CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Many Chicagoans helped out their neighbors on Monday as a way to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, but others have been on the streets every day, including Chi-Care, a local nonprofit that's been working to help Chicagoland's unhoused population for years.
WBBM caught up with Chi-Care as one of its street outreach vans pulled up outside the city-run warming center at 10 S. Kedzie Ave. in East Garfield Park, where multiple Chi-Care volunteers hopped right out into the bitter, subzero temperatures with a smile.
The Garfield Community Service Center was one of multiple stops for the Chi-Care teams on Monday, as the organization stepped up to answer the City of Chicago’s request for help in feeding residents at warming centers — a call that came over the weekend as the deep freeze first hit.
“We just said, ‘Yes, and when, and how many,’” said Chi-Care spokesperson Maggie O’Keefe.
Outside of the warming center, one of several opened by the city in recent days, O’Keefe told WBBM what was inside the neatly wrapped packages being taken into the warming center.
“Today is pasta with chicken … we’ve done tamales with chicken, rice,” O’Keefe said. “It really depends on which community we’re serving, because we want to make sure that we’re culturally congruent to what people want to eat.”
The nonprofit began its work in early 2020, when it started sending street outreach teams across the city to offer food, clothing and other resources to those in need.
On Monday, O’Keefe spoke about the reality that exists in Chicago when temperatures fall below freezing.
“Actually, it just happened yesterday,” O'Keefe said. “Chef Faraz [Sardharia] was out right on the lakefront, calling out to all of the tents, and an individual was the only one left in his tent, [with] no coat, very minimal supplies. We were able to give him a nice, heavy jacket, hand warmers, food, and the resources necessary to tell him where the nearby warming centers are.”
O'Keefe said anyone who’s hungry is welcome to a hot meal from Chi-Care. The nonprofit has held the official city contract to supply hot meals for recently arrived migrants housed in Chicago-run shelters since July 2023, and in that time they have served over 700,000 meals — cooked fresh and donated from local restaurants.
That commitment, though, hasn’t pulled Chi-Care from it's work for Chicago’s unhoused population.
“When you have organizations like ours — and there’s lots of organizations like ours that are doing the work — we have to see it as a whole,” O'Keefe said. “It’s not just doing meals for migrants and not doing meals for the unhoused. It has to be both because, at the end of the day, they’re all people who are currently underserved and need the help and the support, as long as they want it.”
Chi-Care leadership said this partnership proves the city can rely on the vast networks and resources that community organizations provide when dealing with crisis situations, much like the one Chicago currently faces in the form of wind chills that reached as low as minus 35 degrees below zero.
“We were asked to bring emergency meals — lunches and dinners — every day until it reaches temperatures that are not below freezing,” O’Keefe said.
Still, Chi-Care volunteers are finding a way to do even more work on their own.
“After this, we’re going to the MLK Day of Service hosted by My Block, My Hood, My City for bringing a few hundred pieces of food,” O’Keefe said. “Later tonight, we have our emergency shelter that we’ll be providing food for. I’m sure we’ll be doing some emergency check-ins with our unhoused population, not only tonight but throughout the city and throughout the week.”
“It never stops; this work never stops.”
If you or someone you know is in need of a warming center, more information can be found here.
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