On December 11th, CLUES was able to bring some light, hope, and positivity to over 150 Twin Cities Latino and immigrant families through the annual Al Niño Con Cariño Toy Drive event. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event was open only by registration and for CLUES participants. The event followed a drive-thru distribution model and gifts were pre-selected for families. During the drive-thru experience, CLUES staff and volunteers assisted with placing a “mystery bag” inside of the participants' trunk or in their backseat. The mystery bags included gifts, stocking stuffers, books, and wrapping supplies. In addition to the mystery bag, families also received an additional gift bag with face masks and snack packs. Altogether, more than 400 children and their families received holiday gifts this year.

Thank you to our staff as well as volunteers and generous donors from - Cargill, Excel Energy, General Mills, Comcast, Target, Health Partners/Regions Hospital, Land O’ Lakes, Las Cuatro Milpas, Flavors of Peru, Cakes by Valeria, Toys for Tots, Juan Vidal, and many other individual donors for helping make this day possible.

With the chaotic, uncertain, and unprecedented year we all have endured, these last few weeks of the year are so precious and your donation brightened and warmed the hearts of both community members and CLUES staff.

We look forward to continuing this holiday tradition at CLUES and we hope you can join us again next year