At this community center, you will find a hot meal, a safe space, and a reminder that no one should spend the holidays alone

By Mauricio Montes

Manos Amigues was born during the pandemic, at a moment when vulnerability deepened across Mexico City.  What began as a simple food support effort by delivering food baskets to those most in need soon became a long-term commitment: ensuring dignified access to food and building a community centerwhere care, solidarity and community could take root. Over time, that effort grew into something even greater. Today, Manos Amigues is considered one of the first LGBTQ+ community centers in the city, a place where physical, emotional, and cultural  nourishment is offered daily.

From Monday to Friday, between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m., the community kitchen serves more than 200 complete meals each day at a symbolic cost of 11 pesos. Each month, the organization provides approximately 5,000 full meals, and since July 2021, it has served over 200,000 hot meals in an environment that is safe, affirming, and rooted in dignity. The people who come through its doors represent the city’s rich and complex landscape:

• Adults 65+ (31%)
• Migrants (23%)
• People experiencing homelessness (18%)
• People with disabilities (16%)
• Local families with children (12%)
• LGBTQ+ people across all categories (≈12%)

The meaning of community during the holidays

Manos Amigues is a safe space directed by LGBTQ+ people and open to all populations experiencing vulnerability. Clothing donations are received and distributed for free, cultural expressions are welcomed, and the center remains a place where everyone can breathe, rest, and be seen without judgment. This matters: it means that those offering support understand the lived realities of the people who walk through the doors, and that every plate served is also an act of recognition, visibility, and shared experience.

The end of the year often brings expectations of closeness and celebration, but for many LGBTQ+ people, the holidays can also be a time of distance, silence, or emotional strain. Manos Amigues becomes especially important during these weeks: a place that reminds people that belonging is real, that celebration can be reimagined alongside the chosen family, and that no one should have to face the season alone.

What makes the difference is not only the hot food, it is the shared conversations, the familiar faces, and the rituals of care that fill the room. In this space, the holidays are not measured by gifts, but by the certainty that community is something we build together.

Community in action

The heart of Manos Amigues beats thanks to collective effort: volunteers who cook and organise food support, health days that care for the body, charity bazaars that distribute resources, and workshops where people learn together how to better support one another. Community is something that is practised every day.

Additionally, at Manos Amigues, art is the backbone of community life. Exhibitions, performances, discussion series, and conversations are programmed not to “include” LGBTQ+ themes but to begin from them. It is a way of saying: our stories deserve to be seen, shared, and celebrated.

Challenges and dreams

One of Manos Amigues‘ biggest challenges is to secure stable funding and obtain the necessary ingredients to sustain the community kitchen and provide dignified food every day. Preparing hundreds of meals requires the support of the city’s community kitchen network and the generosity of individual donors. 

And the dream continues to grow: their biggest long-term goal is to open a shelter for LGBTQ+ older adults, offering protection and dignity to a population that often faces multiple layers of vulnerability.

How to help

The work of Manos Amigues is sustained through a collective network of donors, volunteers, and allies. Contributions, financial, in-kind, or through time, help ensure that the the comedor continues to serve meals and that the community center remains a refuge for those who need it most.

Learn more about their work and how to support them through their website.