After a pair of earthquakes devastated Venezuela, churches across western Massachusetts began raising disaster relief funding.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes that hit Venezuela back-to-back on the evening of June 24 were among the strongest to strike the country in more than a century and left behind widespread devastation. The death toll has risen to 4,490, with another 16,740 injured and another 17,907 left homeless, as reported by Reuters on Sunday.
Bishop William Byrne of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield urged Catholics to come to the aid of the earthquakes’ victims, encouraging congregations throughout the region to donate to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which is working through Caritas Venezuela to provide families affected by the disaster with food, shelter and medical care.
“These catastrophic earthquakes have shattered so many lives. The destruction and death toll are beyond devastating,” Byrne said. “As we pray for these victims and their families, I also ask that you prayerfully consider helping them financially.”
The bishop also encouraged local parishes to take up a special collection in the coming weeks. The Rev. Douglas McGonagle announced a relief effort to collect donations at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Hadley and at the Our Lady of Grace parish in Hatfield.
McGonagle said he had watched drone footage of the earthquakes around the same time the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield called on Catholics to donate. He said it’s not the first time his parishes have collected donations in the wake of a disaster and he expected the congregation would band together in this instance, too.
“We’ve done this before — there was that hurricane that went up throughout Appalachia, and it was one of these situations where we knew it was bad,” he said. “We’re used to doing this, unfortunately, during these natural disasters, but folks are very, very supportive.”
CRS wrote that it has “fully deployed” a team of emergency specialists to Venezuela to help Caritas Venezuela support emergency shelters, water and sanitation in the country.
“From the very first days, parishes have been full of volunteers, and trucks carrying relief are constantly coming and going,” said Nico Meslaoui, CRS regional team lead for emergencies.
Zoralis Moreno, of Easthampton, moved to the United States four years ago and owns Zora’s Catering, a Venezuelan food catering company that serves on Saturdays at the Amherst Farmers’ Market.
Speaking over the phone with the assistance of a Spanish-English interpreter, Moreno said she was glad to hear of the disaster relief fundraising initiative.
“This has been really hard on my country and I’m hoping that the people [of Venezuela] can get all the help that they need,” Moreno said. “This is a very serious situation. … The Venezuelan community is generous and will come together in solidarity.”
In Franklin County, the River Valley Christian Church at 345 West Leyden Road in Colrain is organizing a quilt show and sale on three Saturdays throughout the month of July, with all proceeds benefiting Venezuelan earthquake victims.
Jody Stetson, a member of the Colrain church, said she’s been making quilts since 1970 and always gives the money she makes from the quilts to charity, saying for her that it’s a hobby, not something she’s trying to make money off of.
“We just feel so bad about what happened in Venezuela,” Stetson said. “The quilts aren’t doing me any favors sitting in my bin.”
Stetson said she put scripture around the quilts, so each quilt has at least one verse from the Bible, and she has about 50 quilts for sale at the church. The first of these sales took place on July 11, with the next two being scheduled for Saturdays, July 18, and July 25. The sales run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Staff writer Johnny Depin contributed to this report.
