Sedalia parishioner from Venezuela hopes prize will multiply assistance to beleaguered homeland
Jorge Guevara believes he’s been given a one-in-a-million opportunity to help people who are suffering in his beloved Venezuela.
The South American nation has been plagued with years of political corruption and turmoil, topped off most recently by two devastating earthquakes.
If only he could do something to help.
“There I was, sitting at the bleachers at a minor league baseball game,” Mr. Guevara, a member of St. Vincent de Paul Parish of Pettis County, recalled. “I said to God, ‘If you want to test me on my character, put me to the test now.’ And he did.”
Mr. Guevara bought chances in a 50-50 drawing sponsored by the Kansas City Royals Foundation to benefit the American Red Cross’s earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela.
“The entire time I was entering, I prayed, ‘Please let me win something so I can help,’” said Mr. Guevara.
“And God said, ‘Okay. Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is.’”
Mr. Guevara won $13,679, which he is donating to earthquake relief while challenging others to help out.
He hopes that gift will coalesce into support of $1 million or more.
“A million starts with one,” he noted. “If a million people contribute $1, we can all make a real difference.”
Deeply shaken
The strongest earthquakes to strike Venezuela in over a century have left more than 3,500 people dead and over 1,500 injured, with some 30,000 missing.
The twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes hit on the evening of June 24, causing widespread destruction.
Archbishop Raúl Biord Castillo of Caracas called for an immediate “network of solidarity” to aid victims.
Vatican News reported that Pope Leo XIV has sent an initial emergency donation of 100,000 euros (US $115,000) through the papal almoner’s office “with further assistance to follow in response to the needs identified by the local Church.”
In Sedalia, Mr. Guevara set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for medical supplies and other needs, especially for children affected by the earthquakes.
“Professional athletes, corporate sponsors, individual gifts, that’s what we’re going for,” he said.
“For some people, maybe the $13,000 match is doable,” he stated. “For some, it might be $13. Everything helps.”
He said there are a million reasons to help.
“What the people there are going through is unimaginable,” he stated. “Families torn apart. People left behind. Children out on their own.”
Mr. Guevara has friends who lost loved ones in the earthquake.
“My Dad’s business partner from many years ago, she wasn’t able to make contact with any of her family in that area,” he said.
One friend was out fishing when the earthquakes hit.
“He came home to the building where his wife was,” Mr. Guevara said. “The building had collapsed. There were no signs of life in the rubble.”
Mr. Guevara’s godmother, two uncles and their families in Venezuela weren’t harmed, but their descriptions of the devastation are surreal.
“Talking to them makes you view it from a different angle,” said Mr. Guevara. “It’s not a social media post, it’s not a TV show. It’s someone you know saying, ‘Remember when we used to go to this place? It’s not there anymore. It’s nothing but bricks and stones and dirt. Everything’s changed. You wouldn’t even recognize it.’”
Being here instead of there “and not being able to step in and get your hands dirty” feels strange and frustrating.
“You’re trying to find a way to help, and you just can’t,” said Mr. Guevara. “Not because you don’t want to, but because what can you do? It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Going fishing
Mr. Guevara credits his Catholic upbringing in Venezuela for his solid belief in God and hope for humanity.
“People want to do good,” he insisted. “It’s in our DNA. People want to feel the love for others. We just got to do more. We have to give back and find a way for us all to make a difference.”
Mr. Guevara was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and went to La Salle de Colina, a Catholic high school.
“St. John the Baptist was our patron saint,” he noted. “He was all about giving, helping others.”
La Salle de Colina helped build the foundation of Mr. Guevara’s desire to serve other people.
He came to Sedalia as a Rotary Club exchange student at Sacred Heart High School in 2002 and 2003.
He later met his wife, Megan, got married, settled down and became a successful businessman.
Mr. and Mrs. Guevara now have four children, two who are now students at Sacred Heart School, one who will be in pre-kindergarten this fall, and another who will eventually go there.
He feels incredibly blessed.
“I feel like God has gone overboard with us,” he said. “I feel like so many people could use some of these blessings. I try to teach that to my kids.”
He believes God has given him and his family great opportunities and shown them how to provide for themselves.
“He’s given us the tools, he’s taught us how to fish,” said Mr. Guevara. “Now, we have to take it to the next level. We have to teach others how to fish.”
The Kansas City Royals baseball team is helping.
“They’ve given me a platform to inspire others to do good,” said Mr. Guevara.
Where the heart is
Mr. and Mrs. Guevara are avid baseball fans.
After word spread of their plan to build on their winnings and help even more, the couple were invited to Kansas City to meet with players and executives of the Royals.
“They extended incredible hospitality,” said Mr. Guevara. “Several of the players came out to meet with us and thank us.”
In light of the couple’s intentions, the Royals Foundation increased the prize to $20,000.
“They’re big believers that this didn’t happen by chance,” Mr. Guevara stated. “They know God has his hand in this, that the Good Lord is using this to bless us and the Venezuelan people.”
Mr. Guevara has been in touch with several priests and Catholic dioceses in Venezuela.
“With my contacts, I’m hopeful that we can do something to help the people directly,” he said.
“We want to make sure anything we send reaches the end user,” he stated. “We don’t want it to be stolen or wind up in the hands of people who don’t need it.”
Mr. Guevara is now a proud U.S. citizen, but much of his heart remains in Venezuela.
“The U.S. gave me opportunities I never had back home,” he noted. “For that, I will always be grateful.
“I will stand up for the flag and respect law enforcement and the military and those who have built this country and the things I enjoy that many other people in the world do not get to enjoy,” he said.
He appreciates the United States’s military intervention earlier this year to help bring change to the government in Venezuela.
“What people in the Venezuelan government have done to the people — they really need to be brought to justice,” he said.
“I was there when Nicolás Maduro, the former president, stood on a bridge and shot people who were protesting,” he stated. “There are kids without access to education, without access to their basic needs.”
He said Venezuela used to be a prosperous country.
“Yes, there were people who were poor,” he noted. “But it got to where all the money was being stolen — money that was supposed to be used for our people.”
The needs are urgent and will likely remain so.
“What comes in the next six weeks to six years is a void that we’ll somehow have to help fill,” he said.
“Where we started”
At Sacred Heart High School’s 2003 graduation, Mr. Guevara heard Precious Blood Father Jack Behen, now deceased, speak about new beginnings and unexplored frontiers.
“We shall never cease from exploration,” the priest proclaimed. “The end of all our exploration will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
Mr. Guevara believes he’s now treading in unexplored territory, a place deep inside where God is vigorously asserting his existence and goodness.
“If you were in my shoes and you had any doubt about believing, just be quiet and do what you’re supposed to do, and God is going to help you out,” he said.
Mr. Guevara lifts his people back home up in prayer every day.
“I know there are people all over the world needing help,” he said. “If we look around, we see so many people going through similar situations, maybe worse, maybe better. There’s a lot of suffering.
“But I pray for God to open the hearts of others, to help others feel the need to be responsible for everyone else in the world,” he said.
“So we can all experience not just the love of God, but also the joy of life that so many people are trying to find.”
He prays that somehow, God will use all of this to help the Venezuelan people create a new beginning.
“This could be one of those things where we aren’t capable of understanding all the whys,” he said.
“But we need to believe, we have to have hope, we have to think that there is something bigger behind all of this that’s going to help us get past all of this, and it’s going to flourish in a different way and get better,” he stated.
OSV News contributed to this report.
