paolo Venegas | Fundraising Manager

We wanted to give you an update on where we are as we are closing this first half of the year and given the great, encouraging results obtained from our major donation drive, last June 19th, in coordination with Univision Miami and Amor 107.5 FM!

As expressed before, we started the year with very challenging conditions... for instance, lacking major grants and in-kind donations from partners & organizations that are also challenged by the absense of activities to raise funds or minimum inventory levels that prevent them from donating, among other reasons.

Our indicators show Friends being behind but catching up as we are also working very hard to concrete major partnerships:

Shipments to Venezuela:

11 as of June, a total of 353 cubic feet, that is only 21% of the 1,647 cf shipped in 2020 that included large shipments of PPE and medical & equipment supplies needed to fight Covid-19.
Out of the 11 shipments, 4 were by air and justified as Venezuela is very behind in its fight against Covid-19 and certainly lacking vaccines. These air shipments included for example medicines, oxygen concentrators, etc.
Shipping Expenses then increased and represents 6% of Total Expenses, double the 3% in 2020.
Univision's Donation Drive is contributing with 8 pallets or 330 cf of aid (to be shipped in July 3), which will bring our total shipments to 683 cf, that is, 41% of the 1,647 cf of 2020.
The Univision's drive also raised its own funds for shipping, therefore, our overall shipment expenses remain as described but still under close monitoring.

Financial Metrics:

Total Monetary Donations is at -75% compared to the same period in 2020, mainly explained by the absence of major grants from NGO or non-profit organizations, that Friends was not fortunate to win again or the grant-maker just did not replicate its grant offer & application this year, as in 2020.
In-kind donations is at -50% without Univision Drive. This drop is not coming from individual donors (+241%) but from major organizational donors (-79%) that in 2020 provided with large volumes of medical supplies, packed food, among others.
Including Univision's drive, our overall in-kind donation indicator improves from -50% to -27% compared to the same period in 2020.

Our Impact - Beneficiaries:

Total Pediatric Patients (Jan-May): 2,607 little patients assisted through Friends' program, that is -9% and mainly explained by 2 factors: 1) emergency area under "remodeling", which means overall less capacity and less inflow of children that need hopitalization but whose access is through emergency, and 2) Covid-19 still very present, causing fear and specially when the hospital where Friends is present, is a "sentinel" covid-19-dedicated hospital.
1,810 children from 4 public schools under our meal program still can't attend school. Our program Alimentando Futuros continues providing mobile data plans for teachers (so they can send assignments), together with meals when working or meeting at the school. Since May, Alimentando Futuros has also implemented a pilot project (Leveling Program) that seeks to reduce a deeper student lag resulting from a poor remote education. This program will be expanded until Sept and starting Aug 1st, will double the number of students to 108.

We remain faithful and continue working very hard to improve our indicators or metrics, that only represent more resources & conditions to continue assisting hundreds of children on a daily basis. Fortunately, for our local team at the pediatric hospital and given the inventory levels and overall resources we provided them with, they have been able to assist all cases that were presented to us.

We finish this report sharing a video with some images and results from our Univision's Donation Drive! Enjoy it!

Thank you for your support!

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May 19, 2021
Friends - YTD May 2021 Report

By Paolo Venegas | Fundraising Manager

The pandemic in Venezuela is far from over, has fueled deeper inequality, and has exacerbated scarcities of medical supplies and medicines. Oxygen concentrators are offered by private vendors for $5,000 and oxygen tanks for $500, only affordable by very few. The extreme poor — 79.3% of the nation, according to a survey by Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas — live in squalor, often in violent slums, lack adequate food, and work miracles to live with $2.5 (or less!) monthly basic salary. Many have lost weight from what some call “the Maduro diet.” In the meantime, people continue leaving the country or dying, including newborns & children.

In this report, we remind you the current situation in Venezuela, aggravated by the pandemic, and inform you of our first efforts, accomplishments and challenges. We thank you for standing by our side, in our mission to support those in underprivileged conditions, those suffering the most.

COMPLEX HUMANITARIAN CRISIS in Venezuela (as defined by UN) remains the same and/or even worse:

Covid-19 crisis continues: limited availability of reliable testing, lack of government transparency regarding cases & deaths, persecution of medical professionals and journalists who report on the pandemic, no concrete vaccination plan or availability for the population. The very first few vaccines that arrived were for the government and health care workers are now conditioned to receive them if part of the regime.
Health system is still in collapse, with resurgence of vaccine-preventable and infectious diseases, severe shortages of medicines and basic supplies such as gloves, face masks, alcohol gel, and soap, interruptions of basic utilities, emigration of healthcare workers leading to a decline in operational capacity, etc.
Malnourishment still alarming: 8% of children under five are acutely malnourished and 30% chronically malnourished, or stunted. In the most vulnerable neighborhoods, 14.4% of children under five are malnourished.
Food insecurity is at least 1 out of 3: Many have difficulties feeding older children, in part due to the decline or abandonment of school meal programs (90% of schools do not have the Student Feeding Program from the government) and poor basic salaries ($2.5 x month) that can keep up with the inflation.
Student lag is expected deeper, due to the pandemic and a poor remote education (no access to internet or poor one if available, no educational platform or plan, etc). In-person classes remain suspended since March 2020. School attendance (both in-person and virtual) reached its lowest rate due to the humanitarian emergency and Covid-19 restrictions.

FRIENDS' first 5 months:

8 shipments to Venezuela, representing 271 cubic feet of aid (diapers, baby formulas, nutritional supplements, medical supplies, etc) and including 3 air ones with prescribed medicines, oxygen concentrators, and a sterilizer.
+3,000 newborns and children (and their parents) helped at pediatric hospital supported by Friends.
+280 health-care workers at pediatric hospital, daily supported with PPE, medical supplies & equipment.
1,810 school-age children and their teachers remain at school (remote version) thanks to Alimentando Futuros' emergency plan: mobile data plan for teachers (to send assignments, etc), nutritional meals for those parent and/or teachers that have to attend meetings or teach remoty from school, and kit with schools supplies for children.
New Leveling (Pilot) Program for 54 children having poor academic performance and 9 supervising teachers working together, in-person, at Luis María Olaso school, to assess level of student lag and impact, impact of the leveling program, and next steps to come.
First In-Kind Donation Drive during Mother's Day, to collect diapers, formula, nutritional supplements and dry milk. Not a major event yet but encouraging and to motivate our supporters to be active again.
New Partnerships: Vitamins Angels to fight micronutrients deficiency (and its consequences) during pregnancy, starting with +100 women in a control group (starting June); Orphan Grain Train and Heart to Heart International also defining the type of humanitarian aid in the weeks to come. Also, Blessings International, that will allow us to access to medicines and medical supplies at a very low fraction of market value, thus, maximizing our donors' funds.

CHALLENGES

Grants: Great need for funding. $50K grant not materialized yet compared to previous years when received by March the latest. Also, 2 foundations supporting our nutritional meal programs at schools are having trouble raising funds and the impact will be felt when students resume in-person education.
Major In-Person Drives still pending and missing: Organized or supported by schools and corporations that in the past brought great deal of in-kind donations. Also, a major one with Univision that has a great capacity to convene and that in the past resulted in +$20K in in-kind donations.
Corporate's in-kind donations at minimum: Low inventories, excess, or room for donations. More controlled levels of inventory since pandemic leading to less items to donate until today.

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Apr 6, 2021
Our 2020 Annual Report is officially released!

By Paolo Venegas | Fundraising Manager

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