DORAL, Fla. — After they stopped accepting donations on Monday afternoon in Doral, dozens of Global Empowerment Mission volunteers clapped because more help was on the way to the devastated coastal towns of Venezuela.

In northern Venezuela’s state of La Guaira, there was also applause after search-and-rescue teams pulled someone out alive from the rubble five days after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes.

The displaced from Caracas to Catia La Mar, Macuto, and Caraballeda were in fear after a 4.6-magnitude aftershock on Monday morning. In Doral, the GEM team had them in mind with every victory.

“GEM will be the distribution center and coordinator throughout Venezuela,” said Michael Kesti, a lobbyist with the Government Relations Group who leads GEM’s government relations efforts.

Michael Capponi, a former nightlife entrepreneur who founded GEM to send aid to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, shared updates from a warehouse in Valencia, the third-largest city in Venezuela.

From the cars at a drop-off drive-thru area outside the GEM warehouse, at 1850 NW 84th Ave., in Doral, to the sorting and packing areas inside, groups of GEM donors and volunteers kept the aid flowing.

Helping Venezuela: Global Empowerment Mission leads relief effort

“All of these supplies are getting directly to families in Venezuela without any interference of the Venezuelan government,” said Doral Mayor Christi Fraga, who partnered with GEM to run drop-off locations that feed the warehouse in Doral.

The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Southern Command were working with the administration of Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president since Jan. 5, to keep the aid from the U.S. flowing.

“It’s really that leadership role in coordinating flights with the humanitarian supplies, making sure they can get in, they can get unloaded, and on the ground,” said Mignon Houston, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department.

The USS Fort Lauderdale was delivering aid in La Guaira. NASA released a map showing a satellite view of the estimated 58,870 buildings that the earthquakes either damaged or destroyed. Rescue teams were still asking for silence as they searched.

“With every hour that passes, we feel our hopes fading. Many tell us that we’re searching in places where there are no longer any possibilities of finding people alive. However, many Venezuelans have asked us not to give up, and we haven’t,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele wrote in a statement on Monday night.

Gianluca Rampolla, a United Nations coordinator, reported the UN had agreed to procure 10,000 body bags for the Venezuelan government.

Helping Venezuela: Rescues give search teams hope amid devastation

“I have my sister over there,” said NFL star Andrés Borregales, a GEM volunteer in Doral. “Thank God, she is OK, but a lot of families aren’t.”

To keep the community effort going in South Florida, Borregales had a message for anyone who hasn’t been able to help: “If all you can donate is a box of soap, that is enough. Do what you can.”

The Trump administration committed $300 million in aid to Venezuela. The Miami Marlins announced a $100,000 donation to GEM on Monday.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava, who has volunteered at GEM in Doral, released a statement on Monday to thank LATAM Airlines and GEM after she and Kesti witnessed the departure of a cargo plane.

“Tonight, I was at Miami International Airport as one of the first major humanitarian aid shipments departed for Venezuela,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “Our community has shown extraordinary generosity and humanity in response to this tragedy.”

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize-winner, released a video on Monday saying that she was in Panama City working on her return to Venezuela. “I am willing to do whatever it takes, speak to whoever I need to ⁠speak to, in order to coordinate and serve our people,” Machado said in Spanish. “I am ready and close to Venezuela, and I will do what needs to be done so we meet up there.”

Helpful list: Aid drop-off locations in South Florida

Volunteers keep aid flowing from Doral to Venezuela

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