Agencies Help Puerto Rican Evacuees Resettle In Chicago
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio) -- The day after Christmas is no holiday for the more than 20 agencies helping Puerto Rican evacuees resettle here in Chicago.
The intake center has helped more than 1,500 evacuees over the past two months, some of whom arrive with little more than the summer-weight clothes on their backs. At the center, Emergency Management Deputy Director Tom Sivack said they can get winter-weight clothing, boxes of food, temporary shelter, registration for schools and city colleges and more.
"Sometimes they walk in and they don't have what they need, especially we have had families that have literally come into the airport, then driven from the airport to the center," Sivack said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel are also on hand to help process disaster relief applications for those who were unable to do so in Puerto Rico.
The center, in the Chicago Park District's Humboldt Park Fieldhouse at 1400 N. Sacramento Blvd., is open until 4 p.m. Tuesday and next Tuesday, Jan. 2. The center will also accept winter-weight clothing and other donations. Plans after that are still in the works.
