When Jorge Guevara saw the Royals’ 50-50 charity raffle on social media Tuesday, he didn’t hesitate. The Sedalia businessman jumped in right away because the money was tied to the American Red Cross’ earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela, his home country.
“I knew I had to be a part of it,” he said Wednesday night in a phone interview with The Star.
He was so eager to get involved that when the first credit card he tried was declined, he pulled out another one while attending a Sedalia Steamers collegiate summer league game. Then, from the bleachers at Liberty Park Stadium, he prayed he would win so he could send the money to a country he said is devastated by the earthquakes, with more than 2,000 confirmed dead and some 50,000 unaccounted for.
By the time he got home and checked the results, he was telling his wife, Megan, that they had won $13,679.
Even then, it didn’t feel like a personal windfall.
“It was magical,” said Guevara, an admirer of Salvador Perez whose wedding rehearsal dinner was held at The K in 2016. “It was definitely a blessing.”
The Royals’ foundation added to that momentum by rounding its share of the donation from $13,679 to $20,000. Guevara, though, already has bigger plans. He wants to turn the moment into a million-dollar effort.
“I am going to try to raise a million from this,” he said. “I’m going to try to use any platform that I can to challenge other major league teams to make a match - a contribution of $13,000.”
He also laughed at the number itself.
“Guess who’s No. 13?” he said, referring to Perez - the longtime Royals star whose name two of his four children had called out Wednesday when he appeared on the TV screen.
Guevara said he hopes to bring MLB players into the effort as well, especially Venezuelans. He also wondered whether the Chiefs might get involved once the project is fully set up.
To keep the donations transparent and accountable, he said he is already working with what he described as a major law firm. He wants the money directed where it can help most.
“Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, for example, or anything else that is relevant that we can actually get medicine to the hospitals,” he said. “That’s my main goal. I know the hospitals are extremely shorthanded, medicines are scarce, equipment is scarce (because) it’s been a decline for the past 30 years in the infrastructure down there.”
Guevara’s connection to Venezuela runs deep. He was 16 when he arrived in Sedalia on Aug. 10, 2002, to attend Sacred Heart School as a Rotary International exchange student from Caracas.
The change was dramatic.
“It was a culture shock,” he said, “and I could not be any happier that it worked out.”
While Venezuela has continued to endure economic and political chaos, he and many members of his family have built lives elsewhere. Guevara adjusted quickly in Sedalia, volunteering as a translator with several public safety agencies before earning an associate’s degree in nursing at State Fair Community College and a business degree from Central Missouri.
As he built his own property development business, he spent about 15 years becoming a U.S. citizen, a process he described as one of “jumping through the hoops that everybody thinks is so easy to do.”
Baseball was already part of his life when he arrived. He initially leaned toward the Cardinals, but Sedalia’s closeness to Kansas City and Perez’s rise in 2011 pulled him toward the Royals.
“His personality, his demeanor, everything about him just says ‘Venezuela,’” said Guevara, who had season tickets for several years before the pandemic.
He now calls the United States home, but he has never stopped carrying Venezuela with him. That sentiment was on display in a recent Facebook post he wrote about the world’s response to the crisis there.
“No one truly cares where you’re from, what language you speak, the color of your skin, or the flag you stand behind,” he wrote. “In times of need, it is the people who come together. Different beliefs, different backgrounds, different cultures-but united by compassion and humanity.
“As I watch countries around the world come together to help Venezuela, my home country, I’m reminded that our greatest strength is not our differences, but our ability to care for one another. Maybe it’s time we get back to the basics: being human, helping others, and standing together when it matters most.”
For Guevara, the raffle win fits the same mindset.
“Honestly, it’s all been about giving back; that’s my motto …” he said Wednesday. “It just takes the one person to start it, (and) I do believe that people will jump on.
People want to be good. People want to do good.”
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