Suburban Chicago volunteers aim to open another shelter for migrant families
OAK PARK, Ill. (CBS) – In west suburban Oak Park, the deadline to open another shelter for migrants is fast approaching.
Organizers said they plan to open a shelter for about 100 people by March 1. It's the next challenge for a group that's been helping new arrivals with food and clothing since July.
In the hall of Oak Park's old St. Edmund's Catholic School, volunteer Laura Larson asked new arrivals what kind of clothes they needed for Chicago winters.
She said for some, the coats and jackets that were given out at a free donation site will be some migrants' only outwear.
"There was a whole family today where there was a father, the mother, the baby, and the baby had no boots, no gloves, nothing," Larson said.
Since opening in July, the Oak Park Migrant Ministry has grown to serve up to 350 people each time it opens its doors. Volunteers are just days away from their next challenge.
They plan to open an overnight shelter for about 100 people. One classroom will soon house three families.
During the day, the site will open its door to organizations that provide legal aid, job training, and other services to prepare migrants for the next stage after the transitional shelter.
"We will be an abject failure if a hundred people who join us around March 1st are still here on June 1st," said Jack Crowe, a volunteer with the shelter.
Organizers said they're pushing to open in just ten days. Shelves were being installed into new warehouse space this week.
"This is our time to respond to a humanitarian crisis," Crowe said. "It's on our doorstep. So it's our time."
It's a short timeframe for their shared mission.
The migrants coming to the St. Edmund School site are coming from temporary accommodation at the West Suburban YMCA and the Carleton Hotel.
