Tuesday, December 28, 1999
Help for flood victims trickles
Donations being sent to Venezuela
BY SARA J. BENNETT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Charles Harris brought a bag of clothing to Mass at Su Casa Hispanic Ministries Sunday morning. It was his way of helping out victims of recent flooding in Venezuela.
“America's going to have its turn, too,” said the Evanston man, who attends Su Casa to learn Spanish. “What goes around comes around. One day, Venezuela might be sending some stuff our way, too.”
Last week, Cincinnati's Hispanic community announced efforts to help people left homeless, hungry and grieving for lost loved ones by pre-Christmas week flooding and mudslides on Venezuela's north coast. Official estimates of the death toll range from 5,000 to 30,000. Tens of thousands lost their homes.
Donations are off to a slow start, and organizers blame the holidays. The two designated
drop-off points kept Christmas hours over the weekend and often were closed. At Su Casa Sunday morning, a modest pile of bags containing canned goods, toilet paper, clothing and pasta waited in a downstairs gym.
But dozens of people have called about donating, said Louis Valencia, president of the Pan American Society of Greater Cincinnati. Schools and neighborhoods have expressed interest in collecting food and clothing. A fund-raiser dance is being planned for Feb. 12. And donations are expected to perk up this week.
A Venezuelan Relief Fund at Keybank has already received several checks, Mr. Valencia said. Bank officials could not be reached to confirm that.
“My expectation would be once we get back from the holidays and schools are back in session, we'll be able to announce other collection drives and that will rejuvenate interest,” Mr. Valencia said.
Although 35,000 to 50,000 Hispanics call the Greater Cincinnati area home, the number of people from Venezuela is small. That didn't stop folks from mobilizing to help, though, especially because many Hispanics know someone who is at least indirectly affected by the floods.
Elvira Ponce is a local physician who grew up in Venezuela. She spent Christmas weekend e-mailing corporations with requests for aid.
Supplies still needed include first aid equipment and camping gear for the homeless, she said, adding that transport of the goods will be handled by the Venezuelan Embassy and a Miami-based nonprofit group called Fundaven.
Security boosted for festivities
Dad, 2 daughters die in Brown Co. blaze
Aid pours in for fire victims in Butler Co.
1963 forecast for the end of century still reads like science fiction
Ohio: We're Y2K ready
Snow, ice imperil drivers
Clinton lauds judge's poetry
New Year's Evening dress
Teacher dies after car runs her down
Turning the page to 2000
$2,500 grants to aid home buyers
Bartenders testify in DUI case
Butler board OKs hike in 2000 budget
Butler history, industry linked
Complaint against mayor to be examined
Help for flood victims trickles
Teardown may revive plaza
$13.3M to fund road, sewer work
GET TO IT
TRISTATE DIGEST
