Early February 21, our community was devastated with a fire that left 16 individuals without homes. The fire also destroyed two businesses, Twisted Hippo and Ultimate Ninjas on Montrose.

After many hours of hard work from my staff and several community groups and with the generous outpouring of support from our neighbors, we have been able to provide some form of relief to almost every individual impacted by the fire. Below are some updates on that work.

Financial Donations for Individuals Impacted by fire

Immediately after the fire we got to work reaching out to our community partners to make sure funds were being collected to help the individuals affected. Pastor Tom Terrell from Christ Lutheran Church in Albany Park agreed to host the Gofundme fundraiser. The fundraiser raised $43,819 in donations and the church received an additional $900 in gift card donations. Christ Lutheran worked with neighbors from Albany Park Mutual Aid and 33rd Ward Working Families to get donations to each tenant, totaling $2700 per individual.

Clothes, Toiletries, and Food donations

We began collecting toiletries, clothes, and some food donations in the ward office and quickly saw an influx of donations from caring neighbors. Neighbors worked to sort the donations and coordinated with the impacted individuals to make sure they could pick up the specific items that they requested. Volunteers informed us that we have now reached the limit for donations so we will be working to redistribute any extra donations to local individuals in need and groups who offer free clothing on a regular basis.

Finding New Housing

Our office’s SAGE Brigade, a new volunteer-run senior group, offered to work with any affected senior tenants to navigate their search for housing. The residential building that burned down was an affordable housing building which meant that most of the impacted tenants were receiving housing subsidies or vouchers that allowed them to afford this housing. This puts the residents in an especially vulnerable place when trying to relocate as most of them no longer had any official documents, sufficient funds to move into a new home, or the ability to afford the apartments in the neighborhood where they lived. Our amazing volunteers spent countless hours calling every affordable housing facility in the area to find vacancies. We were able to help three seniors find vacancies that they are currently working on applying to.

We checked in with others and can confirm that 4 other tenants have applied for housing or otherwise found stable housing.

Once tenants start moving into buildings, we will be working to connect them with local groups that can help these individuals get the furniture they need. There’s a ways to go before every affected tenant has what they need, so the work continues!

Thank you!

We would like to give a very big thank you to Pastor Tom from Christ Lutheran Church in Albany Park, local community members Ken from 33rd Ward Working Families, neighbors from Albany Park Mutual Aid, Karen from our SAGE Brigade, and our interns Rosalyn, Jacob, and Gabriela. Without their input and collaboration we could not have responded to the very critical needs of our neighbors. As we always say, our communities are stronger when we can work together.

Lastly, thank you to the COUNTLESS individuals who donated money, clothes, toiletries, food, and more to help our neighbors in need. We are so lucky to have such a caring community.

About the two impacted businesses:

Gofundme pages were also made to collect funds to support the workers from the two businesses that burned down. You can find those pages linked below:

Twisted Hippo

Ultimate Ninjas