BAH – Baita Ajuda Humanitária

Implementing partner:

In May 2024, Rio Grande do Sul (RS) faced the largest climate disaster in its history. Intense rainfall caused floods and landslides that devastated entire cities, cut off access routes, and destroyed homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses.

According to official data¹, approximately 2.4 million people were affected, more than 580,000 were displaced or left homeless, and hundreds of lives were lost. In total, 478 municipalities—representing more than 95% of the state—recorded severe damage, placing RS under a state of public calamity recognized nationally and internationally.

¹Source: Civil Defense of RS / Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul – Situation Bulletin, June 2024.

In the face of this tragedy, Instituto Justiça (IJ) mobilized its support network and, together with hundreds of partners and volunteers, strengthened the wave of solidarity that formed across the country.

It was in this context that BAH – Baita Ajuda Humanitária was created, a movement coordinated by IJ that brought together care, presence, and efficient logistics to serve the most vulnerable populations.

With the help of volunteers, more than 2,000 tons of essential items were sent, including water, food, medicines, clothing, footwear, mattresses, and personal hygiene and cleaning supplies, in just two weeks, to several municipalities in RS.

Rapidly, BAH became a structured and powerful movement, with strategically located distribution centers to ensure donations reached the most vulnerable families. From São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul, IJ used its own DCs (Erechim, São Paulo, and Sorocaba) and partner DCs (Porto Alegre, Farroupilha, Eldorado do Sul, and Gramado), serving 92 cities, where 78% of the affected population was located.

Impacts

40.000
Beneficiary
Families

2.000+
Tons of Donations
Delivered

100+
Trucks
Mobilized

300+
Volunteers
Mobilized

Service Coverage in 19%
of the Affected
Municipalities

Thanks to the engagement of more than 300 volunteers, the support of companies, unions, and partners such as the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and Correios (Brazilian Postal Service), we were able to deliver hope, dignity, and essential resources to affected families.

Main solidarity actions

Donation shipments: more than 2,000 tons of food, clothing, footwear, blankets, mattresses, pet food, drinking water, personal hygiene items, and cleaning supplies.
Back to School Campaign: donation of 500 school kits for children and youth.
Community Kitchen on Ilha da Pintada: production and delivery of 15,000 meals for displaced families.
Solidarity Thrift Shop: funds redirected to purchase food for the community kitchen.

We close this cycle with a sense of duty fulfilled and the certainty that solidarity, when strategically mobilized, has the power to rebuild stories and transform realities.

But Instituto Justiça did not leave Rio Grande do Sul. We remain present in the state with the Recria-se project—an initiative focused on the reuse of textile waste with environmental, social, and economic impact. Learn more about this project.