Part I of 2
When the middle of November hits, people throughout the U.S. go on autopilot, and poverty and need become a central focus. The “season of giving” has commenced and those of goodwill, kindness and generosity are encouraged to take notice of the “less fortunate” and provide money, food, clothing, toys—anything that fosters a sense of connection to humanity and a sense of personal fulfillment.
The seven-week season of giving culminates at the stroke of midnight that brings in the new year. After that time, people are free to give as they please, with no considerable push that pulls upon their conscience or requires them to make visible those made invisible due to their social status. In 2023, nonprofits raised $3.1 billion on Giving Tuesday in 2023. Charitable organizations raised 47 percent of their end-of-the-year revenue in the last week of December, with 20 percent earned on the last day.
In Chicago, it is not uncommon for churches, community-based organizations, and elected officials to launch clothing, food, and toy drives just after Thanksgiving. In 2023, charitable giving (in terms of grants) in the city totaled $633.7 million, with most of it going to three sectors: human services, health and international affairs. That year, MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon pioneer Jeff Bezos, donated an additional $34 million to 19 Chicago organizations as part of her $640 million donation to nonprofits across the country.
During Christmas, children become the main focus of most charitable giving. In Chicago, calls for winter coats and toys dominate the news, our social circles, church bulletins, school newsletters and social media channels. Stories about the joy of giving and receiving proliferate, mixed in with tales of hardship and woe that pull on people’s heartstrings before spending on average $1,778 per person on gifts, travel and entertainment, according to the National Retail Federation.
In 2023, Americans spent an estimated $586.98 billion during the holiday season, with most being spent in December. Before engaging in guilt-free spending, people also enjoy giving and seeing their charitable dollars at work. A crumpled dollar here, a quarter tossed in a Bucket Boy’s pot there, all go a long way in putting a dent in income inequality.
This past Friday night, December 20th, was no exception to charitable giving. Santa Claus had come to the ghetto. The Crusader sent a spotter to check out the scene. Hundreds of people, including women holding infants and lots of children, stood for more than an hour in freezing temperatures outside the locked doors of a South Side church, waiting for that holiday cheer. As onlookers and a radio station van arrived and a TV crew hoisted its camera, an eight-year-old girl’s lips shivered as she tucked her chin into her chest while the biting wind nipped at her face. She pulled her knit cap tighter on her head.
“I’m cold, Daddy,” the girl said as she stood with her 5-year-old and 7-year-old brother and sister, who were visibly shivering. Though they were appropriately dressed in winter coats, hats, scarves and mittens, no one, not even an adult, could withstand the city’s “Hawk: for more than a few minutes. People bounced up and down. At 6:15 p.m., it was 25 degrees with a 14-degree wind chill factor. Doors opened at 7 p.m. The child’s father could no longer wait. He pulled his children from the long and winding line at 95th Street and Harvard and attempted to get the attention of a security guard who was milling about the people. The word SECURITY was emblazoned in white against his black jacket. A few words were exchanged. The man returned to his place in line, frustrated, maybe agitated.
“I asked them if they could let those of us with kids to let us come sit in the church,” he told the Crusader, adding he didn’t “really want” to give his name. The recently unemployed dad had heard about a Christmas giveaway at Another Chance Church, 9550 S. Harvard, from a relative. He said he would normally buy gifts, but he had been laid off from a janitorial job two days before Thanksgiving. Until his Link kicked in, he said he was saving the money he had for food and rent. Anything he could get for his children to make them happy until things got better, he would do, he said.
“This don’t make no sense,” the father said, with his hands alternating between his pants pockets and the thin jacket he wore. He said he was 47 years old and had grown up on the West Side before moving to Englewood. “They told us the doors open at seven, so we got here early because we were told it would be a long line. We got dropped off at six and still wound up in the middle (of the line). It’s too cold out here to be standing around! It’s kids out here!”
