La Guaira, Venezuela — A cardboard cut-out of a Coca-Cola bottle opener serves as the facade for Yolimar Castro’s new workstation. A medical imaging technician by trade, she now volunteers at the McDonald’s in Caraballeda, La Guaira, where she distributes dog and cat food to help survivors of Venezuela’s June 24 earthquakes.
While assisting people who’ve queued in her line, she told Latin America Reports what motivated her to help in the wake of the tragedy that has left 6,301 people dead, according to government counts. “I’m a survivor from La Guaira. I was very sad for two weeks, and by the second week, I decided to stop crying. There was too much sadness—one piece of news worse than the next,” she said.
However, she found encouragement in seeing so many people wanting to help those in need, which is why she initially put on a clown costume and went to Las Palmeras Square in Tanaguarena, her community, to provide some lighthearted entertainment for people in need of some cheer.
She soon pivoted and began to focus on helping pet owners feed their dogs and cats who survived the quakes. She set up shop in the fast-food restaurant about a month ago and has been providing food for pet families ever since.
“I came to this place, with these wonderful people who come from all over the world and from our country,” she said, expressing the pride she feels in sharing this experience with various delegations offering veterinary care, general medicine, psychological counseling, and more to the survivors of the twin tremors.
Castro walks eight blocks to reach the McDonald’s and works from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to help with the logistics of the donations being collected here. “I’ve seen many people who say they’re adopting pets they’ve found because they assume their owners have died or are injured,” she said.
She’s heard some deeply moving stories here, especially those of pets rescued from the rubble more than a month after the initial shocks—something she feels she’ll never forget because of the animals’ resilience.
Each day, this volunteer estimates that she distributes 300 kilos of dog food and 300 kilos of cat food, and she explained that weekends are the busiest, as people take advantage of their days off to come down to La Guaira and drop off donations.
One of the things they need most right now are 1- or 2-kilo bags of food, as these size bags tend to run out the fastest. “We need bag donations every day,” she said as she portioned out food.
In many ways she feels like she got a second chance at life, which helps fuel her passion for helping others. “I want to help in any way I can because if I survived this earthquake in which so many people died, it’s for a reason. I need to help in any way I can, whether it’s by serving pet food—which, even though it might not seem like much, actually makes a big difference.”
