CALE & CAEL at the 8th Annual This Is About Humanity Soirée: Carrying Humanity Forward

On August 29, CALE & CAEL returned to the annual This Is About Humanity Soirée in Los Angeles, joining a community of more than 400 guests brought together by a shared belief: that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion and humanity.

For us, it was more than an evening of celebration.

It was a reminder of why the values behind what we create matter just as much as the products themselves.

This Is About Humanity

Founded in 2018 by Elsa Marie Collins, Zoe Winkler Reinis and Yolanda Selene Walther-Meade, This Is About Humanity is a community dedicated to supporting separated and reunified families and children at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Through its partners and programs, TIAH helps provide essentials for living, legal services, mental-health support, education and food relief while creating a community of allies and advocates around the families it serves.

Since its founding, the organization has distributed more than $2 million in grants supporting immigrant communities, while partner programs provide more than 3,500 meals each day to shelters and community centers.

As co-founder Elsa Marie Collins told Vogue México, it is community that has allowed TIAH to thrive.

And that sense of community was at the heart of the evening.

@stefaniekeenan

Honoring Wilmer Valderrama

This year's Humanitarian Award was presented to Wilmer Valderrama, recognizing his longstanding advocacy and commitment to immigrant families and communities.

The three TIAH co-founders described his work as marked by “extraordinary advocacy, compassion, and leadership.”

For Valderrama, the mission is personal.

Having immigrated to the United States from Venezuela as a child, he has frequently spoken about how his family's journey shaped his understanding of opportunity, community and responsibility.

Speaking with USA TODAY around the event, he described his parents' sacrifice as the blueprint for his advocacy and reflected:

“Immigration is the biggest gift this country has ever had.”

But it was a much simpler sentence from his acceptance speech that seemed to capture the meaning of the evening:

“People need people.”

Behind those words were real stories.

During the soirée, guests heard directly from people whose families had experienced detention, deportation and separation — including a woman who spent five months in immigration detention before receiving assistance from the Immigrant Defenders Law Center to reunite with her family.

Those stories brought the evening back to what TIAH has always been about:

people helping people.

Why This Is About Humanity Matters to CALE & CAEL

That idea resonates deeply with us.

CALE & CAEL and This Is About Humanity operate in very different worlds, but we share a fundamental belief: the people behind everything we do matter.

Every CALE & CAEL piece is handcrafted by skilled artisans in Colombia. We believe responsible manufacturing means treating craftsmanship — and the people responsible for it — with dignity, respect and opportunity.

We believe products should not be disposable.

We create heirloom pieces designed to last for generations, become part of someone's story and ultimately be passed forward.

And we believe business has a responsibility to leave something positive behind, which is why a portion of every CALE & CAEL sale supports programs that create opportunities for young people through Junior Achievement.

TIAH expresses those values through humanitarian work.

We express them through how we design, manufacture, employ, give back and build our company.

The expression may be different.

The purpose is remarkably similar.

And that is why being part of this community matters to CALE & CAEL.

Hundreds of Guests Discovered CALE & CAEL

This year, we wanted the experience at our stand to reflect the same combination of craftsmanship, personalization and human connection that defines our brand.

Throughout the evening, hundreds of guests stopped by the CALE & CAEL stand, discovered the brand and left carrying their own handcrafted leather Catchall Valet Tray.

Each tray had been handcrafted by our artisans in Colombia.

At the stand, guests could then make the piece their own through live personalization, adding their initials directly onto the leather.

What started as a gift became an experience.

Guests watched their pieces being personalized, explored our leather goods, learned about how and where they are made and connected with the people behind CALE & CAEL.

And they left happy — carrying something personal that would continue to be used long after the evening was over.

@stefaniekeenan

A Different Kind of Corporate Gifting

The evening also gave us an opportunity to introduce guests to an expanding side of CALE & CAEL: Corporate Gifting.

Alongside the Catchall Valet Trays, we presented leather jackets, travel pieces and products from our growing corporate gifting collection, including coasters, keychains, passport holders, wallets and other customizable leather goods.

The response was particularly meaningful.

Guests weren't simply interested in adding another logo to another promotional product.

They responded to the idea that a corporate gift can be premium, personal, useful and made to last.

For CALE & CAEL, that's the opportunity:

Turn gifts into brand builders.

Create something that represents a company while still feeling as though it was made for the individual receiving it.

The enthusiasm around the collection throughout the evening reinforced our belief that the future of corporate gifting doesn't have to look like traditional corporate merchandise.

It can look and feel like a gift worth keeping.

A Community Comes Together

CALE & CAEL was proud to participate alongside a broader group of brands, chefs, creatives and supporters who contributed their time, products and resources to the evening.

[INSERT VERIFIED 2026 PARTICIPATING BRANDS FROM OFFICIAL BACKDROP]

The culinary experience was led by renowned chef Javier Plascencia, with a group of acclaimed culinary professionals creating a showcase of oysters, ceviches and dishes throughout the evening.

Together, each participant contributed something different.

That is, in many ways, what community looks like.

A Night of Purpose — and Familiar Faces

The evening also brought together an extraordinary group of people from entertainment, culture and business.

Among those attending were Kim Kardashian, Henry Winkler, Katharine McPhee Foster, Annie Gonzalez, Constance Marie, Desi Perkins, Mayan Lopez, Michael Cimino, Nezza, Angelique Cabral, Jesse Garcia, Chloe Bridges and many others.

Kardashian, a longtime friend of TIAH co-founder Zoe Winkler Reinis, created one of the evening's most visible fundraising moments when she raised her paddle with a $50,000 contribution to the organization.

Her contribution was one moment in a larger evening built around a common goal: ensuring that TIAH can continue supporting families and organizations on the front lines.

@stefaniekeenan

Carrying Humanity Forward

Last year, CALE & CAEL joined the TIAH Soirée for the first time.

We returned this year because the alignment between our organizations goes deeper than an event.

It is about how we choose to treat people.

The artisan who makes a product.

The person who receives it.

The child who deserves an opportunity.

The family who deserves dignity.

The community that decides to show up.

At CALE & CAEL, we create pieces meant to carry the things that matter to you throughout your life — pieces made well enough to become part of your story and, one day, someone else's.

But what we carry forward is not limited to the objects we own.

We carry our values.

We carry the impact we leave on others.

We carry the opportunities we help create.

And we carry our humanity.

Carry your humanity with you.