Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants took part in an evening of familiar foods, music and community at United Lutheran Church in Oak Park over the holiday, bringing a feel of home and comfort for now as their future remains uncertain.
The evening, organized in large part by the migrants themselves, was a celebration of Christmas and a pause amid so much unknown since leaving their home country. Currently, the migrants have safe, secure shelter and they have their community – though some of that could change in the coming weeks. But on Dec. 22, the group had a chance to relax.
The local youth group Revolutionary Youth Action League, or ROYAL, a longtime advocacy group for Hispanic people in the Oak Park school system, also helped organize the evening. ROYAL started as a general support group for public school students who might have been immigrants themselves or felt outside the dominant culture, so their help at the Friday night event seemed a natural fit, according to some in attendance
“All of the food that was made tonight was made by the community,” said Cynthia Brita, a volunteer with ROYAL. “They’ve been cooking for three days.”
Local volunteers also made sure each child got a Christmas gift – which had been donated – to mark their first Christmas in the area.
“It was a big operation,” said Brita.
Another volunteer, Cara Sharravel Blesch, of Oak Park, has been volunteering with the migrants since October.
“Because I could,” she said, explaining why she has been lending a hand. “Because I speak Spanish and it just seemed like an important way to lend support to our neighbors who were basically in the street.”
The west suburban town, which shares a border with Chicago, has been mostly welcoming to the migrant families, Brita said. In that way, the Venezuelan families who find themselves there are a bit luckier than the ones in Chicago, often warehoused in large immigrant housing facilities.
“The majority of the Village Board has been supportive,” said Brita. “But it’s been a mixed reception. I think they could do more and they have the resources to do more because it’s just a few hundred people and not thousands, like in Chicago.”
Public shelter options in Oak Park are set to end Jan. 31, though some local churches are offering resources and plan to continue to help the families.
While some migrants in Oak Park say they heard they will have to move in the coming weeks, for now they’re more settled than they’ve been in a while, with some at the YMCA, spread between three churches, apartments and more at the Carlton hotel.
The Friday party was a celebration of that too, some said.
“We shared a special moment after having gone through so much,” said Milagro, a migrant mother who asked to be identified only by her first name.
She arrived two months ago, she said, with her three children who are 7, 12 and 18, and she said there’s still much to worry about — especially where they’ll all live after January.
“Right now we’re at the Carlton until Jan. 31, and I don’t know where we’ll go after that,” she said.
She’s afraid her family will be moved to Chicago and put in a mass housing facility.
Even so, that December Friday wasn’t a time to worry about the future, and she thanked the Oak Park volunteers, ROYAL and the United Lutheran Pastor Ole Schenk who allowed the group to use the church for the event. For one night anyway, everyone showed up, came together and things worked out.
“It was joyous,” Brita said, as the party was winding down.
The food was familiar and all dishes were from home. The music was Venezuelan too, a celebration and reminder of a home far off, before the months-long journey that ended in a bus station in Illinois in the winter.
But on that Friday, after a soggy day of cold showers outside, the church was dry and warm inside and filled with the spirit of a holiday party – a soft spot in a tough time.
“It was about bringing some joy and peace to people who have been through a lot to be here,” Brita explained.
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
