Beans, Band-Aids and soap. They are such simple, basic items that you would expect to find them in any grocery store here in the U.S. But they are in such short supply in Venezuela that Georgians are shipping boxes of them to the South American nation as it struggles with food riots and looting.

Beset with skyrocketing inflation and rolling power blackouts, Venezuela is in the grips of an economic free fall so powerful that people are sifting through the garbage for food.

Eddie Perez, the Atlanta Braves’ first base coach, is routinely sending boxes of soap, shampoo and medicine to loved ones still living in his native Venezuela. A naturalized U.S. citizen, he grew up in Ciudad Ojeda in the northwestern part of the country. His mother and three of his brothers still live in Venezuela.

“People don’t know how bad it is,” said Perez, a longtime Atlantan who was a Braves catcher for nine seasons. “I receive texts and emails from my friends and, I mean, I try to help out as much as I can.”

Georgia has strong ties with Venezuela, so it is sharing in some of its pain. Perez is among an estimated 8,000 Venezuelan natives living in the Peach State, more than twice the number that were here in 2005, U.S. Census estimates show. Some of the Atlanta’s best-known companies are doing business there, including Delta Air Lines and the Coca-Cola Co., both of which have suffered amid Venezuela’s economic struggles.

The reasons for Venezuela’s crisis are manifold. First, prices for oil — Venezuela’s only significant export — have fallen sharply, making it difficult for the government to import needed goods. Further, Venezuela’s socialist-led government has instituted price controls for basic goods such as rice, sugar and coffee. Suffering from operating losses as a result, producers have quit making them in Venezuela. Opposition leaders, meanwhile, are now pushing for a referendum to oust President Nicolas Maduro, who served in the late President Hugo Chavez’ administration.

Inflation in Venezuela is projected to reach 204 percent this year, and people are now spending an average of 35 hours a month in lines to buy food. An Associated Press report this week recounts how people waiting for toothpaste at a Caracas pharmacy held their places in line even as a robbery and shooting unfolded in front of them.

“These days, you have to put the line above everything,” pharmacist Haide Mendoza told the AP. “You make sure you get what you need, and you don’t feel sorry for anyone.”

Linda Lopez of Peachtree Corners is part of a growing number of volunteers in the Atlanta area who are shipping desperately needed medical supplies to their native Venezuela, including pain medication, rubbing alcohol and cotton balls. Their support group — Venezolanos En Georgia — has been receiving donations from a diverse group of people in Georgia, including Latin American immigrants and U.S.-born residents.

“It’s affecting people in all economic levels in Venezuela,” said Lopez, a naturalized U.S. citizen who moved here from Venezuela 17 years ago to study at Georgia State University. “It’s not about not having the money — it’s not finding the medicine they need.”

Lawrenceville resident David Perez, who was born in Caracas, came to the U.S. three years ago with his wife, who is studying at an Atlanta-area college. They have been sending packages of food and medicine to relatives still living in Venezuela. He was glad to get away from his native country’s violence. Last year, Venezuela’s homicide rate climbed to 90 per 100,000 residents, making it rival El Salvador as the world’s deadliest, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a nongovernmental group.

“When you live in Venezuela, you have in your mind, ‘OK, let me hide my cell phone, because they are going to steal it from me,’” he said. “There is a lot of violence now.”

For Georgians like Tomas Lefkovits of Atlanta and Milagros Fernandez of Dunwoody, Venezuela’s economic collapse is hitting home. Lefkovits, who grew up in Venezuela, said he and his business partners have been forced to shut down most of the auto services company they have operated in Venezuela because of the government’s disastrous economic policies. Fernandez, who retired as a school principal in Venezuela and emigrated to the U.S. in 2001, said her native country’s government has blocked her from collecting her pension in U.S. dollars.

“I worked in my country for 25 years,” she said, “so I got my retirement pension. And I couldn’t get my pension here because the dollar is under the government control. So the last time I got my pension was last year in August — and nothing else. It is supposed to come every six months.”

In May, Coca-Cola announced it was halting production of its namesake beverage in Venezuela because of a sugar shortage tied to the country’s economic woes. Coca-Cola, which has more than 7,900 employees in Venezuela, has partially resumed its operations since then.

“We continue to engage with suppliers, government authorities and our associates to take the necessary actions to manage ongoing local sugar supply irregularities,” Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kerry Tressler said in an email. “Sugar suppliers have informed us they’ll continue to produce refined sugar irregularly, depending on imported raw sugar, at least until next harvest in late October.”

In 2014, Delta cut roundtrip flights from Atlanta to Caracas from once a day to once a week. Delta took that step amid a dispute with the Venezuelan government over airline revenue trapped in the South American nation. That figure now totals $3.8 billion for two dozen airlines combined — including Delta — that have been unable to convert their Venezuelan earnings into dollars because of the government’s hold on repatriation of their revenue, according to the International Air Transport Association. Delta declined to specify its share. But for the first quarter of this year it reported a $75 million write-off related to its “remaining Venezuelan currency exposure.”

“We still operate a single flight per week arriving on Saturday and departing on Sunday,” Delta spokesman Anthony Black said in an email. “We have no announced plans to change the current schedule.”

Venezuelan officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The U.S. State Department released a statement, saying it is “in close contact with the U.S. airlines affected by this to determine the most effective means of resolving it.”

Eddie Perez is not the only native Venezuelan suiting up for the Atlanta Braves. Outfielder Ender Inciarte is from Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela, where most of his family still lives. Still a Venezuelan national, Inciarte has been shipping boxes of canned food back home.

“It’s like they’re trying to run a dictatorship and 80 percent of the population doesn’t agree with that,” he said. “We get a lot of kidnappings, killing, no food. It’s a very sad situation there.”