On Monday evening, October 26, the dining room at Churrasqueira Bairrada on Jericho Turnpike in Mineola turns into a fundraiser for families on the other side of the hemisphere. New York Yankees infielder Jose "Chema" Caballero, who is Panamanian, joins a 200-seat benefit dinner at the restaurant, and every dollar raised goes to earthquake relief in Panama.

The dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. and costs $150 per person, which covers dinner, drinks and a meet and greet with Caballero. Tickets are sold through the Carvalho Family Foundation, the Mineola-based organization running the relief effort, on its United for Panama page.

Why Panama needs the help

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck 39 kilometers northwest of Tonosi on October 9, according to the foundation's relief page, which tracks figures from SINAPROC, Panama's national civil protection agency. The numbers it reports from the agency's October 12 assessment are steep: 656 schools damaged, more than 1,000 homes partly or fully damaged, 27 hospitals and health centers hit, and 598 people living in 14 shelters. Ten communities were cut off when roads and bridges collapsed, and the entire province of Veraguas was reported without power, water or internet in the days after the quake.

The foundation's own team is already in Panama alongside Chema Caballero y Familia and the Di Bello family, buying supplies locally and bringing them directly to affected communities. The effort runs in partnership with the Consulate General of Panama in New York.

The drive runs through October 31

The dinner is the centerpiece of a supply drive that has been running on Long Island since mid-October and continues through October 31. The foundation lists eight drop-off centers collecting new, unopened items from a 30-item list of essentials, and Churrasqueira Bairrada itself is among the collection points at 144 Jericho Turnpike in Mineola.

For anyone who cannot get to a drop-off location, the foundation maintains an Amazon wish list that ships donated items directly, and a GoFundMe for cash donations, which it says reach families fastest because supplies are bought in Panama and handed out in person by its own team.

The ballplayer at the head table

Caballero has put his name and his family's organization, Chema Caballero y Familia, behind the relief effort from the start. The foundation's page lists his family organization as a partner working on the ground in the affected provinces of Veraguas, Los Santos and Herrera.

Monday's format is simple: a churrasqueira dinner, drinks, and time with a big league infielder, with 200 seats available and all proceeds going to relief.

How to go or give

Dinner with Chema Caballero is Monday, October 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Churrasqueira Bairrada, 144 Jericho Turnpike, Mineola. Tickets are $150 per person through the Carvalho Family Foundation's United for Panama page, which also lists all eight drop-off centers, the items needed, the Amazon wish list and the GoFundMe. Donated supplies are accepted through October 31.

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