The sounds of holiday music, laughter and clanking dishes filled the bustling kitchen at Proyecto Pastoral on a recent December morning.
About half a dozen community members shuffled in, tying red Christmas aprons around their waists, sliding on light-up Santa hat headbands and slipping their hands into disposable gloves.
They found their spot on the assembly line, ready to spread, stuff and fold more than 200 tamales for the group’s holiday community convivio that evening.
For organizers at Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission, a local social justice and community-building nonprofit, the tamalada is more than a holiday tradition. It’s a chance for Boyle Heights community members to connect, find a little relief from mental health stresses and support each other as a difficult year comes to a close.
At the head of the table, Martha Sifuentes meticulously slathered masa onto a soaked corn husk. “Parece que se ve bien suave, pero es muy cansado,” she said. This looks easy, but it’s tiring.
Proyecto Pastoral’s Comunidad en Movimiento group gather to make more than 200 tamales for the group’s holiday community convivio on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Laura Anaya-Morga / Boyle Heights Beat)
By 10:15 a.m., the group had reached a steady rhythm as they stuffed the hojas with shredded chicken, red or green salsa, cheese and jalapeños. The tamales were carefully folded and wrapped in a thin sheet of parchment and handed to Angela Gutierrez, the architect behind the community tamalada, who placed them in a pot to steam.
This year, the phrase “solo el pueblo salva al pueblo” resonated deeply with Gutierrez. She watched communities rally to support each other as ongoing immigration raids swept through Los Angeles, tearing apart families and stoking fear in immigrant communities like hers in Boyle Heights.
Gutierrez, coordinator for Comunidad en Movimiento, Proyecto Pastoral’s organizing and civic engagement component, knew she wanted to do more to bring her community together this holiday season.
As the phrase declares, only the people can save the people, and in that kitchen, the community was demonstrating just that, taking care of each other.
Angela Gutierrez shows off the tamales she helped make during the tamalada for a holiday convivio at Proyecto Pastoral on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025 (Laura Anaya-Morga / Boyle Heights Beat)
“Estamos sufriendo en la comunidad de depresión, ansiedad, salud mental por todo lo que está sucediendo… Aquí tenemos la comunidad haciendo tamales para la misma comunidad,” she said. Our community is suffering from depression, anxiety and mental health due to everything going on. Here we have the community making tamales for the community itself.
It was Martha Veliz’s first time making Mexican tamales but her fellow community leaders showed her the ropes and made her feel at home, she said. Veliz is from Nicaragua, where traditional Nacatamales are much bigger, steamed in a banana leaf and stuffed with items like meat, potatoes, onion, tomato and olives.
“Primera vez que me pongo a hacer eso,” Veliz said. “Aparte de que me gusta porque me estoy familiarizando con Proyecto Pastoral…siento que me han acogido mucho y me ha ayudado mucho a conectar,” she said. Besides the fact that I like it because I’m becoming familiar with Proyecto Pastoral…I feel like they have welcomed me and it has helped me to connect more, she said.
Veliz joined Comunidad en Movimiento just two months ago and said that attending regular mental health classes with the group has transformed her life.
“Para mi eso fue volver a la vida, osea, darte cuenta de que tu vales mucho.” For me, it was like coming back to life, realizing that you are worth a lot.
Angela Gutierrez (left) and another community leader pose for a photo with Santa at Comunidad en Movimiento’s holiday convivio on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Laura Anaya-Morga / Boyle Heights Beat)
Community spaces, no matter how small, are essential to finding collective healing, said Raquel Roman, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral.
“This year, especially, there’s been so much hurt in our community, so much trauma so if we could create a space where we could come together for just a few hours to cook and be in each other’s company then that’s what we’re going to do,” Roman said.
That evening, Gutierrez watched her hard work pay off as dozens of community members and their families gathered inside of Proyecto Pastoral to take photos with Santa, participate in a White Elephant gift exchange, dance and feast, enjoying the tamales and community that they worked hard to cook up
“Se que todavía está el miedo pero vamos a continuar juntos. Sí podemos y el pueblo salva al pueblo,” said Gutierrez. I know the fear is still there, but we will continue together. We can and the people will save the people.