COVID-19 relief effort

16/05/2020
fundraising, La Vida

Salsa Frenzy – 17th anniversary fundraiser

Why we need your help

Our supporters have asked us how they can help communities in Latin America who are severely affected by coronavirus. Food and medicine are desperately needed due to the huge impact on informal workers and supply chains. We have identified organisations in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela who we would like to support.

Bolivia: Rotary Club Sirari Santa Cruz
Brazil: Cuca Legal/Nucleo de Referencia, Angra dos Reis
Colombia: Children Change Colombia
Mexico: Fundación para la Asistencia Educativa I.A.P. (FAE), Mexico City
Peru: Quest Overseas/VillaMaria, Lima
Venezuela: Healing Venezuela

For more details on the projects and links to their websites, please read below. If you prefer to donate specifically to one of the projects, please indicate in the comments box when you make your donation or contact us . Please remember to add Gift Aid if you are a UK tax payer

Many thanks for your support
La Vida Trustees

Donate now to La Vida’s COVID-19 relief effort

Bolivia: Rotary Club Sirari Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Rotary Club Sirari is working to relieve the devastating social and economic impact Covid-19 is having on the most vulnerable areas in Santa Cruz, a city of over 3 million people and the epicentre of the outbreak in Bolivia. They have provided 2,000 families with food, medicines and essential goods, and distributed over 2,000 full-face masks and bio-medical safety material to 500 medical workers in hospitals and health care centres. The goal is to reach 5,000 families, 1,000 doctors and to distribute 18,000 masks by the end of the month. Their sourcing costs are low and distribution networks are supported by collaborations with the private sector and foundations.
Rotary Club Sirari (RCS) is a member of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. They direct their efforts into areas to enhance the local impact, including fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, and supporting education.

Brazil: Cuca Legal/Nucleo de Referencia, Angra dos Reis

Nucleo de Referencia is essentially a community centre for kids in a poor neighbourhood of Angra dos Reis which in normal times provides a full schedule of after school activities from drawing to golf. We have been supporting the centre for two years and have been impressed by what they achieve in a very violent area. The centre has had to close due to the virus but the instructors, kids and parents have become involved in securing and distributing parcels of food and basic cleaning materials equipment to the most needy families in the neighbourhood, working with other community organisations.

It costs R$100 (£15) to provide a family of 4 people 22kg of basic food and hygiene items (cesta básica) to last 20 days. To date, they have distributed more than 3 tons of supplies to families in the local area.

You can see photos of their efforts on their Facebook page

Colombia: Children Change Colombia

Children Change is a UK charity which is focused on improving the situation of the most disadvantaged children living in Colombia. During the Covid-19 crisis they are working with partner organisations to ensure the most at risk families receive food and toiletries, and can keep a roof over their heads, as well as providing remote support for children’s mental and physical health. La Vida has supported Corpolatin, Colombia’s most used childline, which is run by CCC (formerly Children of the Andes).

Mexico: Fundación para la Asistencia Educativa I.A.P. (FAE), Mexico City

Despensa para familias de pepenadores: This is a primarily educational charity which has been working for many years in two very deprived communities in Mexico City, where families of waste pickers live essentially on a landfill site. The charity knows the community very well and is therefore mobilising distribution of food parcels to the most needy.

Peru: Quest Overseas/VillaMaria, Lima

La Vida has been supporting the primary school in Villa Maria, a shanty town outside Lima, since 2007. We and third party sponsors cover the cost of education for over 40 of the 140 children in the school, and have helped them expand and furnish the school. In the past, gap year volunteers from UK organisation Quest Overseas regularly came to work in the community, building houses for the most vulnerable families and running holiday programmes for the children. Now with the school closed since March, its buildings have become the centre of a relief effort for the families of informal workers caught by the lockdown, with no work and no food. You can see more pictures on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asociacionquestoverseasperu/ (Spanish) and https://www.facebook.com/questoverseas/ (English).

Venezuela: Healing Venezuela

Healing Venezuela is a UK-based charity that seeks to alleviate the health crisis in Venezuela. Founded in 2016, they started collecting unwanted but safe to use medical supplies from health institutions in Europe. To date, more than 10 tons on supplies have been distributed amongst 50 health centres in 14 regions across the country.
The situation in Venezuela got only worse with the Covid-19 pandemic. The infection curve is still relatively flat, but specialists are very concerned it can get out of control in the next few weeks. To-date they have delivered biohazards kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitiser and hard surface disinfectants to 8 health centres in Caracas, and recently expanded to an additional 8 centres. Their goal is to continue to provide these centres with monthly supplies of the kit. The cost for 16 centres is $1,920 per month.

Donate now to La Vida’s COVID-19 relief effort