Baltimore restaurant in Fells Point collects aid for Venezuela earthquakes
Arepi in Fells Point turned its dining room into a drop-off point for quake relief, filling storage with clothing, medicine and tents for Venezuela.
Arepi’s dining room on Thames Street turned into a relief hub after two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela. The Fells Point restaurant began taking donations the day after the quakes, collecting clothing, medicine, tents, sleeping bags and other supplies for families stranded by the destruction.
Owners Luis Dams and Harold Dams said the effort grew out of a simple need: Baltimore’s Venezuelan community wanted a way to help when they could not get back home. The restaurant’s storage area was already packed with donated items ready to send.
The quakes struck on Wednesday evening, June 24, 2026, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5. Venezuela’s government said 920 people were dead, 3,360 were injured and 172 remained trapped, while more than 50,000 people were missing. The United Nations estimated about $6.7 billion in direct damage, and the second quake was the country’s most powerful in more than a century.
Harold Dams said his uncle lived near the epicenter, and Luis Dams said they wished they were in Venezuela helping on the ground. Instead, they used their business in Baltimore to gather aid from customers, neighbors and the city’s Venezuelan diaspora.
A regular customer, Cesar Behrans, was among the Baltimoreans who stopped in with bags of donations. Arepi has partnered with two organizations to send the donations overseas, with the first shipment planned for early July. The family will keep collecting through July and into August.
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