About Us
- Mission Statement
- Who We Are
- What We do
- Our Founder
- Our team
- Contact Us
OUR MISSION
Illuminate Congenital Heart Disease affecting children in Venezuela by linking services that ensure access to medical treatments and provide care.
OUR VALUE
Hope - lead by example to show how life can and will get better.
Charity - create experiences for our donors that energize their charitable giving.
Compassion - provide encouragement in every encounter and understanding in every setback.
Commitment - make a positive impact every day to our patients and their caregivers.
Who we are
Founded in 2020, our foundation recognized the crisis situation existing in Venezuela. More than 6000 children are born every year in Venezuela with CHD and more than 80% of those require surgery in the first year of life. 2000 children are on a waiting list at any given time and many die while waiting. Due to a national health system in crisis, most of these children do not ever receive proper care.
Estrellita de Belen Foundation was establish
We work with parents, caregive
What we do
Our main purpose is to support congenital heart diseased children in Venezuela through collaborative care. We have an established network of medical professionals, parents, caregivers, and volunteers that work together to get our kids the treatment they require.
Along with these individuals, we established a partnership with a leading private local clinic to provide low budget procedures and consultations to our heart warriors.
In order to meet our financial requirements, we conduct extensive fundraising in our local area as well as charity drives conducted via social media and other online events. The money we raise goes directly to pay for medical treatment, medications, nutrition and supplies necessary for our little warriors.
An inspirational note from our Founder
I am Belen Blanton, President of Estrellita de Belen Foundation. I was born with a congenital heart defect called tricuspid atresia. I have only had one surgery to correct my defect, which by today's standards, would have seen 3 or more follow-on procedures.
After moving to the United States over 30 years ago, I have face numerous personal struggles with my health, but as I have had excellent care, I am still alive today. I now dedicate my life to fight for children with congenital disease of heart in my country of Venezuela.
Our foundation provides the resources to aid the families through appointment scheduling, medical supplies, and nutritional supplements and even necessary procedures to repair their little hearts. I have been fortunate to provide for my own care over the years, so felt the need to give back.
Our vision is to live in a world where every child has a mighty heart.
Belen Blanton-Altuve
Early in 2021, Estrellita de Belén Foundation developed a project in partnership with Ascardio, a cardiovascular clinic. This clinic is located in Barquisimeto, Venezuela’s thir
Our resident partner is Dr. Bartolome Finizola M.D, who received his medical degree in Cardiology from Universidad Centro-Occidental Lisandro Alvarado located in Barquisimeto. Dr. F
Through this partnership, Ascardio pro
Belen Blanton
PRESIDENT
John Blanton
VICEPRESIDENT
Andre Gruber
DIRECTOR
Nestor Altuve
TREASURER
Efmerip Barreto
GENERAL DIRECTOR IN VENEZUELA
Genesis Betancourt
VOLUNTEER DIRECTOR
Martin Altuve
Digital Marketing assistant
Dr. Bartolome Finizola
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Our volunteers
Lara
Deisy
Táchira
Reynamar
Zulia
Heydi Quintero
Merida
Claudia
