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Good Samaritan Paid For Hotel Rooms For 70 Homeless People In Chicago

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Man helps homeless in Chicago@ozlemparokutkan/@klasekastellano/Twitter

The deep freeze in Chicago has proved especially gruelling for the city’s homeless population, with dangerously low temperatures putting them at serious risk.

A group of 70 homeless citizens had been camping out in tents close to Chicago’s University Village, without any source of heat in the 22 degrees below zero conditions. The prospect of sleeping in flimsy tents – nestled among piles of snow – is near unimaginable to those lucky enough to have a warm bed of their own.

Members of the group had originally been using over one hundred donated propane tanks in a desperate bid to keep warm in the icy winds. But when one exploded, Chicago Fire Department chief Walter Schroder instructed them to cease using them, aware that the number of tanks could lead to an explosion comparable to ‘a bomb going off’.

While the fire department removed the tanks from the campsite, the Salvation Army made plans to transport the group to a warming centre. However, an incredible kind gesture from an anonymous individual led to a change in plans…

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, it was the second coldest day in the history of Chicago when a Good Samaritan offered to put up approximately 70 homeless people in a hotel.

Incredibly, the mysterious donor offered to pick up the bill for the whole week, not just one night; ensuring the group had a few days to keep out of the snow.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Salvation Army spokeswoman, Jacqueline Rachev, has made the following thankful statement:

We think it’s wonderful that there’s somebody out there that has decided to be so kind to provide a warm place and a safe place for these folks to go,

We’re thrilled they’re safe and warm at least for a few days.

According to Rachev, the hotel was located somewhere on Chicago’s South Side although the exact location remains unknown. Only one member from the group reportedly opted to head to the warming shelter rather than the hotel.

Thanks to this benevolent stranger, dozens of people who would otherwise have been vulnerable to agonisingly cold conditions were given somewhere safe and warm to sleep. A potentially life saving gesture.

As the extreme freeze took hold of the city of Chicago, shelter officials had urged homeless citizens to take cover at homeless shelters, however this particular group had remained at the makeshift campsite.

Tony Neeley, a homeless man from Chicago, explained his own wariness of homeless shelters, despite the perilous weather, to The New York Times:

You don’t understand,

A lot of us don’t go to the shelters because of bedbugs, we don’t go because people steal from you, we don’t go because you can’t even really sleep in the shelter. But my feet are cold, and these clothes are all I’ve got.

According to The New York Times, there are approximately 80,000 homeless individuals living within the Chicago area.

The generous individual’s identity remains unknown, but their kind deed will not be forgotten.

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