CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- These are desperate times for so many people, and Chicago’s Muslim community in the city’s West Ridge neighborhood is no exception.
Families started lining up about 9 a.m. Thursday, three hours before the doors opened at the Chicago office of the Islamic Circle of North America. Each family was given school supplies, groceries and 10 pounds of halal beef and goat.
Asma Jarad, with the organization, said things got a little tense.
“People are fighting in the lines because they’re saying, ‘You got in front of me,’ and they have no patience because they’re saying, ‘I left my children at home. I’m here. I want to get my food. I need to feed my children.’
“And I’m hearing all these stories as I’m going up and down the line, trying to calm people down and trying to reassure them that we have enough to give everyone. They feel like they have to be here since the morning to be able to get all the food that they need.”
Jarad says the demand for help has increased tenfold this year compared to past years