Countless Chicagoans have stepped up since August to help migrants, going beyond assisting them with basic needs such as shelter, food and clothes. They’re also making them feel welcome.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.Volunteer Ricky Flores, left, uses a rope to control the piñata as Sobrino Luciano, 8, attempts to hit it during a group birthday celebration in a temporary migrant shelter in the Pilsen neighborhood on May 21, 2023.
Flores is one of the countless Chicagoans who have stepped up since August to help the migrants, going beyond assisting them with basic needs such as shelter, food and clothes — also making them feel welcome. The volunteers have celebrated birthdays, organized cookouts, provided free therapy services, driven migrants to doctor appointments and job interviews and helped them access showers.
Along with Flores, she has galvanized scores of people, local sports teams, brands and more to donate essentials for asylum-seekers who were forced to sleep on floors. Thanks to donors, Martinez bought new air mattresses, blankets and pillows to equip the shelter in Pilsen.“,” a migrant told Martinez. He had told her that he needed the boots to start work the next day, so he was waiting for them.
“It’s those little things,” she said. Their health, she said, is her biggest concern. The migrants are exhausted, distressed and malnourished. Kofke-Egger sent a message to her volunteer network so that someone could stop by later that day to drop off a small cake for them. “My mother’s an immigrant, so I sympathize with all these people,” said Christian Peyret, regional director of ShowerUp, who was born and raised on the South Side, where he now lives.
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