Man welcomes migrants into building he owns in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man has taken on a mission to help asylum seekers by welcoming them into his Chicago building.
A lucrative investment in cryptocurrency provided the funding for the mission, while Chris Amatore himself provides the kindness.
Amatore, chief executive officer of Manage Chicago, owns a South Shore neighborhood building with eight units and 60 beds – and he's using one big heart to welcome in residents.
"I worship God. I don't worship money," Amatore said. "So I decided to put that money to do something good with it."
The building had been vacant while Amatore made fixes at the request of the city, but 54 people are now living there.
"I need to work for my companions," he said. "There's 60 Venezuelans here."
Johnson Aguilarte is one of the asylum seekers who is living in Amatore's building. He is hoping to send money back to his family in Venezuela, and after meeting Amatore, he was one step closer.
"I was working at my house in my basement one day, and it was like 9 in the morning - and someone's ringing my doorbell, and it was four Venezuelan migrants," said Amatore.
Aguilarte was one of them.
"I gave them my office address, and I said, 'If you want to work, come to my office on Monday,'" Amatore said, "and they showed up an hour and a half early on Monday."
When Amatore found out about the hundreds of migrants who were staying at the city's landing zone at Polk and Desplaines streets, he visited them – and offered his own space.
"No one was able to shower. People were eating out of garbage cans," said Amatore. "So it's kind of like, so I thought I would just come and help."
Amatore bought everyone a mattress, and filled the fridges with food.
"It's nice," Amatore said, "so they have their own space."
The house has a mantra – ""Juntos fuerte - together we're strong."
"I mean, I've had a lot of success in my life, and I'm very grateful to God for that, and I don't know what it is," said Amatore. "Something kind of like snapped on me, and I feel like I'm on God's plan and just trying to help."
His plans have hope for the future.
"I also have another building just like this that I could use as well, if they need it," said Amatore said.
The "they" in that sentence are the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson.
"Mayor Johnson says that he's going to define the soul of Chicago, and I asked Mayor Johnson - I've got 54 souls right here that need your help," Amatore said.
CBS 2 reached out to the Johnson administration to see if they had made contact with Amatore.
