Los Angeles Venezuelans collect aid after deadly earthquake as business owner searches for missing parents
Volunteers collect donations for Venezuela
Volunteers in Los Angeles collected donations to send to Venezuela in the wake of the deadly earthquakes near Caracas.
LOS ANGELES - A downtown Los Angeles restaurant has become a donation hub for earthquake victims in Venezuela, as its owner waits for word about her own missing parents.
Full Arepas, on Seventh Street near Hill Street, is accepting donations through Tuesday for people affected by the deadly earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela last week.
Owner Kelly Montano said her parents are missing, and she believes they may have been trapped when a parking garage collapsed near Caracas. Their car was found, but they were not inside.
"They found the car. But nobody is in the car," Montano said. "So now, I don’t know where they can be."
The U.S. Geological Survey said two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, June 24. The first was magnitude 7.2, followed less than a minute later by magnitude 7.5. The shaking caused widespread damage in parts of northern Venezuela, including areas around Caracas and La Guaira.
The disaster has left families in Southern California waiting for updates from relatives overseas while also trying to send help from home.
Montano said she wants to travel to Venezuela to look for her parents herself but cannot leave the United States because she has been waiting for her green card for four years. Instead, she posted a video asking people to bring supplies to her restaurant.
The response was immediate.
Volunteers filled Full Arepas with clothes, water, toiletries, baby supplies, medicine and other essentials bound for Venezuela.
"Right now in this situation, we have to help each other," Liz Aleman said after dropping off donations.
Sofia Ruszczyk, one of the volunteers, said the turnout quickly became bigger than organizers expected.
"I wasn’t ready for what was going to happen, and here we are," Ruszczyk said.
Among those helping was Andrea Casanova, whose grandfather survived the earthquake by rolling himself down 13 flights of stairs.
Asked how Americans can help Venezuelans right now, Casanova said the need is immediate.
"Do not send thoughts and prayers. Please send money," Casanova said. "We need medicine, we need immediate help."
The relief effort is also growing beyond donation boxes.
A Los Angeles County urban search-and-rescue team has deployed to Venezuela as part of the international response. The team includes highly trained rescuers who can search collapsed buildings, reach trapped victims and help assess unstable structures.
In Lakewood, Marydee Marchan, organizer of All for Venezuela, said her group is focused on getting medical supplies to hospitals and emergency teams.
"Food or clothing or shoes can come from Miami," Marchan said. "But from here, for all the pharmaceutical companies that are in the area, we can help with that. We can move it to Miami and from Miami to Venezuela."
Marchan said 12 pallets of surgical and trauma kits left by charter flight Thursday, with some landing Friday. Over the weekend, she and a group of volunteers packed more than 60 additional boxes at her mother’s house.
The supplies include pre-sterilized surgical kits that can be used in emergency rooms. Marchan said a special surgery unit based in Caracas moved two specialized teams to the hardest-hit areas with supplies her organization helped provide.
"It’s very hard. It’s like, why us again?" Marchan said. "But anyway, we are strong, and we help each other, and we have each other."
She believes the need in Venezuela is only beginning, as families continue searching for loved ones and survivors face shortages of medicine, food, water and shelter.