Los Angeles restaurants offer support and hope after Venezuela earthquakes

Standing outside her casual Venezuelan restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, Kelly Montano clutched printed photos of her parents as she visibly held back tears.

This is the longest period that Montano has not been in contact with her parents, as she talks to them “all day, every day” even though they live thousands of miles away in Venezuela. But after successive 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck 100 miles west of Caracas on June 24, it couldn’t reach them. Her response was to quickly turn her downtown Los Angeles restaurant into a donation drop-off location.

Montano’s parents, who were on vacation in La Guaira when the quakes struck, are among more than 40,600 people still missing, according to a non-governmental digital database where families can register their missing loved ones. With the initial death toll at 600, which has since risen to an estimated 2,200 as of Wednesday, Montano responded to the news by turning her restaurant into a donation drop-off site.

Volunteers Leah Saba and her daughters Beverly Arbez, 10, of Grenada Hills, and Alicia Negron, right, of Silver Lake, organize and box donations.

(Allen J. Chapin/Los Angeles Times)

Montano opened Full Arepas last year as “a little piece of Venezuela” — a personal tribute to her home country, from thousands of miles away. On Tuesday morning, dozens of volunteers joined Montano on the street outside her restaurant, packing and bagging the stream of supplies — from health supplies to non-perishable foods — that were being delivered by passing vehicles.

“As the hour goes by, my hope remains,” Montano said. “I will pray for a miracle.”

Volunteer Andrea Casanova (28 years old), whose grandfather was in Venezuela when the earthquakes struck, said that the supplies will be transported to Miami and then to Venezuela via the Olarte Transport company. Casanova said the older man survived after descending 13 flights of stairs with an injury to his leg.

“I think we are all still in shock,” Casanova said. “[I’ve] I would definitely come home and cry after work hours.

There are 6,770 Venezuelans living in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Almanac. Like Montano and Casanova, many of them have family members and friends in Venezuela who are seriously injured, missing or dead.

In Long Beach, Nova Bakery opened its doors over the weekend, serving as a donation center accepting sanitation items, first aid supplies and non-perishable food items to be transported by O’Larte.

A message written on a donated food box at Full Arepas restaurant, owned by Kelly Montano, not pictured, whose parents have been missing since the Venezuelan earthquake, along with other donations for Venezuelan earthquake victims at the downtown Los Angeles restaurant.

(Allen J. Chapin/Los Angeles Times)

“We hope that it will reach the evacuees so that we can provide some assistance to them, and to the young children who are left without a family or a home,” said owner Pierina Barboza, from the city of Mérida, high in the Andes in northwestern Venezuela. “And what they really need is for everyone to come together, all for the same cause.”

Although the restaurant ended its collections earlier this week, Alviani Dominguez, 53, still stopped by Wednesday morning to donate canned food. His family comes from Zulia, the most populous state in Venezuela. Dominguez has lived in the United States since 2024.

Photos of Full Arepas owner Kelly Montano’s parents who have been missing since the Venezuelan earthquakes.

(Allen J. Chapin/Los Angeles Times)

“The damage is severe, and the need for help is there,” Dominguez said. “Even the smallest assistance we can provide will contribute to providing everything the surviving population needs.”

Barboza said she plans to continue posting on social media to share resources and organize future aid efforts, even if her efforts are a “grain of sand” compared to what her home country may need to overcome the tragedy.

“Without a doubt, we will be the center of help for those who need it,” Barboza said. “We’ll be there.”

In Pasadena, Amara Baroeta, owner of Amara Café, committed to donating 70% of Tuesday’s profits to Global Giving, a nonprofit that provides emergency food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter and life-saving aid in Venezuela. The most popular order during the fundraiser was the arepa papillon, one of the most emblematic arepa dishes in Venezuelan cuisine. In this dish, traditional South American flatbreads are usually stuffed with cheese, black beans, sweet plantains, and shredded beef.

“I think most of the Venezuelans who came wanted to order things that seemed close to their memories,” Baroeta said.

Baroeta said the restaurant was not only feeding its customers, but providing a space for the local Venezuelan community to grieve and find support.

“I feel like people need a hug,” Barroeta said. “We all needed to talk. There is something very surreal that we Venezuelans feel that a lot of people don’t understand.”

As of Wednesday morning, the donation site outside Full Arepas was still receiving a large amount of goods — and Montano’s parents were still missing. International rescue teams are actively searching collapsed buildings for more survivors in La Guaira, even as the mission turns toward recovery.

“I have hope today that I will find them,” Montano said. “I don’t know in what condition, but I will find them.”

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