Be a Super Friend for our children in Venezuela!

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! 

Links:

• Venezuela is collapsing without Covid-19 vaccines
• In Venezuela, Covid-19 Data Is a State Secret, but Citizens...
• UN: Continuing Venezuela exodus & COVID-19 highlights need for..