Puerto Rican Boxer Donates To Hurricane Maria Relief Efforts
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The city's relief center for Puerto Rican evacuees continues to do a brisk business, nearly three months after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory.
Among the latest donations is a truckload of goods from one of the world's top-ranked professional boxers.
Fres Oquendo was born in Puerto Rico, and much of his family remains in the island commonwealth. It's a story many Chicagoans with Puerto Rican roots know well -- family members who have refused to leave or arrive with nothing.
The relief center, in the Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, 1400 N. Sacramento Blvd., needs the donations and Oquendo said he is doing what he can for his family as well as for those who have sought refuge in Chicago.
"They're in dire need of food and clothes for their family," he said. "They're displaced for the moment and here we're helping them -- to make sure everyone is OK."
The relief center has helped nearly 1,500 evacuees in the past two months. It will remain open for at least the next two Tuesday's.
You can make credit card donations at the City of Chicago or drop off clothing donations any day, preferably to Catholic Charities at LaSalle and Huron Streets.