--- title: "Juárez x Venezuela: direct aid after the earthquakes | NDA" description: "A Juárez-Venezuelan couple buys medicine locally and delivers it in person to earthquake victims in Venezuela." url: https://newdiscovery.agency/news/juarez-x-venezuela-direct-aid-campaign/ language: en --- Community 5 min read # Juárez x Venezuela: direct aid after the earthquakes Liz Pasillas and Jonalex Herrera were visiting family in Venezuela when the June 24 earthquakes struck. They now raise funds to buy aid locally. Article Details Category Community Published June 2026 Read Time 5 min Author New Discovery Agency Liz Pasillas and Jonalex Herrera were visiting family in Venezuela when the June 24 earthquakes struck. They now raise funds to buy aid locally. [Back to News](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/) Liz Pasillas and Jonalex Herrera had been in Caracas for a day when the first earthquake hit on June 24, 2026\. A second followed. They had gone to see family. They spent the weeks that followed buying medicine and hygiene supplies in the city and carrying them to collection centres and to families who had lost their homes. Pasillas was born in Ciudad Juárez. Herrera was born in Venezuela and has lived in Juárez since 2002\. Out of a family trip that turned into relief work came Juárez x Venezuela, a fundraiser that buys supplies inside the country and delivers them where the need is that week — a campaign run by two people, from the two cities they belong to. Airports and roads were damaged, and sending boxes from Mexico made little sense, the couple told [Netnoticias](https://netnoticias.mx/juarez/lanza-familia-juarense-venezolana-campana-para-dar-ayuda-directa-en-venezuela) at the end of June. Money crossed the border faster than cargo, and what people needed changed from one day to the next. [El Heraldo de Juárez](https://oem.com.mx/elheraldodejuarez/local/juarense-y-su-esposo-venezolano-vivieron-terremotos-en-venezuela-buscan-apoyar-a-damnificados-30858651) reported the same week that they were buying essentials for delivery in Caracas rather than waiting for institutional channels to open. ## Money rather than boxes, _because the supplies are bought there._ Damage to airports and roads made it impractical to ship donations in kind from Mexico, so the campaign asks for money and spends it inside Venezuela. Pasillas told Netnoticias that needs change day to day, which is why the couple went out to survey collection centres themselves rather than guess — an ordinary-sounding decision that turns out to be the whole design of the thing. A pallet of the wrong supplies helps nobody, and by the time it clears customs the need has moved. The shortages they reported at the end of June were painkillers and antibiotics, wound-care supplies, hygiene kits, face masks, and diapers for children and adults. [Radio NET 1490 AM](https://radionet.com.mx/familia-juarense-venezolana-crea-campana-de-apoyo-para-damnificados-en-venezuela) published the same list on June 30, 2026, and noted that a first purchase of about 100 US dollars was already enough to put medicines in people's hands — while making the point that the need is far larger than that. Both outlets report the same reason for using a public fundraising page rather than personal transfers: it keeps every donation and every delivery visible. The videos below are that record, filmed as the purchases were made and delivered. ## Four videos the campaign published _while the deliveries were happening._ Slide 1 of 4 In order: a highlights clip published June 28 on Jonalex Herrera's channel under the title _June 28, 2026_; the first report from Caracas (July 2); a progress update from Caracas; and the delivery at ground zero in La Guaira (July 13). The last three were published on Liz Pasillas's channel. All four are in Spanish. ## The Juárez chamber of commerce _pointed its members at the same campaign._ [El Diario de Juárez](https://diario.mx/juarez/2026/jun/30/muestra-canaco-su-solidaridad-con-venezuela-1125488.html) reported on July 1, 2026 that the Cámara Nacional de Comercio (CANACO) of Ciudad Juárez had joined the effort under the line “Estamos contigo, Venezuela. La solidaridad nos une, la esperanza nos mueve”, directing donations to the same GoFundMe page and saying that contributions of any size were welcome. For a campaign run by two people out of their own pockets and phones, a chamber of commerce pointing its members at the same link changes the scale of what is possible. There is an existing tie: Radio NET notes that Liz Pasillas presides over CANACO Juárez's specialised software section. In the same report, El Diario cited the president of Venezuela's parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, putting the toll at 1,943 dead and 10,571 injured — the scale that the campaign, and the city that backed it, were responding to. ## Four Juárez outlets covered the campaign _in the week it started._ Donations go through the [Juárez x Venezuela page on GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/f/juarez-x-venezuela), organised by Liz Pasillas. The page carries the campaign's own updates on what was bought and where it was delivered, so a donation can be followed to the purchase it paid for. Four Juárez outlets covered the campaign in its first week: Netnoticias and El Heraldo de Juárez on June 30, 2026, Radio NET 1490 AM the same day, and El Diario de Juárez on July 1 when CANACO joined. Each is linked above, at the fact it supports. ## The campaign page is where _donations and updates live._ The pair kept working from the two places at once: one of them in the country receiving the aid, the other in the city raising it, with a chamber of commerce and four newsrooms carrying the link between them. The [campaign page](https://www.gofundme.com/f/juarez-x-venezuela) still carries their updates on what was bought and where it went. Both founders have spoken publicly about what it means to build from this border — [Liz Pasillas](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/liz-pasillas-at-tedx-ciudad-juarez/) and [Jonalex Herrera](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/jonalex-herrera-at-tedx-ciudad-juarez-2024/) each gave a TEDx Ciudad Juárez talk on it. This was the same conviction with a plane ticket attached. More News [ Award Technology HUB covered the Bridge Accelerator win Technology HUB reported the win, the $10,000 seed award, and Liz Pasillas on why the team stopped selling one-off VR builds. Read ](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/gana-agencia-local-de-vr-en-the-bridge-accelerator/) [ Borderplex Event New Discovery at Juárez Exponencial's supplier day Juárez Exponencial 2022 put 31 maquiladoras and 80 national suppliers in the same rooms, with New Discovery pitching immersive training. Read ](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/new-discovery-at-juarez-exponencial-supplier-networking-event/) [ Partnership BRP backed Juárez Aumentada's augmented reality work BRP supported Juárez Aumentada through its community programme, on augmented reality at public monuments and cultural centres. Read ](https://newdiscovery.agency/news/brp-apoya-e-impulsa-el-desarrollo-de-la-cultura-en-ciudad-juarez/) From news to proof ## The coverage tells the story. _The case studies show the work._ Each case study shows the system, the technology, and the impact behind what makes the news. [See case studies](https://newdiscovery.agency/case-studies/)