By Arcadia Foundation is launching Family by Family, a direct, verified and accountable assistance programme for families displaced by the earthquakes in Venezuela. The first phase will focus on the Caracas–La Guaira corridor, where families have lost homes, medicines, documents, communication, safety and the fragile order of ordinary life.
This is not a general relief appeal. It is a targeted campaign to assist verified displaced households, family by family, with discretion, urgency and traceable use of funds.
Why this programme exists
Large-scale humanitarian operations are indispensable. Search-and-rescue teams, hospitals, the Red Cross, emergency agencies and international organisations are addressing essential needs such as rescue, trauma care, food, water, sanitation, temporary shelter and medical response.
Arcadia Foundation will not duplicate that work.
Our purpose is narrower, and for that reason more exacting: to assist displaced families whose needs may fall between emergency relief and actual recovery. A family may receive food and still have nowhere safe to sleep. A child may be rescued and still lack medicine, documents or secure communication with relatives. An elderly person may survive the earthquake and yet be left without transport, treatment, shelter or family support.
That is the space Arcadia intends to serve: the fragile interval between disaster and the first point of stability.
Where we will begin
The first phase will focus on the Caracas–La Guaira corridor, with priority attention to verified cases in Catia La Mar and La Guaira; Chacao, including Los Palos Grandes and Altamira; Baruta; San Bernardino and northern Caracas; and adjacent sectors of the Metropolitan Area where displacement and need can be confirmed by Arcadia Foundation or trusted local partners.
This geographic focus may be adjusted as verification improves. Arcadia will not allocate assistance by rumour, pressure, political affiliation or public exposure. Assistance will be guided by verified need, vulnerability and operational capacity.
Who will be prioritised
Priority will be given to displaced families with children, older adults, people with disabilities, pregnant women, patients with chronic conditions, households unable to return safely to damaged buildings, families sleeping in open spaces or improvised shelters, and households separated during evacuation.
The programme is not designed for anonymous mass distribution. It is designed for identified, verified and followed cases.
What your support will provide
Contributions to Family by Family may support temporary safe accommodation, urgent household relocation, local transport, essential medicines not covered by the broader emergency response, family communication, replacement of urgent documents, basic relocation items, referral to medical or psychosocial support, case verification and follow-up.
The purpose is not dependency. The purpose is stabilisation: helping a displaced family cross the most dangerous period between the loss of home and the recovery of a minimum place of safety.
How verification will work
Each family assisted by Arcadia will be assigned an internal case number. Verification may include a private intake process, phone confirmation, local reference, evidence of displacement, household composition, proof of location and follow-up by Arcadia’s team or trusted partners on the ground.
Personal information will not be published. Names, addresses, phone numbers, photographs and family circumstances will be treated as confidential. Images of children will not be used for fundraising without express, informed and documented consent.
Emergency assistance fund
Arcadia Foundation is seeking to establish an initial US$250,000 emergency assistance fund for the first phase of Family by Family.
This fund will allow Arcadia to identify, verify and assist displaced families in the Caracas–La Guaira corridor with speed, discretion and accountability. Funds designated for this campaign will be used for direct family assistance, case verification, local follow-up, minimal operational logistics and transparent aggregate reporting.
The intended allocation is as follows:
At least 80 per cent for direct assistance to verified displaced families.
Up to 10 per cent for local verification, follow-up and minimal field logistics.
Up to 5 per cent for documentation, communications and transparency reporting.
Up to 5 per cent for transfer costs, contingencies and unavoidable operational adjustments required by field conditions.
Any material adjustment will be reported in aggregate form.
Leadership commitments
Arcadia Foundation invites leadership commitments from individuals, family foundations, institutional donors, donor-advised funds and private contributors able to support a serious emergency response.
US$100,000 — Anchor Emergency Commitment
A gift at this level can establish a substantial portion of the first emergency assistance fund and allow Arcadia to respond rapidly to verified displaced households with urgent stabilisation needs.
US$50,000 — Founding Emergency Commitment
A gift at this level can underwrite a major component of the first phase of Family by Family, supporting direct assistance, verification and follow-up for multiple households.
US$25,000 — Lead Family Protection Commitment
A gift at this level can provide significant support for families requiring temporary accommodation, urgent relocation assistance, medicine, transport and continuing case follow-up.
US$10,000 — Emergency Stabilisation Commitment
A gift at this level can help stabilise several verified households facing displacement, loss of shelter, medical vulnerability or family protection needs.
US$5,000 — Verified Family Assistance Commitment
A gift at this level can support direct assistance to families whose displacement and vulnerability have been confirmed by Arcadia or trusted local partners.
Custom Major Commitment
Arcadia welcomes major gifts, institutional commitments, family foundation support, donor-advised contributions and designated emergency grants. Donors wishing to make a larger or structured contribution may contact Arcadia Foundation directly for the appropriate giving instructions.
Every contribution will be treated as part of a documented family-assistance effort.
Ways to donate
Donations may be made through PayPal by scanning the QR code on this page.
Donations may also be made through Zelle to:
donations@arcadiafoundation.org
Please include the memo:
Venezuela Family Assistance
For wire transfer instructions, cheque contributions, donor-advised fund recommendations, family foundation grants or institutional gifts, please contact:
donations@arcadiafoundation.org
For security and administrative reasons, Arcadia Foundation provides detailed transfer or mailing instructions directly to donors upon request.
PayPal QR code for donations to Arcadia Foundation’s emergency assistance programme for displaced Venezuelan families.
Transparency commitment
Arcadia Foundation will publish aggregate updates on funds received, funds allocated, families registered, families verified, families assisted, areas served and types of assistance provided.
Transparency does not require exposing victims. It requires accountability without humiliation. Arcadia will report the work without turning human suffering into spectacle.
Protection of dignity and privacy
The dignity of displaced families is not a fundraising device. Arcadia will not publish private family information, addresses, phone numbers or identifiable images of children as a condition of assistance. The programme will be documented, but the suffering of families will not be exhibited.
A final word
A disaster becomes more destructive when families disappear inside numbers.
Arcadia Foundation’s purpose is to resist that disappearance. We will work family by family, case by case, with verification, discretion and accountability. Relief begins with logistics, but dignity is defended in the singular: one child, one parent, one elderly person, one household that must not be left alone.
