Restaurant shifts into a donation center to aid Venezuela

Ashley Neyra, Times staffUpdated Thu, July 2, 2026 at 9:08 PM UTC1 min readAdd Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.

The dining area at Carupano Kitchen was filled with boxes of donations for Venezuela, an aid response from the community after two back-to-back major earthquakes hit the country in June.

Diann Cedeno and her daughter Andrea Osorio are the owners of Carupano Kitchen and started collecting donations early Thursday morning.

They decided to donate 100% of their restaurant's proceeds on Thursday to a GoFundMe to aid Venezuela.

"We've never had a busier Thursday in our lives," Osorio said. "We were able to donate $1,000 just from Thursday sales."

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Osorio made the nearly four-hour drive to Miami on Sunday to personally drop off the donations to the W Aviation FBO, a private plane company that is working with Sun. Risas Foundation in Venezuela.

Needed donations include tents, sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses, as well as nonperishable food items, baby formula, diapers and wipes.

Carupano Kitchen, located inside the Foodie Labs at 515 22nd St. S. in St. Petersburg, will continue to accept donations Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Updates can also be found on their Instagram page.

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