Friend,

The devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be summed up by case counts. People like Nadine and her family are risking everything to survive. Today, your gift is DOUBLED to help people like Nadine get the care they need to make it through.

Nadine is a 40-year-old woman who undertook the treacherous journey across the Darién Gap, a hazardous migration route that connects North and South America, with her six-year-old daughter and partner. Migrants through the Darién Gap have to face several days of trekking through rough jungle and risk being targeted by gangs who assault and rob them. “We thought it would take four days to cross the Darién, but it took 11,” she says. Nadine and her family are among the thousands of people who risk their lives crossing the Darién Gap every month.

This mass migration—primarily from Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela—is due in large part to the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After several days of navigating the muddy and steep terrain, Nadine and her daughter had sore, swollen feet and no strength left to continue the journey. With no choice but to seek help, Nadine’s partner left them alone in the jungle for three days until he reached Bajo Chiquito and could return to rescue them in canoes.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières‎ (MSF) is working in Bajo Chiquito—the first village that migrants reach in Panama—and at the migrant reception stations in Lajas Blancas and San Vicente. Since May, our small team has provided medical and mental health care to more than 14,000 people who have survived the harrowing journey through the Darién Gap.

Your support is urgently needed, Friend. From now until September 30, any gift you make to MSF will be matched—up to $135,000—thanks to a generous grant from our longtime supporter, FJC—A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds. Don't wait—please make a gift to MSF today and see your impact DOUBLED.

Friend, COVID-19 has created challenges at a scale we could have never anticipated, which is why we are reaching out to ask for any additional help you are able to give. If you’re looking for a simple way to maximize your impact, consider making a donation today, and we’ll MATCH every dollar you give before the end of September, up to $135,000.

With your support, our teams are committed to providing care to the most vulnerable people wherever they are—even in the face of a pandemic. Make a MATCHED gift to double your impact and help us continue our lifesaving work.

All online gifts given, up to $135,000, will be doubled through 11:59 p.m. EST on September 30. Every dollar you give will be matched with $1. Gifts received after the match has been met will not be matched, but will be used where needed most.