There has been an overwhelming amount of requests to donate funds specifically for Vernazza, as a way to give back to the warm people who have touched our hearts.
***UPDATE***
"Save Vernazza"
is an Italian non-profit which was started by
an American expat group in Vernazza for donating directly to Vernazza.
Their website, entirely in English, accepts
payments by credit card and Paypal. They will certainly do a great job of allocating funds with less bureaucratic backup than the Italians! They also keep their site updated
with pictures and news coming from the workers. To donate to their fund, click here. ----------------------------
The Italian organization Per Vernazza Futura can be reached at the following:
Emails:
protocollo@comune.vernazza.sp.it
protocollo@comune.vernazza.sp.it
vernazzafutura@gmail.com
Phone:
+39 0187.821.247
Funds can be wired directly to the following account:
UBI Bank of San Giorgio
Via Chiodo, 115
La Spezia, Italy
IBAN: IT 37 Q 05526 10730 0000 0000 1616
BIC: BPGGITG1
SWIFT: BLOPIT22
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Any amount can help, as they have just discovered that the landslides are considered an "act of God" and therefore not covered by insurance. Businesses will have to completely rebuild and replace their equipment and inventory out of their pocket. So please give what you can.
Your messages of support are touching and fuels the spirit of the people to carry on. I encourage you to comment here or on Facebook pages like the Vernazza community page, Diamo una mano a ripulire Vernazza, or the Associazione Per Vernazza Futura page.
Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
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The Italian Red Cross is another great way to donate. The Red Cross is helping enormously in the Cinque Terre, even providing
makeshift schools for the children while the parents are busy working
the clean-up. They have set up a disaster relief fund for the
entire area affected by this storm, including the lesser known towns that may be worse off just because they don't have the attention that the Cinque Terre has. Your donations will be put to work right away!
You can donate by credit card
and PayPal directly on their website: http://cri.it/flex/FixedPages/IT/Donazioni.php/L/EN
-Select “Emergency Tuscany and Liguria” for the preferred fund and if in the US, choose "Stati Uniti" for your country.
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If you live in Italy, you can donate 2 euros by sending a text message to the number 45500 from your cell.
If you are in the area and would like to volunteer, you first need to contact the Protezione Civile at +39 0187.69.51.81. They will give directions about how you can help with other volunteers. Lots of help is needed, but now, access to Vernazza is restricted to residents only
because space is very limited. Monterosso should be able to accept
volunteers. Boats depart from both La Spezia and Levanto every morning
to bring people to the 5 Terre.
Ciao Nicole: This is Michele from Vernazza. My husband and I owned an art gallery on the main street of Vernazza.
ReplyDeleteMyself and three other expat women who also live in Vernazza are in the process of creating SAVE VERNAZZA, an ONLUS, which is an official not for profit organization recognized in Italy. We are partnering with Vernazza Futura with the goal of reaching out to international communities to provide an easy, direct way of donating non-taxed money directly to Vernazza for the immediate rebuild and future long term cultural enrichment programs that will benefit the community. Our entirely english speaking site (in order to make it easier for foreigners to be up to date on the situation in Vernazza and to donate and understand the needs of the community) will be fully functional today. We will be able to accept donations via PayPal by the end of next week as we are in the process of legalizing our organization in order to provide a fully transparent way for people to donate money to our cause. We thank you in advance for your support in reaching out to the many members of the international communities who have expressed a desire to participate in the rebuilding and restoration of Vernazza. We can all make a difference.
Nicole, thank you for posting this information.
ReplyDeleteAnd Michele bless you for going a step further and creating Save Vernazza with a Paypal option. I have already looked at Caritas Italia and just like Vernazza Futura they only accept wire tranfers which take more effort than the average person is willing to put into a charitable donation.
I was just about to post a note on Rick Steve's site to encourage him to find someone he knows in Vernazza who is computer literate, who could set up a Paypal account. Please post this information on his site so I can find the link. I am ready to donate! The idea of townspeople controlling the donations is very appealing to me.