Evacuees From Puerto Rico Welcome At Humboldt Park

CHICAGO, IL - A "large influx" of evacuees from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico could be coming to Chicago soon as a West Side park opens a welcome center. The Humboldt Park Fieldhouse. 1400 N. Sacramento Ave. will open a "Welcome Center for Evacuees," 26th Ward Ald. Roberto Maldonado wrote in a newsletter to constituents last week.

Evacuees will be provided food, clothing and health care services and learn about schools and other educational services as well. The Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations will be on hand, Maldonado said.

"After landing, this will be their first stop in Chicago," Maldonado wrote on his website. "The City of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management & Communications (OEMC), the Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations--along with local community groups--planned the Welcome Center as a clearinghouse to meet the needs of Puerto Ricans resettling in Chicago in the following months."

The alderman also said that Chicago residents who have family members evacuating will be able to house them without fear of violating their leases.

Patch file photo / Tim Moran