Chicago's Night Ministry helps the homeless facing frigid conditions
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With temperatures much colder in recent days, it's hard to believe anyone could survive spending the night outdoors.
But it's the stark reality for many of the city's homeless. A Chicago group works to keep the less fortunate safe and warm.
"Yeah, we have socks, gloves, hats, hygiene kits."
Call them essentials - or in this case - survival gear.
Despite the frigid cold, the street medicine team with the Night Ministry moves with little hesitation.
The goal on this day is no different from what they do all year round.
"We have people who are living outside we wanna make sure that they're safe. We wanna make sure that they have the supplies they need," said Burke Patton of the Night Ministry.
Their street medicine outreach is just one service the Chicago-based organization has been providing to the city's homeless for decades.
They offer the less fortunate everything from housing support to healthcare. And with the bitter and dangerous cold snap, that outreach becomes all the more critical.
"The worst case scenario is you try to open a tent, you know knock and no one's answering. And you go in and they're not responding," said ER Dr. Blake Sanford of the Night Ministry.
On this day, their mobile unit covered a lot of ground in the Uptown neighborhood, coming across some who welcomed their help and others who declined it.
The outreach missions are pretty unpredictable. It's just a matter of driving to locations where they know where these tent encampments are, and just jumping out of the van as soon as they see that there is a need at that location.
"It's just really hard seeing people you know in the cold, but it's also the resilience of these people show is incredible. I mean, people find a way. I mean, find a way to stay warm and find a way to stay fed," Sanford said.
Whether it be subzero temps or a blistering heat wave it is resiliency that motivates the team of mostly volunteers to forge ahead.
