Familia Sanchez – Christmas Dinner

Familia Sanchez

I have been friends with Familia Sanchez on Facebook for several years. I do not recall working directly with the mother in the mission, but she has helped one of my other Venezuelan friends on several occasions. She reached out to me two weeks ago and indicated that she was in a bad position. She said that she was asking family and friends for assistance because her two kids are sick, and they are unable to afford any medication for them. I asked her for more details and wanted to understand her situation better. I waited several days and she came back to me and said that one of her friends that she grew up with is currently living in Texas. She said that her friend was able to send her a little bit of money to help with the medical expenses so she would not be needing any money from us. After chatting further with her I felt like it was a good opportunity to help this family for Christmas and told her we would like to send her some money if there was a way to get it to her. She was very grateful and put me in contact with her friend in Texas, Maria.

I called Maria. I was able to speak at length with Maria in English. Maria has all her family in Venezuela so I took the opportunity to get further insight into the situation there. She seems to think that the country is getting more products into it. So they are now able to get some medications and foods. The two biggest problems that her family reports back to her is the inability to get clean water and the cost of living. It sounded like Mari’s family is a little better off than most of the country and she recognized that. She indicated that they can actually get some items cheaper in Venezuela then they can here, but cheaper than here is still really expensive for 99% of the country.

01/01/2020

On Christmas Day I received notice from Jehovana that she received cash in hand. The money passed through about 5 different hands before it got to her, and she still received full street dollar value on the exchange. There are a lot of people working to help those in need. Familia Sanchez expressed deep gratitude for the help and the wonderful Christmas gift that we were able to provide her and her family with. She will try and send photos later.