L.A. Venezuelan restaurants unite to provide earthquake relief
Key takeaways
- Standing outside of her casual Venezuelan restaurant in downtown L.A., Kelly Montana clutched print-out photos of her parents as she visibly held back tears.
- This is the longest Montana has gone without contact with her parents — she speaks to them “all day, every day” even when they were thousands of miles away in La Guaira, Venezuela.
- With an initial death toll of 600 that has since grown to an estimated 2,200 as of Wednesday, Montana responded to the news by turning her restaurant into a drop-off site for donations.
Kelly Montana in front of her downtown L.A. Venezuelan restaurant Full Arepas. Montana’s parents have been missing since the Venezuelan earthquake. She has organized donation drop-off and relief efforts. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) By Melody Xu July 2, 2026 10:20 AM PT 5 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X Linked In Threads Reddit Whats App Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
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Standing outside of her casual Venezuelan restaurant in downtown L.A., Kelly Montana clutched print-out photos of her parents as she visibly held back tears.