Expand<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThis is how I envision society to be,\u201d McNiff said at the volunteering site at the Right Bee Cider brewery in the city\u2019s Hermosa neighborhood. \u201cWhen there\u2019s someone (who) needs a hand up, people are there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initiative came about when McNiff learned of the Salvation Army\u2019s Angel Tree program, which allows charity gift-givers to shop for individuals in need. It inspired him to think of ways he could give back to the city\u2019s immigrant community.<\/p>\n
McNiff spread the word about his idea with his more than 41,000 followers on TikTok and it quickly took off. With help from his friend Taylor Krahl, the pair raised more than $10,000 in less than a week through their GoFundMe page.<\/p>\n
Krahl said the items that were placed neatly in the corner of a warehouse before being delivered were not just boxes and bags; they represent the people they\u2019re helping.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery box represented a family \u2014 every bag represented a family,\u201d Krahl said.<\/p>\n
Erin Hogaboom, who assisted in organizing volunteers, said that everyone, including herself, who showed up ready to support the families, was their physical way of saying, \u201cWe\u2019re here if you need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Items were given to the families to meet their specific needs, with 170 children also receiving toys for the holiday season.<\/p>\n
To reach those in need, the pair partnered with Hijos de Migrantes, which offers support to immigrant families in Chicago.<\/p>\n
As a daughter of immigrant parents, founder Sheila Jara said this partnership was deeply personal for her and seeing people get involved has been inspiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something very important to me,\u201d Jara said. \u201cJust being here and seeing it with my own eyes has really motivated me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteer Jonny Bishop said he joined the effort for a similar reason. As a child of a mother who migrated to the United States for a better life, he said he got involved to stay active in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognized that she gave me something I can never pay her back for,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cIt\u2019s a full circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Accompanied with every box were also two to three handwritten notes of encouragement in Spanish for each family. The effort was organized in collaboration with Doreen Sayegh, who was part of \u201cWhistlemania\u201d groups in September that helped distribute whistle kits to alert people of the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.<\/p>\n
Together, about 30 volunteers from her Whistlemania network and Operation Midway Bliss wrote nearly 400 cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo know that all of these families, along with much-needed supplies and gifts for their kids, also get to read the words of another neighbor or community member. . . that feels really special,\u201d Sayegh said.<\/p>\n
Though their GoFundMe page is now closed, McNiff said they raised nearly $35,000. He said they also donated money to a Los Angeles-based organization that helps Chicago families. Any extra boxes and bags of essential items will be donated to local organizations, he said.<\/p>\n
As for Operation Midway Bliss, McNiff said they are still in the process of figuring out what\u2019s next and whether this will become an annual charity event.<\/p>\n
But one thing is for sure: He said he\u2019s learned a valuable lesson in pursuing this idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever be afraid to speak up,\u201d McNiff said. \u201cNever be afraid to start building a community, no matter how small it is to start. You never know how big it can go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 30 volunteers packed their cars to the brim with boxes and bags to deliver essential items like…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":461993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[24023,960,44679,10180,5386,1818,6501,409,210721,121074],"class_list":{"0":"post-461992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-charity","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-donations","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-immigrants","15":"tag-immigration","16":"tag-operation-holiday-bliss","17":"tag-operation-midway-blitz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115757066559147164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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