City officials are asking residents to step up donations of badly needed coats, boots, sweaters, socks and other warm clothes as 17,000-plus asylum-seekers and counting — most coming from Venezuela — prepare to weather their first Chicago winter.
Besides those bare necessities, the city is also seeking more ideas on where to house the burgeoning migrant population, which grows by busloads daily, courtesy of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders aiming to stretch the resources of Democratic-led sanctuary cities like Chicago.
Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, pointed residents on Thursday to cityofchicago.org/support to pitch in on both fronts, as overnight weekend temperatures are expected to dip into the 40s.
“Given the fact that we have a change of seasons, we want to make sure that we have donations that are adequate for that with the winter coming,” Pacione-Zayas said during a virtual briefing with reporters.
The city webpage names organizations accepting donations, including the Chicago Furniture Bank, Instituto del Progreso Latino and Cradles to Crayons Chicago. The latter two groups have Amazon wish lists with hundreds of items new arrivals need, from shampoo and diapers to winter hats and scarves.
The webpage also has a form for residents to suggest buildings that could become shelters, as the city now opens a new one about every eight days, according to Pacione-Zayas.
The only major parameters for potential shelters: They must hold at least 200 people, can’t require major repairs and should have access to showers “or the ability to support a shower trailer.”
“It’s an economy of scale for us,” Pacione-Zayas said.
More than 17,000 migrants have been sent to Chicago since last summer, a number that figures to balloon as Abbott now sends busloads from the Southern border around the clock, ignoring the city’s 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
“We have anywhere between 23 to 25 buses that we would expect to be coming on a 24/7 cycle,” Pacione-Zayas said, later adding that the city still doesn’t have locations or a timeline nailed down yet for Johnson’s plan to erect massive “base camps” for the arrivals.
“We are hopeful that we’ll be able to put some stakes into the ground soon. But we’ve got to do our due diligence, not only on the location [but on] the way that it’s going to be staffed and how we’re going to have some oversight,” she said, acknowledging the tight timeline with frigid temperatures just around the corner.
“Our whole crew that is on the ground receiving people have grave concern about that. You have people coming off the bus with wet shoes, which means they literally crossed the Rio Grande before they got on the bus. I’m thinking about that in the context of our winter,” she said.
For donations of clothing and supplies, the city is seeking new items only. Additional questions can be sent to donations@cityofchicago.org.
Here are other ways to help:
- Donate to Park Community Church and Refugee Community Connection’s free store: The store, called “Nuevos Vecinos,” or “New Neighbors,” helps to clothe recently arrived immigrants. According to the group’s website, it helps clothe 100-200 asylum seekers every week.
- Donate items to Erie Neighborhood House: This social services nonprofit is seeking donations of clothing and hygiene products. All items must be new and can be dropped off at one of three Erie House locations: 1347 W. Erie St., 1701 W. Superior St. and 4225 W. 25th St. The full list of items needed can be found at eriehouse.org.
