The Church is continuing its efforts to assist thousands of victims of the deadly December floods in northern Venezuela and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Twenty-eight shipments of food, clothing and medical supplies have been sent — or will be sent shortly — to help Venezuelan families left devastated by the torrential rains and subsequent mudslides.

Thanks largely to member volunteer efforts, "the Church has made one of the largest non-government responses to the 1999 Venezuelan floods," said Church Humanitarian Service Director Garry Flake.

Several Utah-area stakes have been gathering on Tuesdays to sort, organize and prepare the aid containers for shipment to Venezuela. When the current project is finished, the Church will have sent 12 clothing containers, 12 food containers and four medical supply containers, Brother Flake said. A container is typically a 40-ft. semi-truck load that can be stacked onto cargo ships.

Included in the shipments will be 16,200 food boxes — equalling about a half-million pounds of food. Each box contains enough food to feed a family of four for a week to 10 days. Roughly 450,000 pounds of clothing and 120,000 pounds of medical supplies round out the current Venezuelan aid effort.

"A small portion, as needed, is being used for members, but the focus is on those who are not of our faith," Brother Flake said.

The 28 shipments are being delivered to Venezuela, via boat, over a four-week period. It typically takes about three weeks for one complement of shipments to arrive in the South American country after leaving the United States.

Brother Flake said the volunteer efforts and contributions of Church members have been invaluable to the ongoing Venezuelan assistance project. Food boxes are being organized by several of Utah's Wasatch Front stakes, while much of the clothing has been come from area Deseret Industries. Because of the generous response of Church members to the request for quilts for Kosovar refugees, the Church Humanitarian Service division has been able to send needed quilts and hygiene kits to Venezuela as well.

Meanwhile, the Brazil South Area Presidency is overseeing the distribution of food boxes and assessing future need for flood victims in Rio de Janeiro. Thousands of Brazilians were affected by the same treacherous weather pattern that devastated Venezuela.

The food boxes are being gathered and distributed by Brazilian members.