Junior Chef's Homemade Empanadas Raising Money For Hurricane Victims

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 12-year-old boy from the South Side is putting his passion for the culinary arts into an effort to raise money for victims of Hurricane Maria.

After the storm last month, Evan Robinson, a 7th grader at Kenwood Academy, launched Pies for Puerto Rico, and began baking homemade empanadas to sell and raise money for hurricane relief efforts.

Earlier this month, Robinson baked 400 empanadas over one weekend, and raised more than $1,000 for disaster relief.

He hopes round two is equally successful, as he boxes up hundreds of sweet potato pecan, cookies-n-cream, and apple empanadas. He began baking the handheld pies this past weekend, and still has a few orders to fill.

Robinson fell in love with cooking after finishing in 6th place on the fifth season of MasterChef Junior.

He said it takes a lot of time after school to fill all those orders for his homemade empanadas, but it's worth it.

"It feels really great for me, because I'm putting a change in the world, and I am putting my mark on the world, and I am helping out those that need help," he said.

You can donate to his Pies for Puerto Rico campaign through YouCaring.