Sofrita restaurant is collecting donations for disaster victims in Puerto Rico during October, according to owner Carolyn Morais Redendo.

She has an aunt and cousins living in Carolina and Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Redendo is joining other businesses coordinated by the Puerto Rican Cultural Association of Arizona and Arriba Puerto Rico.

Items can be left in the banquet room adjacent to the restaurant on the Avenue of the Fountains. “We hope to fill that room,” said Redendo.

Requested donations are flashlights, batteries, bottled water, baby formula, baby wipes and diapers; female hygiene products, canned food, new clothes for men, women and children, and toiletries.

Every donor will receive a free appetizer card to Sofrita. The donations will be consolidated from similar drives in other communities and trucked to Miami, where they will be shipped to the island.