CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A South Side charity organization is asking the public to help its residents hit hardest by the financial crisis caused by the pandemic closures.
Project H.O.O.D., which serves Englewood and Woodlawn, started a Coronavirus Relief Fund on April 7 to assist residents with rent and food supplies.
The emergency fund is meant to help residents in the community who have lost their jobs and are unable to pay essential bills like rent, utilities and pay for groceries. The community, which is predominantly African American and low-income, has been hit hard by COVID-19. Data released from the Illinois Health Department say that black residents make up more than half of all cases and about 70 percent of those who've died of the disease. However, African Americans only make up about 30 percent of the city's population.
"We often see the country standing together in times of crisis but, unfortunately, the poorest among us continue to suffer at an exponential rate," said Pastor Corey Brooks, the executive director of Project H.O.O.D. and the organizer of the fundraiser.
Brooks said he also is working with a local distillery to get 5,000 1/2 gallon bottles of sanitizer for residents next week. He also needs protective equipment for his volunteers helping with relief efforts, as well as gear for residents. He said he is also working to get between 50,000 and 100,000 masks for those in need.
Brooks, a longtime activist and organized against poverty and gun violence on the city's South and West Sides, said the virus is hitting his community hard and it needs immediate relief. Lightfoot has pledged to give underserved communities — many who are black, Latino and undocumented — struggling from the pandemic more financial resources.
"While it is good that the federal government has pledged to assist America's workers and those in need, by the time these families receive those funds, it may be too late," he said on the fundraiser page. "We need to help alleviate the financial destruction brought upon our community and keep people in their homes and able to feed their children."
So far, the fundraiser has raised early $25,000 of its $150,000 goal. If you are a family in need of assistance, you can fill this form on Project H.O.O.D's website.
