The good Samaritan is putting them in a hotel for a week.
By Teddy Grant, Ebony
A Good Samaritan is helping the homeless in Chicago by offering to pay for hotel rooms for 70 people who had to leave their homeless camp during the city’s frigid temperatures on Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune.
A vacant lot near Willis Tower was where nearly a dozen tents had been set up by homeless residents, and propane tanks were being used as a heat source as Chicago experienced an arctic blast that sent temperatures plummeting below zero. One of the tanks exploded, prompting officials to remove the other ones because of safety concerns.
“When we got there, the fire was extinguished, and they found all these propane cylinders. That’s when we escalated it to a level 1 hazmat,’’ Fire Chief Walter Schroeder told the Tribune. “There was a significant amount of propane there. And with that many cylinders, that’s like a bomb going off.”
Salvation Army spokeswoman Jacqueline Rachev called good Samaritan’s actions “wonderful.” She added, “At least they’re warm and they’re safe.”
The organization had been checking on the people at the homeless camp and was planning to move them to a Salvation Army warming center when city officials informed it that someone was going to put people up in a hotel.
“Some wonderful citizen is going to put all of them up at a hotel for the rest of the week,” said Rachev.
