TheSamba.com :: View topic - Help with a Crowdfunding campaign. Please Read before judging.

Tue Aug 09, 2022 3:51 pm

Hi there...
First of all I´d like to give my appologies to every person here agaisn´t this crowdfunding thing, I respect your points of views and assume everyone here is agaisn´t scammers. I´ve tought this tousand times before posting it because, I´m not keen asking for help :? , but it would be my last resort.

Me and wife used to be Highschool teachers but, at some point we started a side hustle opening a little grocery store which became later a small butcher shop. the placed needed our full time so, we decided to end teaching and take our business seriously, now, as a full time job. butchery equipment was so hard to acquire but one thing leads to another and, after 2 years of hardwork, we got the necessary machinery to do the things right and safe.

Covid pandemic put our place agaisnt the wall, but we kept on the go, selling less but at least helping our families and our worker´s families through these hard days, but, on October 2020 an electric service crisis (115kv electric towers started to collapse due to lack of maintanance and high winds) led to a 4 days blackout which rottened all our meats and poultry. With help of our providers we started again, but the same happened on November and later, on May 2021 with massive losses everytime we have tried to open.

on August 2021 we split in half our equipment and opened a second small butcher shop in a city nearby (away from the electric issues)and tried to start again and recover but the blackouts in our first shop returned on december and finally on January 2022 when we decided (too late) to close our doors full of losses and now, high on debts.

since we opened here (in our last shop) we have learned how to save money, not going out (thanks god I do not drink nor smoke), not visiting friends/ relatives to save on gas, selling and reinvesting our last funds but, the closure left us +10k on debts, :cry: we sold our first shop stuff and bent over backwards paying every bill and now, we are finally debtfree but, with empty pockets. now all we have is A shop with no meat.

we tried to open a crowdfunding campaign to try to save this place and start again but, Venezuela is banned from all sites, all we may do is to receive donations (but someone else living in a supported country should launch it)

you may think, Cant you just go to a bank and ask for a credit like every person? government have put so much control over banks here almost leading them to bankruptcy and now to obtain a credit you should have some "connections"

we have few friends or relatives living in suported countries but they are not able/interested on helping us, we have tried this too.

we have every kind of evidence since photos, access to our social media to newsclippings to provide anyone interested on helpìng our cause (we had media coverage trying to get our government attention when the blackouts became common, but, with no results)

this post is not intended to ask for money, just help to launch the campaign. we will spread the voice through social media to take as few of your time as possible. :wink:

the campaign goal is to reach anything near to 5k, just the necessary funds , we do not need a fancy place or top equipment, just enough for a new start, we have put so much effort on this dream to let it go. If the campaign became succesful we would like to open a small butchery school here, we were intended to do it, at some point we bought benchs and tables and a blackboard to improvise a classroom and teach youngs a profitable career, here average income ranges from 20 to 30$ weekly but butchers earn 50 to 60$ which is more than most or works (please do not laugh, I do not know how they do it but legal minimun wage here is 23$/mo :oops:)

thanks in advance!

if you may help, let us know here (or through PM)

Nestor B.

Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:55 pm

First post in 11 years and he's asking for money.

Welcome back.

Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:25 pm

Glenn wrote: First post in 11 years and he's asking for money

Good evening... you are right, first message in 11 years, I post this here because this forum is visited mostly by mature and more trustable people than any other social network, blog or platform I have visited before, it is hard to explain but, thanks for your opinion.

Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:16 pm

it pains me as a VW fan to suggest this, but how much could you raise selling one or more of your three VWs?

Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:55 pm

KTPhil wrote: it pains me as a VW fan to suggest this, but how much could you raise selling one or more of your three VWs?

Oh no, dont suggest he SUFFER a little pain.....just send him MONEY!!!!!!!

Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:31 am

I don’t know what the teacher demand is there right now but here in the States you would have a teaching job in mere minutes in many districts!

Give up the store and go back into education.

Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:48 am

djkeev wrote:

Give up the store and go back into education.

That was my first thought, and I'm retired from teaching.

Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:04 am

wheel607 wrote: KTPhil wrote: it pains me as a VW fan to suggest this, but how much could you raise selling one or more of your three VWs?

Oh no, dont suggest he SUFFER a little pain.....just send him MONEY!!!!!!!

On one line he says he DOESNT NEED MONEY..........Then on the very next line he sayshe needs 5K......I am sure he has an answer for that "teacher demand"

Wed Aug 10, 2022 7:49 am

I would suggest one goes back to teaching full time and the other split teaching part time and running shop.

if you have any capital tied up in meat/food you need to insure it in case of power cuts or refrigerator failure etc. otherwise walk away from the idea of running a shop.

Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:38 pm

Honestly you live in a failed state, flee to Columbia like 1.5 million of your countrymen. Money will not solve the problems you face.

Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:37 am

Okay , we have read it. Let the judging begin

Good luck in your business endeavor.

Cheap used generator for backup power?

Thu Aug 11, 2022 8:52 am

Abscate wrote: Cheap used generator for backup power?

I was thinking the same thing. Probably pays for itself the first time power goes out.

Sat Aug 13, 2022 8:50 am

Shame on people who ask for money and shame on people who give money just to clean their conscience. Before giving to this go fund me crap, ask your mom, your dad, your immediate family. Maybe you can buy your aging dad some razors, your mom some soap.

Sat Aug 13, 2022 11:12 am

Ok, we are done.

Contribute if you want or contact him directly with questions.