This article was co-published with La Opinión, the leading Spanish-language news outlet in the U.S., and produced under the California Local News Fellowship program at the University of Berkeley.
Filled with uncertainty over not being able to contact her parents following the consecutive earthquakes that struck Venezuela last Wednesday, Kelly Montano, owner of Full Arepas in Downtown Los Angeles, sprang into action.
Now she has turned her restaurant into a donation center for anyone wishing to drop off essential supplies to be sent to her home country.
“Ever since I announced that people could come to donate and that we’re working with Olate transportation, which offered to send all this humanitarian aid, people have responded very well,” Montano says, surprised to see how the donation corner was beginning to fill up. “The phone won’t stop ringing; people keep coming in, asking questions, and bringing their donations.”
On Thursday, she posted a video on her social media accounts to let followers know that her doors were open to anyone who wanted to donate, as well as to those who simply wanted to be in community with others.