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Neighbors Come to Aid of Sick Man Evicted From Home

By Benjamin Woodard | September 16, 2014 5:39am
 Michelle Cintron watched from her kitchen window as Jermell Deshazor was evicted last week.
Michelle Cintron watched from her kitchen window as Jermell Deshazor was evicted last week.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

ROGERS PARK — For two days, Jermell "Jay" Deshazor sat in the alleyway off Morse Avenue, surrounded by his belongings and with nowhere to go after being evicted from his apartment last week.

But he didn't go unnoticed.

Hundreds of people took to the Internet to help.

"It blew up more than I ever expected it to," said Michelle Cintron, 25, who from her kitchen window saw Deshazor get kicked out of his home Thursday and then sit through rainstorms, huddled in a jacket near his bed, TV, clothing and everything else he owned.

Cintron told Ben Woodard that she felt like she had to help Jay:

At the time, however, he declined any help.

Then, Cintron said, "I woke up in the middle of the night and it was raining. He was just sitting there hunched over."

 Jermell "Jay" Deshazor sat in the alleyway for two days with no where to go — until neighbors came to help.
Jermell "Jay" Deshazor sat in the alleyway for two days with no where to go — until neighbors came to help.
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Michelle Cintron

Again, she asked if she could help. He politely declined.

"He said, 'No, somebody's coming, somebody's coming,' " Cintron recalled. "Nobody was coming. ... He was just willing to rot away in an alleyway."

So, not knowing what else to do, she posted her story to the social media site EveryBlock, saying, "Please help if you can..."

Soon, more than 150 comments poured in, with people asking what they could do.

But it wasn't just online. Cintron and her husband, Pablo, watched in amazement from their window as one person after another showed up Saturday in the alleyway to give Deshazor food and offer help.

Deshazor still didn't want to leave everything he owned in the alleyway — for it all to be thrown away.

"He was at a complete crossroads in his life," Cintron said. "He just didn't know where to go. ... I know this happens all over the city but it's really upsetting when you see it outside your kitchen window. It's hard not to do something."

So she also launched an online fundraiser, which has raised more than $3,000, to help Deshazor get back on his feet.

Later on Saturday, Deshazor agreed to let another neighbor gather his belongings and store them in his garage. Then the Cintrons took him to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston for a checkup, after learning he had a kidney transplant and wasn't taking his usual medication.

But he wasn't admitted and spent the night in a shelter.

The next morning, the Cintrons picked him up and took him to breakfast, then to a nearby motel, where he showered and stayed the night.

On Monday, they took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he's been ever since as doctors make sure his kidneys are OK.

Cintron said they learned pieces of Deshazor's past, like about his kidneys, and that he had lived with his mom before she passed away in 2012. He moved to the neighborhood in April. He had also recently lost his job as a security guard.

When reached by phone Monday evening, he was a man of few, but thankful, words.

"It's great," he said of the community's response. "I appreciate it. It's amazing."

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