Sean Penn’s CORE Mounts $5M Campaign (With Assist From FIFA Foundation) to Aid Venezuela

Sean Penn‘s Community Organized Relief Effort is jumping in to aid Venezuela‘s earthquake recovery. CORE on Wednesday launched Todos con Venezuela, which translates to All with Venezuela, a $5 million earthquake response campaign on digital fundraising platform Tiltify to help the country recover and rebuild in the wake of back-to-back earthquakes that struck on June 24. It has been kickstarted with a lead gift of $500,000 from the FIFA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of FIFA that was established in 2018 to drive social impact on behalf of the soccer organization. In coming months, CORE is expected to corral a coalition of artists, athletes, creators and philanthropists to join the effort and help it reach the $5 million goal. The death toll from the twin shocks has risen to 5,069 as of last week, according to an Associated Press report. The number of those injured is north of 16,700, while tens of thousands are still missing. Per government officials, more than 850 buildings were damaged while 190 of those completely collapsed due to the earthquakes, which registered 7.2 and 7.5 and largely affected La Guaira and capital city of Caracas. Recovery and debris-clearing efforts are underway, and a new report published by Reuters citing an assessment from the World Bank said that the earthquakes caused $19.6 billion in “direct physical damage” while the cost of rebuilding could be twice that figure. “Earthquake response and recovery have been part of CORE’s DNA since our founding in response to the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake,” Penn said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “This campaign is our chance to bring that same coalition of support to the Venezuelan people — to help us get families the resources they need, and now.” The move by CORE is a reminder of the organization’s roots. In the wake of Haiti’s devastating earthquake in 2010, Penn posted up there to aid in that country’s recovery efforts. He ended up staying nine months, eventually launching an NGO (J/P Haitian Relief Organization) that was eventually rebranded and renamed CORE as he built a partnership with Ann Lee. Over the years, CORE has aided in crises in New Orleans, Brazil and Ukraine as well as mobilizing COVID-19 response efforts in Los Angeles, where they also have been deep in wildfire recovery. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up