This is the closing of the fundraising campaign we did to help 10 needy and low-income families in Venezuela, to buy them food this Christmas.
And the campaign was a great success!
But let me tell you about the process of this exciting journey of helping those who have the least and need it the most.
The goal of the campaign was 1000 USD, to be able to buy food for 10 families.
And the total amount raised was 26 ZEC, which at the exchange rate per USDT ($28/ZEC) is equivalent to 728 US$.
Our goal was 1000 US$, but even though we only raised 70% of the money, we made the purchases in bulk to make more money, and thus we were able to buy enough food for 10 families. In other words, WE MET OUR GOAL 100%!
This year we helped twice as many families (in 2022 we were only able to help 5). And among the things we were able to buy were: rice, pasta, beans, oatmeal, butter, ketchup, mayonnaise, cookies, crackers, oil, flour, canned sardines and tuna, bath soap and even toothpaste, among other groceries.
Here you can see when we were assembling the boxes for the 10 beneficiary families:
Among the beneficiaries were: unemployed and retired elderly people, housewives, cab drivers and security guards, people with very few resources and who barely manage to scrape together a minimum wage (6 US$ per month) to try to survive.
It was very gratifying to see the surprised and crying faces (of joy) of the people who did not expect us to give them the food.
We told everyone about Zcash, we told them that this was thanks to the Zcash Global community that knows the reality of our country and we did the campaign, donation, collection and delivery of the food. We also invited them to join the digital spaces, to learn more about the community and learn how to use the wallets.
Personally I would like more businesses to accept Zcash, since to make the purchase we had to change the ZEC to USDT (through an exchange), and then to Bolivars, a process that although it is not complicated for those of us who do it constantly and repeatedly, it is not at all functional for a person with little technical knowledge. In Latin America we still have the challenge of Zcash adoption in small and medium businesses.
As I write this, only 2 of the 10 boxes have yet to be delivered to the selected families. And although we took pictures of them at the moment of delivery (for greater transparency on our part), for privacy and security in our complicated country I decided not to make them public. If any of the Zcashers would like to see the photos of the deliveries, you can ask me for them and I will gladly show them to you.
What I can attach is the total invoice for the purchase of the food. In addition, 15 USD was taken from the proceeds to pay for the transportation of the food.
I have nothing left but to thank the entire global Zcash community that shared and spread the word about the campaign. There was receptivity and donations until the very last day of the campaign, and many of you were watching for our updates.
On behalf of myself and Aura Brito, the Zcash en Español community and Yoditar, our ambassador, we thank you all.
I wish you all many blessings on these dates, the same blessings that were given to us by each and every one of the people who tearfully received the food.
In 2024 we would like to organize something bigger and impact many more people. We will see what we can come up with...