Chicago volunteers scramble to help migrants with little guidance from city
CHICAGO (CBS) – At least half a dozen buses of asylum seekers were expected to arrive in Chicago on Tuesday, adding to the more than 18,000 migrants already in the city.
The flow is not only overwhelming city agencies but also the volunteers on the ground helping them. CBS 2's Andrew Ramos showed how one group is persevering despite no shortage of obstacles.
Inside a Rogers Park storage facility, a valiant yet grueling effort was underway.
Debra Michaud and a group of volunteers, who in most cases are complete strangers, connected over Facebook, sort through endless bags of donations that take up three storage units.
Their group, Refugee Support Chicago, works around the clock seven days a week to collect, sort, and then distribute the essentials to arriving migrants, a selfless effort that members said happens with zero guidance from the city.
"We know they're out there shivering, and we get reports from people inside that they're hungry," said Michaud.
The original plan for the day CBS 2 visited was to go to O'Hare International Airport, but Michaud received a tip that resources were scarce at a new shelter that opened in Pilsen.
"We know the need is great there," she said. "We don't know what we'll find."
With four cars packed with supplies, they arrived, and it quickly became a scramble at the South Halstead shelter, where they were denied entry to the property and were forced to set up shop across the street.
An apparent fight for resources resulted in one group of migrants refusing to inform the rest inside that the volunteers have arrived.
With no guidance or coordination with the city, frustration builds as the volunteers do their best to get a handle on the situation. They were able to build a distribution system on the sidewalk across the street.
"We're out here kind of guessing who needs what," said Michaud. "If the city were cooperating with us, they would tell us who needs the most and who needs what."
While their work doesn't go unnoticed, it's becoming harder to execute.
The volunteer group, like many on the ground, is doing the work amid the migrant crisis and relies heavily on donations and assistance from volunteers. To learn more how to support volunteers helping migrants, visit the Facebook page Refugee Support Chicago.
CBS 2 reached out to the city about what volunteers said was a lack of coordination between officials and the groups assisting in the migrant crisis, but officials did not immediately respond.
