Lake County churches, organizations share ideas about migrants’ needs; ‘They show up in shorts and sandals’

Holding its first joint session to find ways to collaborate, members of Waukegan’s Non-Profit Panel and faith-based Round Table learned this week about hundreds of people arriving at a local food pantry in summer attire seeking winter clothing along with food.

Pancha Gonzalez, who oversees the Most Blessed Trinity Parish food pantry and soup kitchen, said 800 people came to the pantry in December and half of them appeared to be migrants, primarily from Venezuela. Fluent in Spanish, she recognized their accents.

“They show up in shorts and sandals,” Gonzalez said. “They don’t have winter clothing. They’re demanding things because they say they were promised. We don’t know who’s telling them that.”

Gale Graves, the vice president of community impact of United Way of Lake County, said after the formal portion of Thursday’s meeting she is receiving calls about more and more migrants in Lake County in need of services.

Gonzalez and Graves were among the approximately 50 people sharing information about the migrant crisis and an assortment of other needs at the Waukegan City Hall meeting.

While members networked with each other after receiving the presentation and briefings from Mayor Ann Taylor and other city department heads, the buzz about the migrant situation was strong.

With the not for profit organizations in a good position to receive grant funding and the churches usually having a strong volunteer base, Taylor said she believes bringing them together to network can be productive.

Briefing the group on two busloads of migrants who arrived at the Waukegan Metra station in late December, Taylor highlighted their needs. Though those newcomers were transported to the processing center in Chicago, their needs were obvious.

“They don’t have adequate clothing,” Taylor said. “They’re being told not to tell us who sent them here.”

Along with giving patrons of the pantry food for their families, Gonzalez said they are collecting coats and other winter clothing to distribute. The strongest need is for men’s outerwear. More meals are being given out at the soup kitchen four nights a week.

“We try to get them warm clothing and blankets,” Gonzalez said. “They need bedding of all sizes, from twin to queen.”

Maria Elena Jonas, the executive director of Waukegan based HACES (Hispanic American Community Education & Services) said the number of migrants arriving in Waukegan has exploded in the past two months.

Jonas, who was not at the meeting, said Thursday six people were hired in the past two months to help the organization handle the increased demand for services from migrants finding their way to Lake County.

“Now the groups show up for appointments five at a time, not one at a time,” Jonas said. “The shelters (in Chicago) are overburdened. They know of someone in Waukegan and they come. They go to churches. We don’t have shelters here for the people.”

As HACES staffers work with the new arrivals, Jonas said they assess their situation and help them find the resources they need, but it can take time.

Irma Barrientos, a program manager with Mano a Mano Family Resource Center in Round Lake Park, said the organization is also seeing a significant increase in migrants arriving over the last two months.

With as many as seven or eight families living in one residence, Barrientos said food pantries like the one operated by Avon Township can only feed one family per address, creating a challenge to assure everyone in the house eats adequately.

Though there are programs providing food relief from what Barrientos said is known as VTTC (victims of trafficking, torture or other serious crimes), they must go through a process before they become eligible.

Barrientos said new arrivals cannot legally go to work quickly. While they wait for approval to become employed, they often takes jobs for cash or employers who do not E-Verify.