LA Restaurant Rallies Community for Venezuela Quake Relief

Kelly Montano knows her parents are likely gone, buried somewhere in the collapsed parking garage of a building north of Caracas. But instead of breaking down, the owner of Full Arepas restaurant in downtown Los Angeles is doing something remarkable: she's feeding hope.

Since Wednesday's back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela with 7.2 and 7.5 magnitudes, Montano has transformed her restaurant into a relief hub. On Saturday, dozens of volunteers packed boxes with clothes, toiletries, baby items, and food destined for survivors nearly 4,000 miles away.

"I don't have time for crying, because, you know, I am doing," Montano told reporters. "If we cannot help from over there, we can help from here."

The devastation in Venezuela has been overwhelming. More than 1,400 people are confirmed dead, and nearly 70,000 remain missing as survivors dig through rubble themselves, frustrated by slow government response.

But the international response has been swift and compassionate. Seventy-one members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department have joined teams from Virginia and Miami, bringing doctors, structural engineers, and K-9 specialists to search for survivors.

At Full Arepas, volunteer Jose Fernandez captured the spirit of the day perfectly: "I feel really proud because we're working as a team." Fellow volunteer Anna Sophia added, "We are all humans, you know, and we need to help each other."

While sorting donations, Montano spent hours in her restaurant kitchen preparing meals for every volunteer who showed up. She cooked Venezuelan food for people helping Venezuelan strangers, even as she awaited news about her own family.

Why This Inspires

Montano's story reminds us that we don't have to wait until our own pain subsides to help others. Sometimes the most powerful way to process grief is to prevent others from experiencing it. Her decision to act instead of waiting shows a profound truth: helping others can be its own form of healing.

The volunteers who showed up didn't just pack boxes. They witnessed what courage looks like when someone chooses community over despair, action over paralysis.

Full Arepas will continue accepting donations through Tuesday, proving that even in our darkest moments, we can still be somebody else's light.