After waiting around for a few minutes and a few false starts (where he thought the doors would open), at 7:08 p.m., he took his children and left. “Look at this,” he mumbled, pointing behind him. “If they open up the door, look at all the people in front of us! I ain’t having my kids freeze out here.” One of his daughters started crying, disappointed that she would receive nothing, despite her efforts to brave the freezing temperature.
“THOUSANDS TO LINE UP ON 95TH STREET AS OPERATION COVER CHICAGO BEGINS TOY DISTRIBUTION TO KIDS FOR CHRISTMAS: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND FOR CHRISTMAS,” a 1 p.m. press release sent to the Crusader touted in all bold, uppercase six hours before the event’s start.
“No Child Left Behind” is a 2001 education policy initiative of President George W. Bush, which was heavily criticized for its overemphasis on standardized testing and triggering the closure of public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the majority of U.S. public schools are in high-poverty areas and attended by a predominant amount of students living at or below the poverty line, most of whom are Black and Hispanic. But we digress. The release went on:
“Pastor Kenyatta Smith- Pastor of the Another Chance Church of Chicago – will be joined by Elected Officials [sic], community leaders and over 100 volunteers in the distribution of over 50,000 toys to thousands of youth who will line up throughout 95th Street early for the much-anticipated toy give away,” it read, with its spokesman being unavailable. The next quote was attributed to the pastor: “The 11th Annual Operation Cover Chicago is one of the state’s largest toy distributions of its kind. …Our expected confirmed number of kids who will line up early on December 20th, has now exceeded 26,000.”
With nearly 30,000 anticipated children, according to Smith, the church, which allegedly has a small sanctuary, made no provision to move the event to a larger venue nor do anything to mitigate having parents and babies standing in long lines in inclement weather. If the intent was to showcase poor people so desperate that they would stand in a long line even in inclement weather, it worked.
The Crusader attempted several times to contact Rev. Smith about the freezing children “left behind” after abandoning the event because of the cold. This reporter also tried an appeal through the church’s social media channels and listed an email asking for clarity and/or to consider allowing people to wait inside the warm building until the toy giveaway commenced. Repeated phone calls, emails, and direct messages on social media went unanswered–it would be understandable if they were focused on the giveaway.
What was not understandable was why a church organization that anticipated “thousands” of people responding would fail to exercise common sense and compassion, knowing that Chicago temperatures had already plummeted. Could it have been moved inside a school auditorium, a park fieldhouse, or even a bigger church?
As the holiday approached, Another Chance Church of Chicago launched its fundraising effort with heavy radio, TV and social media promotion in anticipation of encouraging donations. They wanted “50,000 toys for 20,000 children. Smith even said, “(We are)… praying for an 11th hour Santa in the presence of Illinois residents and corporations to step up for the children.”
There was no need to call on Jesus because, apparently, Santa came through. According to its Facebook page, 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway reportedly donated $5,000 and posed with the church leader in a photograph. In another post two days before the event, a grinning Pastor Smith bragged, “We’ve raised $30,000, but it’s not enough,” he said, strolling past a row of glistening bicycles donated by church and community partners. “Remember, there is some kid around Chicago that’s counting on you.”
In the past, the Crusader was told the church was known to give away “good gifts” such as large screen TVs, gift cards worth $300 and other expensive things. Now in its 11th year, word of such generosity would surely spread. And, with no child advertised as not being left behind, one would think precautions and provisions would be made to ensure that “every child” who waited in freezing temperatures in the dead of a school night would receive something for their effort.
No one would argue that Another Chance’s holiday event was anything but a kind gesture that should be replicated by others throughout the year. For that, Smith and his followers should be commended. There is no doubt he has brought smiles and relief to many. But how needy families were treated — put on media display and then told to wait in the cold without so much as cups of hot chocolate or a choir singing Christmas carols–speaks to the how versus the why in this so-called season of giving.
It is probably not lost on Smith, his supporters, or those who donated that “poor and needy children” usually come from “poor and needy” parents, who would rather see such influential, connected, and powerful leaders advocate jobs, fair wages, and an end to poverty in Chicago altogether.