This year's polar vortex is no joke. In Chicago, temperatures plunged to -50°F with the wind chill — that's colder than Antarctica. And Alaska. And Siberia.
Needless to say, it's not safe to be outside for even short periods of time in such cold temperatures, so much of the city has shut down. But what about Chicago's nearly 80,000 homeless people?
Thanks to one Good Samaritan, 70 of them will be in hotel rooms this week.
Normally, these 70 homeless people live in a makeshift camp in downtown Chicago. Some well-meaning locals donated propane tanks to help keep the camp warm. But on Wednesday, one of those propane tanks exploded and started a fire, prompting the city to confiscate the rest.
City officials planned to move camp residents to a warming center at a Salvation Army, a similar fate for many of the city's homeless.
Then they got a call from an anonymous donor. The donor wanted to pay to put all 70 homeless people into a hotel for the rest of the week.
The recent polar vortex has led thousands of homeless people across the Midwest to scramble for warm shelter. Some have resorted to desperate, even dangerous, tactics to stay warm.
A homeless camp in Chicago consisted of an empty lot lined with almost a dozen tents and makeshift homes.
Many of the residents were using propane tanks for heat.
The propane tanks had been donated by locals with good intentions.
But, on Wednesday, one of those propane tanks exploded because it was too close to a space heater.
Fortunately, no one was injured. However, authorities did confiscate around 100 other propane tanks, due to the fire risk.
“There was a significant amount of propane there," Fire Chief Walter Schroeder told the Chicago Tribune. "And with that many cylinders, that's like a bomb going off."
That same day, the wind chill temperature in Chicago dipped to -50°F. Nearly 70 people were now stuck outdoors without a source of heat.
City officials planned to move the residents of to a warming center at a nearby Salvation Army.
That's when a generous anonymous donor stepped in.
The donor offered to pay for hotel rooms for every one of the displaced residents.
"All the folks there," Salvation Army spokesperson Jacqueline Rachev said. "Some wonderful citizen is going to put all of them up at a hotel for the rest of the week."
"Isn't that wonderful?" Jacqueline said. "At least they’re warm and they’re safe."
All but one of the residents took the anonymous donor up on his offer. That man opted to go to the warming center instead.
The polar vortex has made life difficult for all Chicagoans this week, but no one has been more adversely affected than the homeless. With temperatures literally colder than Antarctica, simply being outside is deadly.
"Honestly when it gets to be this cold, [seeing a homeless person outside] is a 911 call," street outreach manager John Tribbett told The Huffington Post.
But this week, people are desperate.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel told residents on Tuesday that "No one in need of a safe or warm place to stay will be turned away. No one."
The city has as many as 80,000 homeless people on its streets. Many of them are, normally, reluctant to go to the city's shelters due to their poor conditions.
"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," Tony Neeley, a homeless man, explained to The New York Times.
Thanks to the anonymous Good Samaritan, though, 70 homeless people lucked out with nice, cozy hotel rooms.
