When the ground shook in Colombia, our Portland community stepped up

Scott Dalinger (Better Off Home Buyers) and his family alongside the relief supplies for earthquake victims in Colombia.

How a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Colombia led to 750 pounds of aid from Portland, Oregon.

On August 10th, 2026, I was in Bogotá, Colombia with my family when the ground started shaking.

I’ve been in earthquakes before, but nothing like this. The earth moved beneath my feet like standing on a paddleboard in choppy water, just trying to keep my balance. It went on for what felt like an eternity, and I was a couple hundred miles from the epicenter.

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake killed hundreds and devastated communities across the country. The Colombian governmental organization UNGRD reported that more than 466,000 people were affected, over 36,000 homes were destroyed, and nearly 202,000 more were severely damaged.

In the days that followed, I watched Bogotá spring into action. Collection points opened up across the city following the city’s donation guidelines. Volunteers organized supply chains to reach the hardest-hit regions. The response was immediate, organized, and deeply moving.

And it made me want to do something too.

How a few phone calls turned into $4,650 for earthquake relief

I called my business partner, Dylan Hallett, and we agreed right away: Better Off Home Buyers was going to step in. We decided to purchase food and personal care items directly, because that’s what was needed most urgently.

I also wanted to use whatever influence I have to make a bigger impact. So I picked up the phone and called friends, most of them real estate investors right here in Portland, Oregon, and a few in other states.

The response blew me away.

Within hours, people started sending money through Venmo and Zelle. No questions asked. No hesitation. Between our own contribution and the Portland investing community, we raised $4,650.

“Oregonians really know how to step up when the need is great,” and I mean that. These are people who trust each other and act fast when it counts.

750 pounds of supplies, purchased and delivered directly

Our goal was direct relief, which is why we physically gathered and delivered the supplies ourselves.

We used the same model as Gobble Gobble Give, our annual Portland Thanksgiving drive, where investors purchase food directly rather than relying on financial donations. Dollar-for-dollar, we wanted every cent to go straight to immediate relief.

So my wife, my kids, and I went shopping. Multiple trips. Multiple vehicles. We bought what the people on the ground told us was needed most: rice, beans, bread, panela, spaghetti, salt, baby food, pots for cooking, diapers, baby wipes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, feminine hygiene products, adult diapers, toilet paper, and more.

All told, we delivered approximately 750 pounds of supplies to the Gimnasio de los Cerros collection center in Bogotá.

From Bogotá to Chocó, Circasia, and Quimbaya

We partnered with Gimnasio de los Cerros and Misión INALDE of the INALDE Business School at Universidad de la Sabana. They were leading a coordinated effort to collect aid and physically transport it to the affected communities, not just collect donations, but get supplies into people’s hands.

From the collection center, volunteers transported everything to Universidad de la Sabana, where it was loaded into box trucks and dispatched to the regions that needed it most.

The aid reached Chocó, one of the departments with the highest poverty levels in Colombia, as well as the municipalities of Circasia and Quimbaya in the coffee region, all of which faced devastating destruction from the earthquake.

Our everyday work is buying homes, but our true mission is supporting people in times of need

Better Off Home Buyers was founded in 2018 on a core value of service. That value doesn’t stop at the Oregon border.

We buy houses for a living. We help people in Portland and across Oregon navigate difficult property situations every day. But community isn’t about transactions. It’s about showing up, whether that’s helping a homeowner who needs to sell a difficult property, putting together Thanksgiving meals for families in Portland, or buying 750 pounds of supplies for earthquake victims in Colombia.

I felt a great sense of responsibility to make sure that every dollar our friends and associates entrusted us with would go directly to the people who needed it. And it did.

To everyone in the Portland investing community who contributed: thank you. You stepped up without hesitation, and your generosity reached families across Colombia who needed it most.

— Scott Dalinger, Founder, Better Off Home Buyers

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Read the full press release: Portland Real Estate Investors Mobilize to Deliver Aid to Colombian Earthquake Victims