Tania Fischer and Carissa Coudray, volunteers with the mutual aid group Juntos Podemos, carry boxes of food into A & A Barber Studio in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 24. Juntos Podemos continues to distribute food and other donations to families as they recover from Operation Metro Surge. Tim Evans for NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Tim Evans for NPR

MINNEAPOLIS — On a recent Thursday evening in late April, dozens of people hang out at a local brewery in south Minneapolis. The Cha Cha Slide blasts through the speakers.

In between sips of craft beer, patrons walk around a silent auction put on by Juntos Podemos, a volunteer mutual aid group that helps immigrants with groceries and rent.

Anaí Tepozteco, a co-founder of the group, mingles and every now and then looks at the handmade donation tracker.

"Our goal is $20,000 — right now we are halfway there," she says.

It's an important night.…