Ari for an empowered Miami!

In 2017, on Memorial Day weekend, my dad was driving on his way to work at 7am when he was suddenly struck from behind by another car going at full speed on the Turnpike South. An unfortunate series of events changed my family's life in the blink of an eye. A fractured skull, wrist, hand, and ribs were a small price to pay in comparison to the very real possibility of not having my father with us any longer. While his recovery was painful and slow, thanks to the help of all the surgeons, nurses, and occupational therapists my dad was able to make a full recovery. 

While this experience was unique to my family, unforeseen circumstances like this are far from unusual. Nobody who is going through a health challenge should also be burdened by the fear of facing crushing medical debt. So many things worked on my dad's favor: The driver responsible for the crash was properly insured, my father was taken to an in-network hospital, and the rest of our family was able to cover the household expenses during his recovery, for example. Had any of those factors been different, we would have faced millions of dollars in medical debt. Many Floridians unfortunately do not count with the same luck as my dad.

In  honor of my dad's tenacity and all of those families navigating the aftermath of a car crash, this year I am helping Global Shapers Miami fundraise for Undue Medical Debt: an initiative to buy off medical debt for pennies on the dollar and provide families this holiday season with the gift of erasing that burden.

Our goal is to raise $10,000, which would relieve $2.7 million in medical debt for families in Miami-Dade. 

$25 donation: relieve $6750 in debt

$50 donation: relieve $13,500 in debt

$75 donation: relieve $20,250 in debt

$100 donation: relieve $27,000 in debt

$200 donation: relieve $54,000 in debt

Please help me reach my goal of raising $1000 by donating if you are able, or by sharing my page with your best friend. Your support means the world to me!

Global Shapers Miami is a platform of diverse leaders mobilizing their collective human capital to address local challenges and issues. GSM accomplishes this by collaborating with community partners to design sustainable solutions and achieve measurable outcomes. Our current focus is  supporting initiatives to alleviate medical debt in our community! 

Donate to help amplify our mission and expand our hub!

Arianne Benitez