One month has passed since a pair of powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24th. More than 5,500 are dead and 16,700 injured. The billions of dollars of damage have left thousands homeless.
Five players on the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are from Venezuela. Infielder Oswaldo Cabrera hails us from Guarenas. Pitcher Kervin Castro is from Maracay. Catcher Edinson Duran is from San Juan de los Marros. Outfielder Kenedy Corona is from Maracaibo. Catcher Abraham Gutierrez is from the capital,
Caracas.
Thankfully, all of the players’ families are safe. Still, they know friends of friends who were affected and feel the pain of the devastation to hit their homeland.
“Obviously sad for everything that happened and the situation they are living in Venezuela,” Cabrera said. “I’m glad that all my close family are here in the USA and the family I have there — my aunt, uncle, cousins — they are all safe. But obviously, they are my people in Venezuela. My heart still breaks for all the things that happened there. It’s still my family because all Venezuelans, we are family.”
On the day the quakes hit, Cabrera was in the major leagues with the Yankees. When he learned the news, he immediately contacted his RailRiders teammates to make sure their families were OK.
“Everybody texted and communicated with each other,” he said. “We knew that everyone was safe, our close family. Of all the bad things, that’s a good thing, that all our families here are safe.”
Seeing pictures and videos of the aftermath has been difficult, Cabrera said. There is a helpless feeling of being here and not being able to help directly.
Baseball, though, allows him to take his mind off things for a few hours.
“It’s really hard because there isn’t anything you can do physically. That’s the tough part of this situation,” Cabrera said. “You want to be involved and help people there. You want to support them in the right way. Anything we can do – a foundation, charity, money, whatever. But everything that happened, you feel like you want to be there with them.
“The second day after everything happened, I deleted all my social media because everything I saw, in my mind I wanted to be there. It’s tough.”
When Krista Lutzick, community relations manager for the RailRiders, saw what happened, she knew she wanted to do something to help. Corona reached out to her about doing a donation drive. So she got together with the players and they put together a list of essential items they thought could help get those impacted back on the road to recovery.
“We’re doing our small part to help those who have been impacted,” Lutzick said. “Just seeing the pictures and videos of the devastation, it’s gut-wrenching. I feel so horrible and I can’t even imagine how our Venezuelan players feel. Especially since they have friends and family who have seen this in person. It’s a shame and I’m really thankful I get the opportunity to help and try to get the community involved.”
Fans and community partners have responded. Throughout the RailRiders’ current homestand, the team has received donations such as cases and pallets of water; cleaning supplies like sanitary wipes; nonperishable food items and snacks such as crackers; diapers; baby formula; flashlights; batteries; first aid kits; and new or gently used clean clothing.
“I’ve seen video and pictures now and I didn’t think about it in the beginning, but the animals there have been impacted, too,” Lutzick said. “So we’ll gladly take cat food and dog food as well.
“Anything and everything helps those impacted in Venezuela. We’re thousands and thousands of miles away, but we can make an impact here in NEPA with our players and our community.”
Even though the drive ends Sunday, Lutzick said donations will still be accepted until Friday. She is in the process of finalizing details to have the items shipped to an organization in Miami that will forward it to Venezuela. Rather than donate cash, she has been telling people who are out of the area to go on Amazon, purchase something, and have it shipped to PNC Field.
Cabrera has been overwhelmed by the response.
“It’s been beautiful to see the support and everybody trying to do their part and do something good for the situation,” he said. “It’s beautiful to see how everybody cares and that means a lot for us.”
It won’t stop with the donation drive. Both Cabrera and Lutzick said plans are in the works for other things such as a memorabilia auction that will help raise money for Venezuela and the relief effort.
After the current home series against the Syracuse Mets wraps up Sunday, the RailRiders hit the road next week for a six-game series against the Iowa Cubs beginning Tuesday. It marks just the third time in franchise history — and first time since 1990 — that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre will play in Iowa. They were the Red Barons and a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate the last time they did, with a team featuring names like Mickey Morandini, Jason Grimsley, and retired-number honoree Greg Legg.
