In the United States, September 15 – October 15 is recognized annually as National Hispanic Heritage Month. To celebrate the occasion, we are shining the spotlight on a member of our player community who is using virtual flying to power real positive change to the lives of people in Latin America!
Shortly after the PC of Microsoft Flight Simulator in August 2020, Nick Williams had an intriguing thought: could he use flight simulation as a force for good in the world? From that thought the idea for Herman@s was born, and in the ensuing three years, Nick and his organization have raised over $30,000 in charitable donations to build farms and provide food and medicine to needy people in Venezuela.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started with flight simulation
I got my start in Flight Simulation technically as a young adolescent messing around with FS98. I mostly crashed and didn’t know what I was doing…until Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) came around and I found a purpose and had more time to get interested again.
What is your personal connection to Venezuela?
My connection to Venezuela is strong since I lived there for five years and taught at an international school. The country helped shape me into the person I am today, and so I’ve always felt the need to give back. Also, I met my wife in Venezuela, and together we’re raising two bilingual children here in the USA. To learn more about the Venezuelan migration crisis, this article [Editor’s note: external link to CBS News] puts things into perspective.
How did you get the idea to use flight simulation for charity work?
One night in the waning days of summer 2020, my family woke up abruptly to a call where we learned that a family member had passed from a mysterious illness (which we now know is COVID-19 but was misdiagnosed several times due to a failing healthcare system). My nuclear family here in the outskirts of Seattle had been tucked away indoors for almost six months at that point due to what we knew about the emerging pandemic. I found myself with some downtime, especially in the evenings, and was transitioning away from playing FPS and MOBA type games.
I had just learned that a new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator was out, and so I began watching streams on Twitch. The thought occurred to me that I could stream for charity only, focusing on the beautiful geography of Venezuela, and send all proceeds down to help people in need. Herman@s was born, and we sent our first shipment and had our first live event on 8/29/2020. We’ve been live every Saturday since then.
Describe your charity organization and the work it does
Herman@s is an organization founded in 2020 that aims to alleviate food insecurity and strengthen economic sustainabilty in Venezuela. Our work specifically focuses on building farms, funding community meals/events, and providing medicine and clothing to people in Western Venezuela (Maracaibo and the Costa Oriental region). Using donations from livestreams and sustaining memberships at patreon.com/hermanosva, we’ve been able to raise over $30,000 and provide aid to over 10,000 families!
How can members of the Microsoft Flight Simulator community get involved with Herman@s?
Members of the community can get involved by becoming a sustaining member on our Patreon (patreon.com/hermanosva), which grants access to all of our liveries, sceneries, and Discord. You can also donate on our website, hermanosva.org, or while we’re live at: streamlabs.com/hermanosva/tip. We are live every Friday and Saturday at either YouTube or Twitch. You can also contact me on various social media platforms using the username @hermanosdevzla.
A few months ago, Nick was a featured speaker at FlightSimExpo 2023 in Houston, Texas. To learn more about Herman@s, you can watch his full presentation on the FlightSimExpo YouTube channel using the link below.