NFL star Andrés Borregales, who was born in Caracas and moved to South Florida in 2004, joined the Global Empowerment Mission’s team to help send aid to northern Venezuela.

The 23-year-old New England Patriots player — who made NFL history on Feb. 8 as the first Venezuelan-born player to make it to a Super Bowl — didn’t just hand over money and donations.

“We physically can’t be there right now ... which sucks ... but we are still helping out in any way that we can. That’s why we are here helping out,” he said while volunteering at GEM’s warehouse in Doral.

The former University of Miami standout, known as “Automatic Andy,” and his wife, Stephanie Borregales, a Florida State University graduate, wore the GEM neon green vest with pride.

“I have my sister over there,” the NFL football kicker said. “Thank God, she is OK, but a lot of families aren’t.”

There was urgency after a 4.6-magnitude aftershock struck on Monday amid the devastation of Wednesday’s 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira.

“Not many people have a shelter to go back to or a home to go back to because it’s all rubble,” Andy Borregales said.

As the death toll continued to increase, the United Nations estimated on Monday that there were some 680,000 children among the 1.8 million Venezuelans who need assistance after the quakes.

There are other Venezuelan professional athletes in pain in the U.S. MLB catcher William Contreras, who was born in Puerto Cabello and plays for the Milwaukee Brewers, was in tears after a victory on Friday and apologized for not being able to join the search and rescue effort.

Andy Borregales, who graduated from Champagnat Catholic School in Hialeah in 2021, felt the same pain, but as a Venezuelan American from South Florida, he had a massive effort to join.

Moving boxes at the warehouse, at 1850 NW 84th Ave, was helping Andy Borregales, who also played football as a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami’s Overtown and Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School in Hollywood.

“It’s really just amazing to see just everyone come together,” said Stephanie Borregales, a Cuban American who wed the NFL player last year in Boca Raton and who believes in the healing power of giving.

GEM also has a warehouse in Valencia, Venezuela, where the distribution effort begins. GEM is not accepting clothes or linens, but the list of items they are accepting includes tents, inflatable mattresses, nonperishable food, hygiene products, batteries, diapers, and emergency kits.

“If all you can donate is a box of soap. That is enough,” Andy Borregales said. “Do what you can.”

For more information about how to become a GEM volunteer, visit this page.

Related list: Drop-off locations in South Florida

More HELPING VENEZUELA coverage