What We do
With a background and interest in hands-on humanitarian relief in Asia, Haiti & the United States Oscar Gubernati and Tom Jarecki launched HELP Ventures to respond to and assist local communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
After the disaster strikes, the foundation deploys a task force to meet the essential needs of affected persons and provides services in disaster areas around the globe. After the initial response phase where we re-establish basic needs, the foundation offers a variety of short term and long term community support programs with the goal of educating and guiding local communities to maintain existing programs established or restored during the emergency phase.
Oscar Gubernati
A native of Italy, Oscar moved to Los Angeles in 1990 to attend film school at University of California Los Angeles. Since his graduation he has served as Executive Vice President of Production at Stone Canyon Entertainment, a company based at MGM studios in Los Angeles, where he oversaw production distribution for 8 independent films. In 2002 He moved to New York to establish Ozone Pictures Inc. a production and consulting company specializing in entertainment finance, International co-productions, project development and distribution for humanitarian films. Oscar has ten years experience in: Emergency Relief Operations, Community Affairs, Interagency Coordination, Volunteer Management, Government and Community Relations, Housing, Sport and Youth Programs. He served as an Operations Director and managed disaster response relief efforts in major natural disasters including Hurricane Sandy, the Haiti Earthquake, Katrina in New Orleans and the Tsunami Disaster in Sri Lanka – where he also produced the award winning film, The Third Wave. He wrote and developed the Volunteer Preparedness Plan for the Regional Catastrophic Planning Team, US Department of Homeland Security, he currently serves as Board Member for The Claudio Reyna Foundation and he serves on the Rockaway United Steering Committee, a collation of Non-profit, State and Federal Agencies committed to serve the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Tom Jarecki
As a management consultant with experience in a broad range of industries, Tom Jarecki re-engineered the operations of a biotech company, developed an online Gold Buying business, a large scale Tax Lien investment plan, he re-engineered a custom hair products company and developed and ran a custom home development firm. He is currently consulting for a small charter aircraft company and for a building products company which delivers high quality, low cost housing solutions in developing markets. Before its sale to AOL, Tom also co-founded and ran operations for Moviefone, Inc. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and he serves as a pilot of corporate jet aircraft.
Barry Frishman
Captain Barry Frishman is a Red Cross volunteer and is present to help at almost all major events: he was a member of Oscar’s team in Sri Lanka in 2004 after the tsunami, and he and his wife spent more than two years in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. He has been a tugboat captain, and an oysterman, and he travels around the world to dig and repair fresh water wells in Africa, South America, Asia and the Caribbean. His wife, Aleda, is a lawyer interested in women’s services, and, together, they helped found We Advance (www.WeAdvance.org), an organization that provides free medical care, educational opportunities and community outreach programs to the needy in underdeveloped countries.