Seven of Philadelphia's best-known Latin restaurants are joining forces this coming Monday for a rooftop fundraiser meant to keep a South Philly immigrant health clinic running. The event, called Bridges to Our Roots, will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Bok Building rooftop at 800 Mifflin St., with tickets priced at $75 and proceeds going to Puentes de Salud, the nonprofit clinic that has quietly treated thousands of uninsured Philadelphians since 2008.
The restaurants lined up to provide food include El Chingón, Casa México/South Philly Barbacoa, Tequilas, El Merkury, Café Tinto, Mucho Perú, and Amy's Pastelillos, representing Mexican, Central American, Colombian, Peruvian, and Puerto Rican cooking, according to Inquirer.com. US Foods has agreed to donate products for the event, and the night will also feature Mexican, Colombian, and Cuban dance performances, salsa and bachata lessons from Mike Andino of Estilo Dance Studio, a DJ, and an installation by Philadelphia muralist César Viveros, per the same report.
The idea for the party reportedly began when Juan Marco Álvarez approached El Chingón chef-owner Juan Carlos Aparicio about a smaller fundraising event last year, and Aparicio pushed him to think bigger. Aparicio has said many Hispanic hospitality workers lack adequate insurance and cannot obtain good-quality medical treatment, and he has used Puentes de Salud's services himself since arriving in Philadelphia, the Inquirer's reporting notes.
A Clinic Built on a Dollar-a-Year Lease
Puentes de Salud operates medical and dental clinics at 1700 South St., a building it rents from the University of Pennsylvania for just $1 a year, according to the same Inquirer account. Penn is described as the clinic's primary institutional partner, and the American Hospital Association notes that Penn Medicine donated the space and helped fund a $1.2 million renovation. Penn Dental Medicine says its faculty and students provide oral-health education along with diagnostic, preventive, restorative, and surgical dental care on site.
The clinic primarily serves Spanish-speaking immigrants in Philadelphia and the surrounding area who are uninsured or have recently lost insurance, though it also treats uninsured patients who do not speak Spanish, the Inquirer reports. Patients generally pay between $20 and $35 to see a physician, nurse, or specialist. The nurse-managed clinic has six medical staff members and works with about 250 volunteer students and providers annually, per the same account.
Lines Forming and a Budget Stretched Thin
Puentes de Salud began seeing lines for medical care form about a month before the Inquirer's report published, a sign of the rising demand the organization now faces alongside greater competition for grants. The nonprofit's medical clinic recorded about 8,000 appointments last year and is expected to reach 10,000 this year, while roughly 15,000 people came to Puentes de Salud last year for the full range of its services, which include behavioral healthcare, a food pharmacy, food-access programs, case management, education, and after-school support, according to the Inquirer's reporting.
Chief Executive Officer Oreflina Feliz Payne has said the grant environment is really competitive, and that people are losing Medicaid and medical insurance because of visa or naturalization status. Puentes de Salud runs on an annual budget of about $3.1 million, with foundations supplying roughly 70% of that funding and individual donations covering the rest, the Inquirer notes. Bridges to Our Roots marks the clinic's first large-scale fundraiser since its 2016 campaign for a health and wellness center, and its first major fundraiser built around general operating support rather than a single project.
A Statewide Backdrop of Coverage Gaps
The fundraiser arrives amid broader strain on immigrant health coverage nationally. About 15% of immigrant adults reported being uninsured in 2025, according to KFF, with nearly half of likely undocumented immigrant adults uninsured compared with just 6% of U.S.-born adults. KFF also cites a Congressional Budget Office estimate that 1.4 million lawfully present immigrants could lose health coverage by 2034 due to eligibility changes tied to a 2025 federal law.
That law, H.R. 1, was signed July 4, 2025, and changes eligibility rules for SNAP and Medicaid, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Separately, state documents indicate some of those Medicaid eligibility changes for noncitizens are set to begin October 1, 2026. Earlier reporting from The Philadelphia Citizen noted that Puentes de Salud has had to raise almost $1 million a year on its own because it does not rely on federal or state funding, and that its clientele had already grown between 15% and 20%.
Puentes de Salud is not alone among Philadelphia organizations leaning on restaurant-powered fundraising to close healthcare gaps for immigrant residents. The Garces Foundation, started by José Garces and Dr. Beatriz Garces, holds its own annual benefit bringing together dozens of restaurants to support free health screenings, dental services, and English and digital literacy classes, according to PhillyVoice. Bridges to Our Roots follows a similar formula on a smaller scale, betting that a night of food, dancing, and community goodwill at Bok Bar can help keep a South Philly clinic's doors open for the thousands who depend on it.
