Suburban church takes in more than 100 migrants from outside Chicago Police station
OAK PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- The Village of Oak Park is now taking in more than 100 migrants who were living outside a police station nearby on Chicago's West Side.
As CBS 2's Marybel González reported Wednesday, more than 100 migrants have been taken in the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, at 611 Randolph St. in Oak Park. All their belongings were still outside early Wednesday evening.
Inside, they were huddled closely – as Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is not a big church, but is warm.
The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church may be small.
"This is not big. This is not a big building," said the Rev. Kathy Nolte, pastor of the church. "We are not the biggest church in Oak Park."
But with the migrants now calling its basement home, the church is stepping up in a big way.
The group of migrants now at the church came from the Austin (15th) District Chicago Police station, at 5701 W. Madison St. in the South Austin neighborhood – just three blocks from the boundary with Oak Park.
CBS 2's González was at the police station Tuesday night amid the cold and snow, and spoke to some of them as volunteers handed out a few donations.
Many of the migrants asked for blankets, shoes, and gloves, while some asked for warm shoes for their small kids.
As of Tuesday night, volunteers told us there were 150 people still sleeping outside in tents at the Austin District station – and of those, 60 were children.
A warming bus from the Chicago Transit Authority did show up around 8 p.m., The City of Chicago is now providing the warming buses as temporary overnight shelter.
Meanwhile, Rev. Nolte opened up her church doors Tuesday at midnight, after she got a call from Oak Park village staff asking her if she could house migrants. A few hours after the warming buses came Tuesday night, with temperatures dropping, volunteers were calling the Oak Park police to see if they would take them in.
"I said, 'I will be at the church in 15 minutes, 'and 15 minutes later, I was here - and people were coming in through the door," said Rev. Nolte. "By 1:30 in the morning, there were all these people that were settled - and ready to go to bed."
People were already dropping off donations by then, and volunteers jumped into action. Jori Salazar helped the migrants bring their belongings to the couch.
"I don't like to see people go through this," Salazar said.
Rev. Nolte called for interpreters, and places to provide the migrants with showers and laundry services. She urged other churches to follow their lead – especially because Good Shepherd Lutheran is now at capacity.
"More churches need to be opening up their basements to figure out what we're going to do," Nolte said.
Despite the move, there are still dozens of migrants and families at the police station in South Austin, and across the city, who will have to brave the cold once again – sleeping in tents.
One migrant named Jefferson and his family were not able to join the group, and are now staying at the church.
He spent the night outside Tuesday, along with his wife, toddler son, and 1-year-old daughter Zoe.
They are keeping warm, Jefferson told us, by huddling together. But on Wednesday night, they were set to move into the police station lobby.
Jefferson said he is counting the days until he can get a work permit to provide shelter for his family – just like so many others in his situation.
Back in Oak Park, volunteers from the Chicago Police Station Response Team said they are coordinating with another church to transport another smaller group of migrants there.