Fresno woman turns home into donation hub for Venezuela quake victims

Mary Bastos opened her Fresno home to donations hours after back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela left families scrambling for diapers, canned food and hygiene supplies. The relief started as a deeply personal reaction: Bastos had been waiting for news from relatives when she learned her elderly, blind uncle had been found safe after being missing in the chaos.

Instead of stopping at relief, she turned her grief into a collection drive. Neighbors and community members began dropping off the items she said were most urgently needed, and the focus stayed tight on diapers, canned food and hygiene products. Clothing was not being accepted, a sign that organizers were trying to keep the effort centered on the basics people need first in the aftermath of a disaster.

As donations filled her living room, the drive moved to St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Fresno so it could handle larger volumes of supplies. The cathedral, part of the Diocese of San Joaquin, gave the relief effort a local anchor in Fresno County while tying it to a broader network of faith-based response. The goods collected in Fresno are set to go to Global Empowerment Mission’s Florida headquarters and then be delivered directly to people in Venezuela.

Global Empowerment Mission said it opened its Venezuela earthquake response immediately after the June 24 disaster and committed an initial $35 million in humanitarian aid. The group said it was coordinating with municipalities, faith-based organizations and Venezuelan diaspora groups, building a pipeline that links a Fresno living room to delivery points in a country still reeling from the quakes. The earthquakes struck in sequence, with a magnitude 7.1 tremor followed about a minute later by a stronger 7.5 quake.

The disaster’s human toll kept climbing through the week. By Friday, the death count had reached at least 920, with 3,360 injured. The Associated Press described the event as a rare double earthquake and one of the strongest in more than a century. UNICEF said 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, needed humanitarian assistance.

Volunteer Deyanira Castro joined the Fresno effort after learning that three of her cousins died in the earthquakes, showing how the donation drive became both practical relief and a local response to loss. For Bastos, the goal remained direct: gather supplies fast, move them through a trusted channel and get help to people in Venezuela without delay.