CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – What started out as one small shipment has turned into an all-out haul for Harold Timm and his family.
- A family in Chapel Hill is sending supplies to Venezuela.
- Others in the community are joining in.
- If you'd like to help, they have a GoFundMe.
Food, toiletries, and clothes will soon be out of his house and into the homes of others in his home country, Venezuela.
"People around us were all doing well, going to the same schools, traveling, just never needing the things that the current Venezuelans need, which is power, water, food, and medicine," said Harold Timm, founder of Project Miquilena.
Harold calls the current state in Venezuela a crisis with political unrest.
"I think that was one of the things that's the most impactful for me and made me the most angry to want to make a difference," said Harold's wife, Caroline Still-Baxter. "These are the people who have done everything right. They've gotten their degrees at school, they are professionals, engineers, professors, middle-class families with two incomes. It's us, it's our neighbors, and here they are in a country that isn't helping them, that is hindering them."
They knew they had to send help, starting with one family.
They started by buying supplies and cleaning out their cupboards and closets, sending it all in boxes to Venezuela.
The Venezuelan families, forever grateful, are sending photos them with their new possessions.
"They're smiling, they're wearing some of our old clothes, and they just love our old clothes," said son, Carter Bygren
It didn’t take long for their Chapel Hill community to get onboard.
Neighbors and friends from school have been pitching in with donations, proving that one small gesture from an 'Everyday Hero' can have an impact hundreds of miles away.
"Our American friends and neighbors are extremely generous, and as long as you tell your story in a compelling, intelligent, and logical way, people will get behind you," Timm said.
If you’re interested in supporting the Timm Family click here to donate to their cause.
*This Gofundme.com site is not managed by Spectrum News. For more information on how the site works and the rules, visit gofundme.com/safety.