An Orlando church has become a hub for Americans nationwide hoping to help in the wake of two earthquakes that killed hundreds in Venezuela.
The Gathering church is the core of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, a collection of more than 3,000 churches and organizations across the U.S. It’s been coordinating efforts to bring updates out of South America and raise money to help communities rebuild.
Ana Ayala is the coalition’s global mission ambassador. She says the disaster has been acutely felt in Central Florida, which is home to a growing Hispanic population, including more than 130,000 Venezuelans.
“The Hispanic community, it's not just our immediate family, right?” she said. “Everyone is a cousin, everyone is family. So we are deeply connected. … We are brokenhearted when we see the need and what is happening.”
Ayala says that congregants have been eager to help.
“Most of the conversations that I've had with our congregation in different ways have been, truly, how can I help? What can we do to help? … How can we use what we have to be able to be a blessing for others?” said Ayala. “That is the heart of our congregation.”
The church has partnered with World Vision, an international Christian humanitarian group, to get updates from workers on the ground and to organize and disburse donations.
The pair of quakes that struck near Caracas on Wednesday leveled tall buildings. As of Monday, the government has reported more than 1,700 deaths, though an estimated 51,000 people were missing. Several aftershocks in the days following the earthquakes complicated search and rescue efforts.
Other recent events have also wrenched Central Florida’s immigrant communities. On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to begin deporting hundreds of thousands of vetted immigrants who have been living here legally under Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian designation.
That includes about 130,000 Haitians who have been living in Florida with that humanitarian designation from as early as 2010.
