Sabe a Zulia in Belmont Cragin gives migrants a taste of home
CHICAGO (CBS) – This week's Foodie Friday highlights a local business that was the first to lend a helping hand as this week marks one year since the first buses of migrants arrived in Chicago.
The stream's Jamaica Ponder takes us to a Venezuelan restaurant with a history of tradition.
It's been five years since Gerado Abreu and his family came to Chicago from Venezuela.
"It was really something amazing because we came here alone, we had no one, we knew no one," Abreu said. "With even fewer Venezuelan restaurants in the city."
So, the Abreu family began making and selling Venezuelan treats themselves.
"We began to sell from the house, we sold many quantities from our house until we said well, we have to merge this."
Once Sabe a Zulia opened its doors, it quickly became a fixture in the Venezuelan community.
"And I think that this was the feeling that we have always, always wanted to have."
So last year, once word spread of the migrants' arrival from Texas…
"We were also worried because we know as immigrants, we know all the shortcomings that one can have when leaving their country," Abreu said.
The team at Sabe a Zulia was approached by refugee advocacy organizations, like the Salvation Army, asking for help with meal donations.
"I remember that in the beginning, they called us a lot, when three buses would arrive and then four, and five buses."
Their team immediately began putting together boxes of familiar dishes.
"We obviously told them that we wanted to collaborate."
Over the past year, they've donated and delivered over a thousand boxed meals.
"We made a special menu for them, and we took it directly to the refugees."
Sometimes, the team would even act as translators.
"Even when they arrived, they did not have people who spoke Spanish and they had to fill out a form, and many times we went to fill out the form with them as collaborators."
And they ended up hiring one man who walked in, new to Chicago and looking for work.
"He was with us for about two months, until he was able to settle in. I remember that we helped him find an apartment and everything."
Giving him more than just a job, and the community - more than just a place to eat.
"We always wanted that apart from being a restaurant, well, that it was also a meeting place, that it was a place to connect with community," Abreu said.