Devastation in Rio (Brazil)

By now, you may or may not have heard of the devastation in Rio and Niteroi (across the bay from Rio). On Monday, April 5th, late afternoon, the city of Brazil received 11.3 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. It was the heaviest in 48 years. The results, as you can see from the pictures, were devastating.

Well over 100 were dead before the next day and that was before more mudslides in the area buried hundreds more alive. Niteroi declared a state of emergency while Rio declared 3 days of mourning.

About 4,000 families have been made homeless and 10,000 houses remains at risk.

Health workers will distribute 70,000 aid packages to the victims of the flood. The kits will contain food, clothes and medical supplies.

As you all know, I'm from Brazil, so this story hits close to home, literally. I have family who resides in Rio. Right now my family and I are doing everything we can to help out our country. So far, we have packed 2 huge boxes of clothes and toys to ship over there. We contacted a local church in Rio who are very excited to receive these donations and distribute them to those in need. I'm in the works of teaming up with a moving company to see if we can get any kind of discounts on the shipment. The boxes will costly approximately $230 each to have them shipped to Rio. I will be putting up a huge part of this cost out of my own pocket. My goal is to have at least enough donations to pay for the two boxes, total cost = $460. My ultimate goal is to receive a lot more so we can put together more boxes of clothes and toys to ship to those families who are now homeless and orphans. They literally are left with nothing but the awful memories of what happened.

Please, let's try our best to help those in need out. I couldn't imagine going through a third of what they went through and now still have to worry about where are they going to live, are their families still alive, and so much more!

If you would like to help by contributing in any way, please do so. I will be accepting donations through Paypal. All money donations will be put towards the shipment of the boxes. Any amount counts! Please click the "Donate" button to make a donation. If you would like to make a donation another way, please contact me via-email. After you have made a donation, please leave me a comment with your name and contact information. All donation amounts will be confidential.

I will keep you updated on any additional information. Please pass the word along!

Thank you so much in advance,

Natalie